Alton Jones, the notorious half-brother of the Skillman twins, was bent on settling a score. But he missed his target twice, instead killing two innocent bystanders in a span of three days on the streets of Trenton, prosecutors said.

His actions “literally broke” a mother’s heart – she died a year after her daughter, whom family affectionately dubbed the “snack baby” because of her affinity for sweets, was fatally shot in the stomach behind the Rowan Towers on West State Street in Trenton.

Alton Jones

Jones was sent to prison Friday for 38 years – 32 which he must serve before he could be paroled – for killing victims Rayshawn Ransom and Tierra Green, both 19, days apart in June 2013.

Jones – who fled to New Haven, Conn., and was arrested after a police standoff – pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal with prosecutors earlier this year to two counts of aggravated manslaughter.

He sat blankly and coldly while listening as the victims’ families gave tear-filled tributes to their loved ones.

Tierra Green’s parents never got to confront their daughter’s killer. Tia Green died of a heart attack Sept. 12, 2014. Her husband, Elliot Simon Jr., was murdered in Trenton on April 8, 2016.

Tiffany Hollingshead, Tierra’s aunt, said everything her sister Tia Green couldn’t say to Jones.

While she said she couldn’t hate Jones, who has a 5-year-old daughter with one of the Green family’s close friends, she admonished him for destroying three families. As she spoke, another family member held up a framed photograph of the last time Tierra and mother posed together.

“You took away three lives,” s

Rayshawn Ransom

he said. “My niece’s life, Ray’s life and your own life.”

One of Tia Green’s Facebook posts was read in court. The post, poetic and prophetic, discussed Tia’s feelings of despair and hope for justice. She talked about how her tax dollars would be funneled to a man in prison for killing her daughter “in cold blood.”

Rhythmically repeating the phrase “Free Alton Jones,” Tia said that even if Jones makes it out of prison alive, he will never be freed from Tierra’s spirit, which will “invade your sleep.”

Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Katz read a letter from Ransom’s family, written by his sister. In the letter, she said she is haunted by memories of holding her brother’s lifeless hand at the hospital along with the stench of dried blood on his body.

She said that however long Jones spends in prison it will “never be enough.”

Her sentiments mirrored Katz, who urged Judge Thomas Brown to go along with the recommended sentence.

“No matter how much time he does, it will not bring back these young people,” she said.

Prior to the judge handing down the sentence, Jones was given an opportunity to speak.

He didn’t apologize or offer any words showing he recognized the impact his actions had on the victims’ families.

The only scrap of emotion Jones showed was when he got mad at a sheriff officer for threatening to kick his family members out of the courtroom for apparently snickering at the victims’ families.

Jones had words with the sheriff officer and had to be calmed down by his attorney, Andrew Duclair.

Duclair said his client privately expressed remorse and did not intend to kill Green or Ransom.

Duclair said his client was gunning for another man whom he had squabbled with in the past. Violence erupted because Jones and a group of men had beef with people who hailed from Passaic Street.

Two other men were arrested, charged and pleaded guilty for their roles in Ransom’s death.

Duclair said nothing excused Jones’ decisions.

“My heart is broken hearing this,” Duclair said.

Two men were murdered in the parking lot of this gas station. Sept. 11, 2016 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Patriot Day in the capital city began with a bang.

Two men were shot and killed Sunday morning in the parking lot of a Shell gas station located at the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Chambers Street.

A third male shot at the gas station was transported to the hospital by a private citizen. Officials say the 19-year-old underwent emergency surgery and remains in critical condition.

Officials say detectives were already investigating a shooting that happened about three hours prior when they received information about the double homicide. When law enforcement arrived at the gas station around 3:20 a.m., they found 21-year-old Kordrese Robinson and 16-year-old Jahday Twisdale lying in the parking lot. Officials say both men were shot at least once in the head and were pronounced dead at the scene.

Police are still trying to piece together details of the incident, but officials said Robinson and Twisdale were acquaintances, and that no one has been arrested in connection with the shooting.

Kordrese Robinson (Facebook photo)

Jahday Twisdale (Facebook photo)

A woman who was at the scene around 4:30 a.m. said she received a call about the incident, but was unsure whether one of the victims was a relative. About an hour later, she received heartbreaking news from law enforcement.

“He was my grandson,” the woman who declined to be identified said. “You can’t even go to the store in this town anymore.”

As the news spread throughout the city, groups of people flocked to the shooting scene. Women cried out in grief, and men hung their heads in sorrow.

