The Jaffrey prosecutor dropped charges against Nathan Pereira, who was one of three men arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting Dec. 17 in Jaffrey.
Pereira, 25, of Rindge, was originally charged with conspiracy to commit criminal threatening with a firearm, conspiracy to commit second degree murder, and conspiracy to commit reckless conduct with a deadly weapon. Charges were filed with the 8th Circuit Court in Jaffrey.
Court filings by Jaffrey Prosecutor David Jenkins show that he dropped the conspiracy to commit criminal threatening and conspiracy to commit reckless conduct on Feb. 13, and the conspiracy to commit second-degree murder on Jan. 21.
The charges related to the December incident where several shots were fired into an occupied apartment building on Cross Street in Jaffrey. No one was injured. Nathan Pereira, John Pereira of Exeter, and Shayne Jennings, 39, of New Ipswich were arrested on charges relating to the shooting.
According to complaints, the charges specific to Nathan Pereira related to him allegedly agreeing with John Pereira to drive by the apartment for the purpose of firing a gun at it, believing it to be where a specific person lived, and then doing so.
Jennings and John Pereira still face charges in superior court.
On Jan. 23, Jenkins notified the court and the defense of “potentially exculpatory material from the Jaffrey Police Department,” in Nathan Pereira’s case, “consisting of documentation of some conduct of Officer Joseph Hileman, a police officer for the Jaffrey Police Department.”
In separate filings by Jenkins, in reply to a motion filed by Nathan Pereira’s lawyer to continue a probable cause hearing in January, Jenkins wrote “The State has certain evidentiary challenges present” in Nathan Pereira’s case “that are not present in the cases of Defendant’s two co-defendants.”
At the time of that filing, on Jan. 27, police were in the midst of a search of Nathan Pereira’s cell phone, which Jenkins indicated “the presence of certain communications or the absense of certain communications” could be significant in the direction of the case.