CONCORD, NH – A Merrimack County Superior Court jury deliberated more than six hours Friday without reaching a verdict on the fate of Logan Clegg, charged with second-degree murder for shooting a Concord couple to death in April 2022.
The jury of six women and six men sat for nearly three weeks of testimony before hearing closing arguments Thursday. They will be back to deliberate further at 9 a.m. Monday.
Clegg, 27, is charged with nine counts in the shooting deaths of Djeswende and Stephen Reid, of Concord.
Jurors have been asked to deliver verdicts on two counts of second-degree murder for “knowingly causing the death” of each of the Reids, two alternative second-degree murder charges for “recklessly causing” their deaths, four counts of falsifying physical evidence and one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
The Reids were shot to death on April 18, 2022, as they took an afternoon walk on Marsh Loop Trail in the Broken Ground Trail System in northeast Concord. They were reported missing by their family on April 20, 2022, and their bodies were found the evening of April 21, 2022, about 50 yards off the trail under a pile of leaves, sticks and other woodland detritus.
To find Clegg guilty, the jury will have to believe that, with no obvious motive, he shot the Reids to death on the way back to his campsite in the Broken Ground Trail System, toting the hot rotisserie chicken and two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew that he’d just bought at Shaw’s. And that when a woman walking her dogs came upon him minutes after hearing gunshots, he’d already concealed the Reids’ bodies, but showed no signs of exertion, and showed no obvious blood or dirt on his clothes. They will also have to consider that DNA from an unknown contributor found on Stephen Reid’s clothing, including inside his belt and that is less likely to be from Clegg than someone else, was not from someone dragging Reid off the trail after he was shot.
To acquit him, the jury will have to believe that Clegg bears a striking resemblance to the man on the trail, but may not be him; that shell casings found a month after the killings and later found to match his gun were planted on the trail before police had an idea who Clegg was, and that he burned down his tent site with all his belongs in it in the days surrounding the shootings because he was going to be arrested on a fugitive charge out of Utah.
The state presented no direct evidence tying Clegg to the homicides, but Assistant Attorney General Joshua Speicher Thursday argued that all the pieces of circumstantial evidence point to Clegg. The defense argued that investigators from the Concord Police Department had blinders on, and that while their evidence proves Clegg was living in a tent in Broken Ground Trail System when the Reids were shot, it does not prove he shot them.
Investigators had 31 items, comprising 63 DNA samples, tested by a Florida DNA laboratory, but none showed evidence Clegg was the one who dragged the Reids’ bodies off the trail. The defense called an analyst from the laboratory to testify that foreign male DNA found on Stephen Reid’s boot, sock and the inside of his belt was more likely to come from an unknown contributor than from Clegg.
Shell casings found on the trail May 20, 2022, after extensive searches by sniffer dogs, metal detectors and investigators failed to spot them, were also an issue in the trial. The state argued the casings were there and overlooked, and provided two photos they claim show a casing among the leaves and twigs on April 22, 2022, and May 10, 2022. The defense says the casings were planted, and a digital forensics expert testified the two earlier photos don’t show a casing.
The casings matched bullet casings test fired from Clegg’s gun by a New Hampshire State Police Forensics Laboratory ballistics expert after Clegg was arrested Oct. 12, 2022, carrying a Glock 9mm pistol in his backpack.
The state argued that Clegg lying to police, giving them a false name as they came upon him while searching for the Reids, burning down his tent site with all his belongings in them, clearing data from his laptop in the days after they were killed and fleeing Concord a few days after the shootings demonstrates consciousness of guilt.
A man resembling Clegg was also spotted on Marsh Loop Trail by a woman walking her dogs on April 18, 2022, five minutes after she heard gunshots and about 10 minutes after the Reids passed her as they walked toward the trail.
The defense argued that all the elements that the state claims show consciousness of guilt were actually Clegg seeking to avoid being arrested on a fugitive warrant out of Utah. They argued that Nan Nutt, the woman who saw the man on the trail around the time the Reids were shot described different pants and different items in Clegg’s grocery bag than those seen as he left Shaw’s on Loudon Road less than a half-hour before. Clegg’s shopping trip was caught on surveillance video uncovered by police during the investigation. They also argued that Clegg did not look disheveled or out of breath when Nutt came upon him.
Clegg is represented by public defenders Caroline Smith and Mariana Dominguez. Assistant Attorney Generals Joshua Speicher, Meghan Hagaman and Ryan Olberding represented the state.