An employee at the Lukoil gas station across the street from where the shooting happened said he did not see any suspects and does not know how the incident unfolded.

South Ward Councilman George Muschal visited the murder scene around 5:45 a.m. Sunday, after receiving numerous calls about the incident. He said he decided to drive through after tearing down several signs advertising investors who buy houses on the verge of foreclosure.

“You're never going to prevent gun violence,” Muschal said, as he pulled up to the curb with about six signs that he knocked down with an ice scraper in the back of his pickup truck. “Police are doing the best they can with the manpower they have.”

Muschal said days like the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are a time to think about what really matters most in life.

“Tragedies like 9/11 change your life forever, and if people thought about that more often, they probably wouldn't take another person’s life so easily,” the councilman said. “More often than not, when murder suspects get arrested and go through trial, they cry like babies. They realize they made a big mistake, but you can never correct murder. Life is a precious thing.”

For quite some time, the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Chambers Street has been a hotspot for crime, especially late at night and during the early morning hours. Muschal said he thinks it’s time to require all gas stations in the capital city to close by 10 p.m. A city ordinance requires businesses to close by that time, but a few gas stations that were 24-hour establishments before the ordinance was passed are allowed to stay open.

“If I can get support from council, my intentions are to close them down,” Muschal said.

So far this year, 19 people have been killed in the capital city. Sunday’s murders were the second and third killings within a 48-hour period. Twenty-year-old Keyauna Hughey was shot and killed inside a Spring Street home Friday morning.

Police also say a 32-year-old male was shot about three hours prior to the double homicide while walking on Calhoun Street. The victim told police someone fired gunshots from a vehicle occupied by several people that drove past him around 12:30 a.m. Sunday. The man was shot once in his right shoulder and twice in the left side of his abdomen. He remains hospitalized in stable condition.

Anyone with information about Sunday's killings is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-989-6406. Individuals may also call the Trenton police confidential tip line at 609-989-3663 or the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at 609-278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

Two men were murdered in the parking lot of this gas station. Sept. 11, 2016 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

A wailing woman denounced a Trenton man accused of shooting a Philadelphia man to death on Halloween in 2014.

Donte Jones

The woman, who identified herself as the sister of slain 36-year-old Levonza Thompson, shouted as she walked out of court Monday that she knows accused killer Donte Jones fatally shot her brother.

“That b---- killed my brother, man,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “We keep coming her for nothing.”

Police have said Thompson was shot multiple times after he and Jones struggled. Jones was found at a home on the first block of Laurel Place, hiding under a pile of clothes in a third-floor attic, prosecutors said.

The woman grew frustrated after Jones’ attorney suggested he plans to file court papers challenging a crucial witness identification of Jones as the assailant.

Defense attorney Mark Fury told a judge that police may not have filed proper procedure when they showed a security guard a picture of his client.

Levonza Thompson (Facebook photo)

The security guard didn’t know Jones by name but recognized his face from working in the area of the murder, in the courtyard of the Oakland Park Apartments on the 200 block of Coolidge Avenue, for at least seven months, Assistant Prosecutor Skylar Weissman said.

But Fury suggested that police did not follow protocol after they got surveillance that allegedly showed the killer and showed only a single photo of Jones to the security guard. He said police should have used a photo array and the identification of Jones may have been unduly suggestive.

Judge Robert Billmeier must hold a hearing to determine whether the ID was legitimate.

Jones, who is being held in lieu of $1 million cash, has his next court appearance Dec. 19.

A Trenton gang member may have an alibi for a cold-case killing authorities thought they solved.

Notorious crime figure Ronald Smith, a reputed member of the Gangster Killer Bloods who was netted years ago in a big drug bust, may have been on an ankle bracelet that will show he was nowhere near 27-year-old Kevin Thomas when he was gunned down in September 2006, at a street light on the corner of East State and Chambers streets, his attorney said Monday.

Ronald C. Smith

Thomas was a passenger in a vehicle when a gunman in a dark-colored SUV pulled alongside him and opened fire, killing him and wounding a passenger.

Witnesses came forward pegging Smith as the gunman, but prosecutors have not disclosed a motive in the murder.

Defense attorney Mark Fury said he has identified Smith’s probation officer from 2006, and he is in the process of tracking down crucial alibi information that may ultimately exonerate his client.

Still, that didn’t make the reputed gangster and accused killer happy.

Smith, who has finished serving time at Northern State Prison in Newark where he was housed on a drug conviction, has been transferred to the Mercer County Correction Center while he awaits the resolution of the murder case.

