Former student admits role in 2009 Harvard University murder; sentenced to three years in prison
In a case in which drug violence erupted at one of the world’s most-renowned universities, a former Harvard student from New York was sentenced today to three years in prison for her role in the 2009 murder of a Cambridge man inside a Harvard dormitory.
Her promising future shattered, Brittany Smith was sentenced today to three years in state prison.Bizuayehu Tesfaye/AP
Brittany Smith was a senior at Harvard, just days away from her graduation, when her then-boyfriend, Jabrai Jordan Copney, and two of his friends, all of New York, lured Justin Cosby into the Kirkland House residential building, ostensibly to complete a marijuana sale.
Instead of purchasing drugs, however, Copney and his friends, who had used Smith’s ID card to gain entry to the building, attempted to rob Cosby. When he tried to escape, Cosby was shot and fatally wounded. Cosby was 21 years old when he died at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on May 19, 2009.
Neither Copney and his friends nor Cosby was a Harvard student.
Smith, a hard-working scholarship student who was three days away from getting her diploma, appeared today in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn where she pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, illegal possession of a firearm, willfully misleading a grand jury, and willfully misleading a police officer.
According to Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.’s office, Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman sentenced Smith to three years and one day in state prison. Smith, who had been free on bail, was immediately taken into custody to begin serving her sentence.
“By pleading guilty today, Brittany Smith is taking responsibility for her role in the events leading up to, and directly following, the senseless murder of a beloved young man,’’ Leone, a Harvard graduate who himself once lived in Kirkland Houset, said in a statement. “Today, the final person bearing legal responsibility for this tragedy has now admitted their role in Justin’s murder and been held accountable.’’
Copney was convicted of first-degree murder and is now serving life without the possibility of parole in state prison. His conviction will automatically be reviewed by the Supreme Judicial Court.
His two co-defendants pleaded guilty to lesser charges after they agreed to provide prosecutors with information that helped to convict Copney. One of those defendants, Blayn Jiggetts, testified against Copney at his trial. He has not yet been sentenced. The third man, Jason Aquino, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on March 24 and was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in state prison.
According to prosecutors, Smith acknowledged today that she knew in advance that the men were planning to rob Cosby and handed off her ID card so they could commit the crime in a nearby dormitory.
After the shooting, the three men returned to Smith’s dormitory with the firearm. Smith then took it and stashed it under the bed in another woman’s bedroom.
Smith and the three men then returned to New York City by bus. One day after the shooting, Smith and Copney returned to Cambridge ,where Smith lied to police, telling them she had control over her ID card during the day of the killing, according to prosecutors.
After the shooting, Harvard University barred Smith from graduating.
A fourth person, Chanequa N. Campbell, was also a Harvard senior and was a friend to Smith and the three men.
After the killing, she cooperated with investigators and has not faced criminal charges. She also testified against Copney during the murder trial.
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