POUGHKEEPSIE – Jan Michael Deere, 39, of Gloversville, took the stand in his murder trial on Thursday in Dutchess County Court. Deere and co-defendant Joseph Gonzalez of Poughkeepsie are charged with the murder of Jaquan Fryar on March 30, 2024, on Main Street in Poughkeepsie. Surveillance footage of the incident shows Deere shooting the victim in the head, causing him to fall lifelessly to the ground. Gonzalez, 6’4″ and more than 300 pounds then went to Fryar’s body and began stomping on his head.
The defendants are claiming self-defense. According to Deere, his “brother” Gonzalez had gotten into a fight with Fryar and Fryar pistol-whipped him, putting Gonzalez into an unconscious state in the bar. Several patrons wrestled with Fryar, taking his handgun from him. The woman who took the gun gave it to Deere. On the stand, Deere says he gave the pistol to the intoxicated Gonzalez, who began waving it around, so he wrestled it away from him.
Fryar was spotted walking back to the bar, and Deere says Fryar was “focused on my brother (Gonzalez). Deere says Fryar reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny object, and Deere feared for his life and the life of the others, so he fired once in the direction of the victim, before running away with the weapon. “I reacted to save myself, my brother, and everyone else.” He said he eventually dumped the gun in a garbage can but couldn’t describe the exact location.
Deere, a convicted felon who was on parole at the time, admitted Thursday to breaking several conditions of his probation, including missing his curfew and then having a firearm. He told jurors that he originally lied to detectives because “I didn’t want to go back to jail.” He was unaware that the incident was captured on surveillance cameras in the neighborhood.
The trial is scheduled to continue before Dutchess County Court Judge Edward McLoughlin.
