MELBOURNE, Fla. — A man charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of a teenager in downtown Melbourne appeared in court Thursday, where his defense team claimed additional evidence proves he acted in self-defense.
Stephan Dieujuste is accused of killing 19-year-old Nathaniel Jennings during an altercation in May.
Investigators allege that Dieujuste pulled out a handgun and fired eight times following a dispute outside local bars.
Prosecutors say Dieujuste stayed at the shooting scene and told police he fired at Jennings in self-defense after Jennings, who was unarmed, tried to start a fistfight with him.
Dieujuste claimed that Jennings had threatened him and physically placed him in a bear hug during the confrontation outside the downtown bars.
But prosecutors say security video from a nearby business shows the incident did not turn into a physical fight and that Dieujuste fired eight times, including as Jennings was running away.
The defense maintains additional video angles will instead support their claim of physical provocation.
The legal proceedings on Thursday focused on the preservation of surveillance footage from the night of the shooting and preserving any evidence of a possible retaliatory plot to kill Dieujuste while incarcerated.
Beyond the events of the shooting, Dieujuste’s defense team alleged that friends of the victim have been “actively plotting to harm or kill Mr. Dieujuste while he was incarcerated.”
The State Attorney’s Office confirmed that Dieujuste is not being held in Brevard County and is instead incarcerated at the Volusia County Jail for his own safety.
The defense will now begin sorting through the preserved surveillance footage to identify evidence relevant to their self-defense claim. The judge will rule at a later date on whether the specific video evidence will be admissible at trial.
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