He had been convicted of heroin distribution in Operation Capital City, which netted high-ranking members of the Gangster Killer Bloods, led by Bernard “Petey Black” Green, in 2010.

Smith was offered a plea that would send him to prison for 27 years for Thomas’ murder.

Smith argued with his attorney prior to Monday’s status conference, chastising Fury for his current predicament and urging him to file a bail reconsideration motion.

Smith is being held in lieu of $750,000, and Judge Robert Billmeier has already reconsidered bail once.

Fury believes if he can nail down the alibi information that is grounds for the judge to consider lowering Smith’s bail, which could pave the way for Smith to fight the case from the streets.

Smith told the judge he was tired of coming to court with no end in sight and wanted to waive any remaining status hearings.

“I wanna sign trial papers and go to trial,” Smith said.

The judge told him even if he did that, he has several murder cases scheduled ahead of Smith and he wouldn’t get to his case until spring 2017 at the earliest.

Fury said that going forward without the alibi information would be a “miscarriage of justice.”

Smith is due back in court Nov. 28 for plea cutoff.

File photo - Police investigate a homicide that occurred near Market Street and the Route 1 overpass. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

A city man who was struck by a vehicle last month and left in the street to die has passed away.

Edwardo Martinez, 31, died on August 31, after being hit by a vehicle three days prior.

Police say Martinez was found lying in the street by a passerby who called law enforcement.

Officials believe the hit-and-run happened around 2:40 a.m. on August 28 underneath the Route 1 overpass on Market Street.

Police have not been able to locate the driver of the vehicle and seeks assistance from the public.

If the driver is located, he or she will likely be charged with death by auto.

According to the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit, “death by auto” is considered a manslaughter and is therefore not reported as a homicide statistic.

The Trentonian, however, includes death by auto and justifiable police shootings in its yearly homicide count.

Anyone with information about the hit-and-run is asked to call Detective Craig Kirk at 609-989-4167. Or call the TPD Criminal Investigations Bureau at 609-989-4155.

Drug dealer Daniel McCargo flashed a smile toward the back of the courtroom as he was led out in handcuffs after being sent to prison for 7 years Friday on a gun charge, moments after the grandmother of a murder victim chastised him for playing a role in “destroying” her family’s life.

Daniel McCargo

McCargo, 30, was one of two men charged with the murder of 24-year-old Jahmir Hall, who was gunned down in Trenton in April 2014.

McCargo admitted being armed with a handgun the night Hall was shot to death, but ballistics revealed it wasn’t the handgun used in the murder.

Co-defendant and admitted triggerman Curtis Grier, who is free on $300,000 bail, pleaded guilty in June to a lesser charge of reckless manslaughter, prosecutor spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio said.

Prosecutors will ask a judge to send Grier to prison for 10 years when he is sentenced in October.

His attorney, Robin Lord played coy with a reporter, saying she had "no present memory" of the charge her client pleaded to. She declined further comment.

Ellen Hall, the victim’s grandmother, remembered her musically inclined grandson as a “happy-go-lucky guy” and the “fun uncle” who played video games with his nieces and nephews and bought them snacks.

She said when Grier and McCargo got together April 19, 2014 they “took a part of us,” referring to the fatal shooting.

“I still try to remember what his voice was like,” she said.

Malaeika Montgomery, McCargo’s attorney, was careful to point out that her client did not plead guilty to any charges related to Hall’s death under terms of a plea deal that led to the dismissal of murder charges.

McCargo had previously turned down a deal from prosecutors that would have called for his to testify against Grier.

Prosecutors conceded they would have a hard time proving McCargo shared Grier’s intent to kill.

Surveillance showed McCargo standing outside a black Mercedes Benz while Grier shot Hall on Quinton Avenue. Grier was not captured in the footage, prosecutors had said, but gunshots could be heard.

Authorities spotted the two men in a vehicle matching a description. McCargo attempted to hide a black handgun – the one he admitted to having.

Prosecutors had said McCargo was “complicit” in Hall’s murder because he did not contact police and drove around with Grier for a half-hour after the murder, until they were stopped by police.

McCargo had the hard-knock life prior to getting wrapped up in Hall’s death.

His own mother was murdered in 2004, and his imprisoned father has never been a part of his life.

McCargo turned to drugs at a young age. He first smoked marijuana at 9 years old, tasting alcohol for the first time two years later. At 16, he began popping Percocet.

The high school dropout has spent most of his life jobless, save for the two months he spent as a cook at Fort Dix.

