Harrison Thorp 6:30 a.m.
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 6:31 am

Jason Levesque is ushered from the courtroom during a break in the trial (CourtTV screen capture)

DOVER - The Rochester man accused of gunning down his neighbor during an argument over snowplowing last April told police shortly after the incident that the victim began to charge him and "he had the look in his eye, like it's you or me," a Rochester Police detective testified on Tuesday.
Rochester Police Detective Jacob Garstin was the first person to interview defendant Jason Levesque in an upstairs interview room at Rochester Police headquarters. The interview was recorded and a transcript was produced for the court and entered into evidence.
During the interview Levesque, 45, of 41 Summer St., told Garstin that Kyle Violette started to walk away after their brief but heated argument, but then turned and began walking back to him in a threatening manner.
Under questioning from Assistant Strafford County Attorney Joachim Barth, Garstin told the court that Levesque said during the interview, "When he started coming back I raised my weapon. He kept coming. As soon as I saw him come at me that way, I shot him."

"What did you ask him next?" Barth asked
"I asked him 'how far away from you was Kyle when you shot him,' and Jason said five feet.
He also said after Violette was hit by the bullet, "he flinched and began to walk back toward his home, then he turned and came at me again and that's when I shot him again."
Violette, who suffered six bullet wounds, including one to his mouth and several to his torso, spent more than a month in intensive care at a Boston hospital after the April 4 incident and has undergone several surgeries since.

Earlier in the trial, Angela LaChance, his longtime girlfriend, said Violette has intensive PTSD and barely wants to leave the house.
After the jury was excused on Monday Barth said that Violette would not be able to testify. Barth told Judge Andrew Livernois that he had tried to persuade Violette to testify for the state, but he was unable due to his emotional state.
Defense attorney Mark Sisti then asked for a mistrial, because he assumed Violette would be testifying and the defense's strategy would have been much different if he had known that. He also asked Judge Livernois to add a "Missing Witness" instruction to jurors.
According to an internet search, the "missing witness rule" (also known as the "failure to call a witness") allows a jury to infer that a witness's testimony, if presented, would have been unfavorable to a party who failed to call that witness, particularly when the witness is under that party's control and has knowledge of material facts.
On Tuesday both motions were denied.
Levesque is facing life in prison if convicted of attempted murder.
The trial continues today in Strafford Superior Court.