As jury deliberations in Griswold triple-murder trial begin, so does the waiting.

NEW LONDON – At 10:45 a.m. on Friday, 12 jurors walked out of a New London Superior Court courtroom and into a back deliberation space to decide the fate of a 30-year-old Hartford man accused of brutally killing three members of a Griswold family nearly four years ago.

Before they parted ways, several members of the group offered waves to three alternate jurors who also soaked in a month of testimony during the triple-murder trial of Sergio Correa. Prosecutors allege he slaughtered Kenneth, Janet and Matthew Lindquist in late December 2017 before burning down the family’s home.

The jury, after choosing a foreman, was slated for the first time since the trial began on Nov. 12 to deliberate the evidence and render a verdict. If convicted on each of the 14 counts he faces, Correa will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But first, the waiting.

As of mid-afternoon, the jury had still not reached a verdict. At approximately 3 p.m. the jury sent a note to the judge requesting to view surveillance video from a Bank of America that the state presented as evidence. Prosecutors allege the Glastonbury bank video shows Correa driving Matthew Lindquist's stolen car to an area where he is accused of burning it.

The jury is able to request clarifications from Judge Hunchu Kwak and to receive testimonial transcripts, video footage and other evidence to aid their work.

Same case, different waiting strategies

Getting to the historic sections of the 70 Huntington Ave. New London courthouse - the oldest court in Connecticut - requires a visitor head up one floor from the jury deliberation area and cross an elevated breezeway to hallways where metal radiators hiss in front of ivory-colored wainscoting and olive-hued walls below chandelier lighting.

Inside Courtroom One, more than a dozen of the Lindquists’ extended family – aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews – sat around two long tables near a judge’s bench and jury box. Under the high ceilings, the group settled in for the long haul with bags of board games, newspapers and enough donuts, crackers, fruit slices and coffee to satisfy even the hungriest guests.

On the floor, two of Danielle Nichols’ three children played with a map game while her half-brother, Eric Lindquist, chatted with well-wishers a few feet away from a foreclosure mediation room. Eric, son of Janet and Kenneth Lindquist and brother to Matthew Lindquist, said he was prepared to be in court until a verdict was reached.

The court’s Office of Victims’ Services has set up a “text-tree” for family members to give them a 20-minute heads-up if court reconvenes, including for juror evidence requests or notice of a verdict. That time-span was set by the court and not the victims’ advocates.

“I wish it was more time, even just 10 or 15 minutes more,” Eric Lindquist said. “Half of us here waiting either live or work a half-hour from here. That extra few minutes would allow us not to have to hang around if we didn’t want to. I could be home working, relaxing or going through my memories of my family.”

On the same floor, prosecutors, including Supervisory Assistant State's Stephen Carney and Assistant State's Attorney Marissa Goldberg, waited in their offices as the hours passed.

Correa's public defenders, Joe Lopez and Corrie-Ann Mainville, were also in the building on Friday with their client tucked away a rear lock-up area ready to be ushered back into court if needed.

Lopez, a veteran lawyer with 26 years experience, said the popular trope of an attorney being able to predict a verdict based on the length of a jury’s deliberations are essentially hokum.

“There are no rules of thumb in these cases,” he said. “The waiting is incredibly hard for my client, the Lindquist family and prosecutors. I’ll spend the time sitting in back with my client and talking to him and supporting him. There are a lot of charges for the jury to go through.”

The jury on Thursday was charged by Kwak with deliberating on 14 charges in the case. Correa is charged with three counts of murder, murder with special circumstances; two counts of second-degree arson; murder in the commission of arson; first-degree burglary; two counts first-degree robbery; home invasion; and three counts of murder in the commission of a felony.

John Penney can be reached at jpenney@norwichbulletin.com or at (860) 857-6965