He was arrested and convicted as a minor, and got wrapped up in the criminal justice system as an adult in 2005, when he was convicted of having a handgun.

McCargo also has prior felonies for drug dealing.

Thanking Hall’s grandmother for the strength and resilience it took to share her story, Judge Peter Warshaw said Hall met a fate too common in Trenton.

“Too many victims,” he said, “too many conversations like this. This is what happens when guns take over the street. Somebody dies. Somebody goes to jail. It’s a sad reality that has to stop.”

A man was shot and killed on East Stuyvesant Avenue. September 18, 2016 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

A city man was gunned down Sunday afternoon, and according to citizens, there were more than one shooter, one of whom stomped on the victim's head after he dropped to the ground.

Police found 19-year-old Lance Beckett lying in the street on East Stuyvesant Avenue around 2:50 p.m. suffering from numerous gunshot wounds. Beckett was pronounced dead at the scene.

Citizens in the area said they heard five gunshots, and one man said the final shot sounded different than the first four, leading him to believe there were two shooters.

Lance Beckett aka Lance Poole (Facebook photo)

Other citizens at the scene also reported there were two shooters, and one man said Beckett was stomped after being shot.

"After they shot him, one of them ran over and stomped on his head," the man who asked to remain anonymous said.

As news of the murder spread throughout the city, residents rushed to the corner of Prospect Street and East Stuyvesant Avenue. Women wept in sorrow as they shared memories of the victim, whom they say has a relative who was murdered in 2007.

Lance Beckett is related to Arnold Poole, a member of the Gangster Killer Bloods who was murdered after a fashion show in Ewing in 2007. In fact, Beckett often used the Poole last name.

The area where the murder happened is the same place in which a 71-year-old man was shot in the butt earlier this month. In that shooting, the man was near the intersection of East Stuyvesant Avenue and Marion Street when he suddenly heard gunshots, ran, then realized he was struck in the buttocks. The man, whom police say was an innocent bystander, was later released from the hospital after being treated for non-life-threatening wounds.

Citizens who live near where the shootings happened say East Stuyvesant Avenue is not as violent as other parts of Stuyvesant. The two avenues are separated by Prospect Street, and residents say the criminal activity that happens on Stuyvesant rarely spills over onto East Stuyvesant.

"We normally don't have shootings on this block," a man who asked to remain anonymous said. "But, this is the second shooting to happen here in recent weeks."

In fact, residents say, no one actually lives on East Stuyvesant Avenue. Police had a large portion of the street blocked on Sunday, but it appears as if East Stuyvesant is mostly lined with garages. The rear of homes located on Rutherford Avenue are accessible from East Stuyvesant, though.

So far this year, 21 people have been killed in the capital city, which includes the police-involved shooting death of Alfred Toe and the hit-and-run death of Edwardo Martinez.

As of press time, no one has been arrested in connection with Sunday's murder.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or contact the Trenton Police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663. Individuals may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

Police investigate a murder on East Stuyvesant Avenue. September 18, 2016 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

A suspected accomplice in the 2013 murder of a Trenton graffiti artist is close to reaching a deal with prosecutors.

Zihqwan Clemens

Zihqwan “Woodiey” Clemens, who was charged as an accomplice to the murder of Andre Corbett after he allegedly acted as another man’s wheelman, could reach an agreement with prosecutors as early as this month, officials said Tuesday at a status hearing.

The plea deal is expected to package together the murder case and a probation violation from a drug conviction for which Clemens had received five years at the beginning of the year.

The 5-year sentence, handed down by Judge Robert in January, came back on appeal.

Clemens was supposed to be re-sentenced on VOP hearing Tuesday. But instead, the matter was postponed after Assistant Prosecutor James Scott told the court he and Clemens’ new attorney, Mark Fury, are close to resolving the matters.

The case is being transferred to Judge Anthony Massi. A new court date has not been set.

The attorneys would not delve into specifics of the forthcoming plea deal after the hearing, saying they couldn’t discuss proposed terms of the deal until it has been worked out.

Prosecutors’ last offer to Clemens was 30 years for murder, which he rejected.

Clemens is accused of being Keith Wells-Holmes’ getaway driver in the killing of Corbett, who was gunned down at point-blank range Jan. 21, 2013, outside an apartment complex on the corner of Hoffman Avenue and Oakland Street.

Wells-Holmes, the suspected killer, was acquitted last year at trial.

His attorney blamed another man for the murder, pointing to subtle differences in clothing and mannerisms between her client and the man she contended was the actual killer.

