Jury deliberations begin Tuesday in road rage murder on South Willow

MANCHESTER, NH – Tyrese Harris either was acting in self-defense when he shot Dzemal Cardakovic in the face, killing him during a road rage incident last October on South Willow Street, as the defense contends, or, as the prosecution maintains, is a cold-blooded murderer who shot Cardakovic because the truck driver spat on him.

Tuesday morning, a Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District jury will begin deliberating the guilt or innocence of Harris on two alternative counts of second-degree murder, and one charge each of reckless conduct, for allegedly fleeing the scene and driving at more than 100 mph, and falsifying physical evidence, for ditching his clothing and the murder weapon, a 9 mm pistol, which Harris legally possessed.  Police never found the gun.

On Monday, after a week of testimony, defense and prosecuting attorneys presented their closing arguments.  The state rested after the medical examiner testified while the defense rested after calling only two witnesses.

Harris shot Cardakovic, 45, in the face, sending a bullet into his nose and out the back of his neck, according to prosecutors.  Cardakovic fell over backward, and died in the street. The shooting took place at 3:22 p.m. on Oct. 29, 2022, and was witnessed by numerous motorists stopped at traffic lights at the entrance to the Mall of New Hampshire.  It also was witnessed by Cardakovic’s young son and nephew who were in his truck.

Witnesses who testified said their attention was drawn to the two vehicles when Cardakovic twice laid on the horn of his white semi-truck after Harris, in a blue Honda SUV, cut him off as the two came off Interstate 293 and onto South Willow Street.  Harris threw a metal object at the truck, hitting its windshield, about the same time Cardakovic was coming out of it.

Defense Attorney Aileen M. O’Connell, in her closing argument Monday afternoon, maintained Harris, 22, was intimidated and fearful of Cardakovic, who outweighed him by about 100 pounds. At the red light, she said, Cardakovic got out of his semi-truck, ran to Harris’ car where he pulled on the door handle, then clutched his fists and through the partially open driver’s window, spat in Harris’ face.  Harris feared he or his pregnant girlfriend, who was in the passenger seat, were going to be seriously injured and, in a split-second decision, fired the gun in self-defense, she said.

New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Adam L. Woods, however, said it wasn’t self-defense, it was cold-blooded murder.  He pointed out that Harris’ girlfriend asked him immediately after the incident why he shot Cardakovic.  “I shot him” because “he spit on me,” he told her.

Several months later, Harris, 22, repeated the statement a second time in a phone call with his mother from the Valley Street jail, where he is detained.  In the call, which Woods played for the Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District jury during his closing argument, Harris told his mother he got spit on directly in the face and mouth.

“That’s assault, y’know?  So, boom, right?  Your life was took cause you disrespect.  Disrespect gets your life taken. Respect gets you further in life,” Harris was recorded saying,

Woods said only 25 seconds passed from the time Harris cut off Cardakovic and he fired the gun, killing him.

Harris’ actions after the shooting, Woods said, is also not those of a man who had defended himself.  Instead of remaining at the scene or calling 911, Harris drove off, cutting through the Common Man gas station, hitting speeds of more than 100 mph as he barreled down Goff’s Falls Road and onto Brown Avenue, careening through traffic and driving into oncoming cars.

He and his girlfriend then went to a friend’s residence on Cartier Street where Harris changed his clothes.  He was video recorded carrying a laundry basket from the car which, Woods said, presumably held the gun.

Police recovered a bullet casing from the back seat of the Honda when they searched it.  It matched ammunition they later found on the counter of the Bodwell Road apartment where Harris lived with his girlfriend.  They never found the gun which, Woods said the ATF recorded as a Glock 19X.

O’Connell maintained Harris reached those high speeds because he wasn’t acting rationally because he had just been through a traumatic event and was being chased by Robert Holder, forcing him to speed.

Holder testified he drove at more than 100 mph  “following” Harris because that was how fast the Honda was moving.

Woods said the defense tried to make Holder out to be a vigilante when he drove at 100 mph because Harris was driving that fast to flee the scene of a murder.  Holder, whose fiancée was in the car, was on a 911 call with dispatch, apprising them of what was happening.  Ultimately, they were able to obtain the license plate number of Harris’ car and give it to police.

The defense maintains that under the law, a person is allowed to use deadly force if he reasonably believes someone is about to use unlawful deadly force.  A person doesn’t have to wait for the bad thing to happen, O’Connell said.

Prosecutors say being spit on does not give anyone a reasonable belief that deadly force is imminent.

If convicted of second-degree murder, Harris could be sentenced to up to life in prison.