FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Rocky Hill, CT) – Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin announced that Brandon Jones, age 35, of Bristol, was sentenced today by the Honorable Carl J. Schuman to 45 years in prison for his role in the 2005 fatal shooting of Dante Davis in Hartford.
A Superior Court jury in Hartford on December 12, 2022 found Jones guilty of Murder in violation of Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-54a and § 53a-8. According to evidence at trial, Hartford Police received a complaint of a woman shot at 131 Martin Street in Hartford at 11:08 p.m. on June 21, 2005. Responding officers determined that Davis, age 21, was standing in front of that location with her boyfriend and others when armed assailants opened fire in the area. Davis was struck in the head by the gunfire and was transported to the hospital prior to police arrival. Davis later died of her wounds.
In March 2022, Jones and three other people were charged in connection with the case following a joint investigation by the Cold Case Unit of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, the Hartford State’s Attorney’s Office and the Hartford Police Department. The extensive investigation included following up on dozens of tips, conducting numerous witness interviews and the examination of cellphone records, as well as an extensive Grand Jury Investigation.
Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney John F. Fahey, head of the Cold Case Unit, and Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Robin Krawczyk, who both prosecuted the case, are grateful to investigators in the Cold Case Unit, the Hartford State’s Attorney’s Office, the Hartford Police Department and the state Department of Correction, Security Division, for their continued commitment to this investigation. They also would like to thank the U.S. Marshals Service for assisting with this case.
“The defendant in this case was brought to justice, punished for killing an innocent woman whose family and friends suffered an unimaginable loss, all because of senseless gang and gun violence,” Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Fahey said. “A disposition in this case is meaningful, as well, to the members of the Cold Case Unit because they never forgot Ms. Davis and the loved ones who lost her too soon.”
The Cold Case Unit is comprised of prosecutors and investigators from the Division of Criminal Justice who work closely on cold cases with the Connecticut State Police and municipal police departments. The Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney currently includes Inspectors from the Division of Criminal Justice as well as investigators from the Hartford Police Department, Connecticut State Police and Connecticut Department of Correction. For more information about the Unit, visit the Division of Criminal Justice’s website or the Unit’s Facebook page.