Clemens’ last attorney, Andrew Duclair, has said Wells-Holmes’ acquittal was the coup de grâce in prosecutors’ case against Clemens.

But Scott refused to drop murder charges against Clemens, and Duclair suggested it was because prosecutors were not pleased with the way he testified in Wells-Holmes’ murder trial.

Clemens received immunity to testify against Well-Holmes, but claimed on the stand neither man was involved in Corbett’s murder.

Stephen Merrill

The man who was brutally beaten while walking home earlier this month has died in the hospital. He was very active in Trenton's arts and music community, and his death has saddened all who knew him.

"He was the kind of guy who makes the city of Trenton special," TC Nelson, owner of Trenton Social, told The Trentonian after hearing the news Thursday. "He was supportive of everything and everyone who was trying to do something positive in the city."

Stephen Merrill, 60, was brutally beaten around 3 a.m. August 2 in the 900 block of Lamberton Street. He suffered a brain bleed, a collapsed lung, facial fractures, a broken arm and broken ribs. Merrill died in the hospital Wednesday after being taken off of life support. An autopsy to determine the official cause and manner of his death is scheduled for Friday.

Jonathan Weathers, 25, was arrested last week and charged with attempted murder and robbery in connection with the beating. His charges will likely be upgraded to murder.

"Stephen was well-known and well-liked by everyone who hangs out at Trenton Social," Nelson said. "He was a really nice guy and everyone's upset about the incident. They're left with a big question mark: How does this happen to such a nice guy? It seems like it was just a random act of violence, and it makes no sense."

At Weathers’ bail hearing Wednesday, prosecutors said his girlfriend provided an eyewitness account detailing how he beat Merrill within inches of his life, then stole his wallet, cash, a Samsung phone and a Fitbit watch. Prosecutors say the woman’s statement is corroborated, in part, by surveillance video.

Prosecutors say Weathers was driving his girlfriend’s Nissan Maxima on South Broad Street when he saw Merrill walking alone. Weathers asked his girlfriend what she “thought about him,” prosecutors say, and she told Weathers not to rob him.

Jonathan Weathers

Weathers then got mad at his girlfriend, cursed at her, and drove the car to a side street, where he parked and jumped out of the vehicle. Prosecutors say he told the woman to switch to the driver’s seat while he approached the victim.

The woman told police she saw Weathers hit Merrill, and that they both fell onto the sidewalk, out of view. Weathers then stole Merrill’s property, ran back to the car and told his girlfriend to drive.

Merrill was left unconscious on the ground to die, officials say, but the man’s neighbors found him and called police.

"This is terrible," city artist and Executive Director of Artworks Lauren Otis said via text message Thursday morning after hearing Merrill died.

"Stephen was an active member of the Trenton Photo Club," Chris Marinari said. "He was a great guy. Trenton needs more people like him that are enthusiastic about the future of the city and how we can make it better. But because of some random, senseless act, we now have one less. It's a very sad day."

Nelson said Merrill was at Trenton Social on the evening before the brutal beating, but left the bar sometime before midnight.

"I remember seeing him at my place the night before, but the incident happened much later," Nelson said. "We were cooperative with the police investigation and tried to help them piece together the timeline. But Stephen wasn't here until closing time. I saw him here around 10 or 11 p.m. I don't know where he went after that."

According to prosecutors, at some point during the escape after the beating, Weathers switched seats with his girlfriend and drove to a gas station, where he used Merrill’s credit card to purchase cigarettes and gas.

Later, Weathers unsuccessfully tried to burn Merrill’s wallet, and then stashed the victim’s cellphone in the bushes outside of his girlfriend’s home, according to prosecutors.

Weathers eventually disposed of the cellphone by throwing it out of a car window, and he tossed Merrill’s wallet into the sewer, prosecutors said.

Detective Sgt. Anthony Manzo of the Violent Crimes Unit later watched surveillance footage from the night of the beating and recognized Weathers as the suspect. Manzo knew Weathers from previous encounters in the city. Weathers was arrested Aug. 10, after police saw him driving the Nissan Maxima, which was captured in the surveillance video.

When police stopped the vehicle, they arrested Weathers in connection with active local warrants. Further investigation developed enough probable cause to charge Weathers in connection with the robbery.

Weathers has been arrested four times for various offenses ranging from aggravated assault to drug distribution. He has three felony convictions and has served prison time — most recently in 2013, prosecutors said.

