Jury Says Gojcaj Not Guilty of Tampering

Depending on your side, Marash Gojcaj was either inquiring about testimony or he was tampering with a witness when he called a waiter-friend in July who was about to testify in Gojcaj's murder trail.

And the jury said: Inquiring about testimony. Not guilty.

Gojcaj, a co-owner in Gusto's Ristorante, 275 Main St., was convicted in a 2010 trial of murdering his business partner. His partner Zef Vulevic, also known as Joe Vuli, was shot and killed at Gusto's after a night of drinking, and his body was then dismembered and dumped in New Bedford, NY. Vulevic was also Gojcaj's uncle.

In July 2010, two months before the trial started, prosecutors said Gojcaj called Steven Nanai, a former waiter at Gusto's, who had given testimony to police about Gojcaj's temper. Nanai's statement said the waiter watched Gojcaj slam his fists into a cooler in the restaurant until the sides were deformed. He said he was with Gojcaj, when they exchanged words with a couple across the street from the restaurant and then he saw Gojcaj shoot a pistol in their direction.

Although that testimony was not heard in this trial or in the murder trial, before the murder trial, prosecutors said Gojcaj called Nanai, told Nanai his was the only damaging testimony against him, and asked him if he hadn't "embellished" his testimony. The prosecution argued in the tampering case this was Gojcaj "tampering" with Nanai.

Gojcaj's defense Attorney Stephan Seeger of Stamford spent most of this trial trying to discredit Nanai, implying Nanai may have given that statment in exchange for a letter from Danbury Police that might help him win a pardon for three felony convictions Nanai had on his record.

Hodge argued Gojcaj's phone call was an attempt to intimidate Nanai into changing his testimony.

Seeger apparently won the argument. The jury asked questions about the pardon Monday afternoon before returning the not guilty verdict. The jury found Gojcaj not guilty after a couple of hours of deliberation.