Dan D'Ambrosio

Free Press Staff Writer

A 17-year-old Winooski resident was charged Thursday with second-degree murder following the death this week of a man police say the teenager punched in a street fight last month.

Bradley Senna was visibly upset when he appeared in Vermont Superior Court before Judge Dennis Pearson, who ordered Senna held without bail. Senna's attorney for Thursday’s hearing, Michael Straub, invoked a rule allowing the defendant 24 hours to enter a plea to the charge. Senna is scheduled to be arraigned at 1 p.m. Friday.

Senna previously pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated assault arising from the Aug. 27 fight.

“It’s going to be all right,” a woman mouthed to a crying Senna from the courtroom gallery Thursday afternoon when he turned to look back at her. She and another supporter of Senna’s left the courthouse without comment after the brief hearing.

Staub was standing in as the attorney for Senna until the Vermont Defender General’s Office determines who will represent him.

The murder charge arose from a chaotic scene near midnight Aug. 27, when the victim, 54-year-old David Hojohn, was assaulted by several young men, including Senna, outside of Chick's Market at 60 Hickok St., according to a police affidavit written by Winooski Police Officer Stephen Bova.

Hojohn had been involved in an argument with a woman who appeared to be "highly intoxicated," according to Bova’s account.

The woman, identified as Christine Guilmette, was "shouting profanities and making threats" against Hojohn and his girlfriend, Dawn Duffey, according to the affidavit. Guilmette had come to Hojohn's home at about 7 p.m. that day and complained about two unleashed dogs that Hojohn didn’t own. Hojohn asked Guilmette to leave his property. She left but returned later intoxicated, stood near Chick's Market and shouted at Hojohn and Duffey, the officer wrote.

Hojohn left his porch and confronted Guilmette in the street, according to the affadavit. At that point, Guilmette's son, Steven Shover, arrived at the scene and entered into the argument. Duffey said she was trying to separate Hojohn and Shover when Bradley Senna "came out of nowhere and close fist punched Hojohn in the face knocking him to the ground unconscious," Bova wrote in the affidavit.

At that point, Duffey said all the young men fled the scene, while Guilmette continued to yell at the couple and Duffey attempted to help Hojohn. Police and rescue personnel arrived a short time later.

Duffey said she had known Senna for many years "as he is friends with many people in the neighborhood," according to the affidavit.

Senna was charged Aug. 30 with aggravated assault. Hojohn remained in the intensive care unit of the University of Vermont Medical Center for 11 days until he died Wednesday night, prompting the murder charge against Senna. Hojohn suffered multiple blunt trauma to the head – the cause of death – and had a skull fracture.

If convicted of second-degree murder, Senna faces a possible life sentence in prison, with a minimum term of 20 years. T.J. Donovan, Chittenden County state's attorney, said Thursday the investigation into the incident is continuing.

Senna is being held at the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Essex. He is charged as an adult.

This story appeared online on Sept. 8, 2016. Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanDambrosioVT.

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