Former Harvard University student Brittany Smith was indicted Tuesday and pled not guilty to the charge of accessory after the fact to the murder of a Cambridge man inside a Harvard dormitory.
Smith is accused of assisting her boyfriend, 20-year-old Jabrai Jordan Copney, and two other men, Blayn Jiggetts, 19, and Jason Aquino, 23, with the murder of 21-year-old Justin Cosby on May 18, 2009, while she was a senior at Harvard. Cosby was a Cambridge resident, but did not attend Harvard.
“Today’s indictment of Brittany Smith is a significant step in unraveling the truth in this case, and holding her accountable for her alleged complicity in, and subsequent attempts to cover up, the murder of Justin Cosby,” said Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone in a public statement.
Smith allegedly lent the three men her Harvard ID card to allow them access to the dormitory and hid the gun used under a friend’s bed in another part of campus after the murder.
She later fled, accompanying the three men on a bus ride from Boston to New York City. She allegedly returned to Harvard’s campus with Copney the following day.
Prosecutors said Smith lied to the police, denying that she lent the men her ID card. She also told a grand jury that she did not know of the presence of the gun until after the shooting, but prosecutors said she was present when the gun was loaded.
The men allegedly shot Cosby as part of an attempted robbery during a deal in which they wanted to purchase marijuana from him.
Smith remains barred from the Harvard campus, and was not permitted to receive her diploma.
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