By JOSEPH KELLARD
The trial, which began Sept. 6, was deadlocked at a vote of 10-2 in favor of a conviction, and Nassau County Court Judge David Sullivan declared a mistrial on Sept. 29.
The prosecution argued that on Dec. 3, 2004, Mark Orlando of Bayshore phoned Calabrese to set up a meeting in Island Park at which Orlando would pay off a multi-thousand-dollar gambling debt. Orlando lured Calabrese behind the stores on Broadway, prosecutors said, where Calabrese, 24, got out of his car and approached Orlando, believing he was about to receive a payment from him.
According to the district attorney, Jeannot, 26, emerged from a darkened area where he had been hiding, Orlando, 34, grabbed Calabrese's sweatshirt from behind and yanked it up over his head to immobilize him, and Jeannot came up behind Calabrese and shot him in the back of the head with a .44-caliber Magnum revolver. After Calabrese dropped to the ground, prosecutors said, Jeannot shot him twice more in the head. Calabrese was found hours later, face-down in the street, by passing motorists.
Jeannot was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. His attorney, Daniel Hochheiser of Manhattan, argued that his client was a bystander, and that after a long interrogation he gave a false confession.
Assistant District Attorney Bob Hayden argued that since it occurred in a public area, near a busy road, the murder must have been done quickly, requiring two people to manhandled Calabrese, who was a standout wrestler at Kellenberg High School in the 1990s. He captured the state Catholic High School Athletic Association's 125-pound championship in 1997.
Jeannot is to appear before Sullivan again on Oct. 7, when a new trial will be scheduled.
The victim's father, Robert Calabrese, a retired Long Beach police officer, released a statement after the mistrial was declared. "We have the utmost confidence in the Nassau County ADA, Bob Hayden," it read. "We're also very pleased with the quality of the case that was amassed by the Nassau County Homicide Squad. Although this has been extremely difficult, the burden has been lessened by family and friends."
Dozens of people from the Calabrese family and their supporters sat through Jeannot's weeks-long trial. "We're very disappointed," said Kathy Calabrese, the victim's mother, who is a teacher's assistant in the Long Beach School District.
Orlando was found guilty of second-degree murder on June 14, and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
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