When he attacked Merrill, prosecutors say, Weathers was out on bail after pleading guilty to a domestic violence charge involving his girlfriend — the same woman who gave police a statement about the robbery. Weathers was not supposed to be with the woman at the time of the crime because she had a restraining order against him, prosecutors said.

In the domestic violence case, Weathers was accused of punching and slapping the woman, and then stealing her cellphone. He was charged with robbery and burglary, but under terms of a plea deal he admitted only to the latter. He was expected to receive a sentence that would have kept him out of jail, but now faces the possibility of life in prison if he is convicted on murder charges.

Weathers’ attorney said he did not intend to kill Merrill.

Nelson said Merrill has grown kids who live outside of the city, but often visited Trenton Social with their father. Nelson described Merrill as an avid photographer who loved children and the outdoors.

"He was big into photography and took some great pictures of my son," Nelson said. "He loved kids, and he was always riding his bike or kayaking on the river. He was supportive of everything that was going on in the city music-wise and art-wise. He was involved and he was plugged in."

Weathers is being held in the county jail. His bail was set at $500,000 for the robbery and attempted murder charges, which will likely be upgraded.

— Trentonian staff writer Isaac Avilucea contributed to this report.

Former Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie had a “heart as big as this world” and the swagger of a GQ model, his colleagues and family members said.

Elaine Batie, Carl’s mother, daubed her eyes while remembering the moment her second-oldest son was placed into her arms on March 3, 1985. She smiled so much her “cheeks began to hurt.”

Maurice Skillman

That smile disappeared Nov 11, 2012, when Batie was shot in the head while celebrating the re-election of President Barack Obama with his brother, Karshawn, at a Trenton banquet hall.

“That smile I had on my face for 27 years became a frown,” Elaine Batie said. “Every day I think he’s coming home through the front door from a long day at work.”

Before a packed courtroom Friday in Mercer County criminal court, a judge handed life sentences to two city men for their roles in taking Batie’s life.

Maurice Skillman, 30, and Hykeem Tucker, 29, who were convicted following a second trial in June, were set to prison for 75 years for the murder of Batie.

They received consecutive 18-month terms for nearly striking a bouncer who was perched on a wood stoop monitoring the crowd at the Baldassari Regency banquet hall in the early-morning hours, when Skillman opened fire 22 times with a semi-automatic handgun.

Tucker’s sentence was harsher than the 55 years Assistant Prosecutor James Scott asked for, saying he felt that even though he was an accomplice Tucker was less responsible because didn’t pull the trigger.

Judge Andrew Smithson said, in handing down the life terms, he felt prosecutors would have asked for the death penalty if it hadn’t been abolished in 2007.

“These are the cases that try judges’ souls,” he said.

The judge said Skillman had a “terrorist” mentality when he fired at the crowd 22 times and called his decision “an incredibly cowardly act of violence.”

“The only way you can deter him is by keeping him away from people,” Smithson said. “The miracle here was that no one else was hit.”

Turning to Tucker, the judge said the men were “two peas in a pod.”

Carl Batie

They planned the shooting together, hid a Tec-9 gun in the area and lurked in the shadows until they saw an opportunity around 1:15 a.m. as people were getting ready to leave the packed establishment.

Tucker acted as a lookout while Skillman opened fired – all of it captured on grainy surveillance tapes that were the foundation of prosecutors’ case.

Skillman maintained his innocence and will appeal his conviction. He said he prays for Batie’s family and sends his condolences. He apologized for “everything” they have been through.

Tucker, who didn’t speak, claimed in a pre-sentencing report that he was on Percocet and Xanax at the time of the shooting.

Skillman turned to the back of the family and told family members he loved them as he was led from the court.

Tucker’s attorney, Christopher Campbell, asked the judge for a 30-year sentence and expressed shock at the outcome.

“It was surprising, particularly when the state appeared to be not seeking an equivalent sentence,” he said. “I think the decision was more of a legal decision that both were charged with the same crime and the jury found them guilty of the same thing.”

A jury deliberated roughly 40 minutes at the retrial before convicting the men without asking any questions or reviewing the tapes a second time.

Jurors in the first trial were unable to determine whether it was Skillman and Tucker on the tapes and came back deadlocked.

For the judge, the tapes were definitive and were the only reason prosecutors convicted the men.

“[Tucker] was with him right down the line,” Smithson said. “That video will stay with me forever.”

Hykeem Tucker

Mercer County corrections officer Chanique Veal, who started at the same time as Batie in 2007, told the judge there were “no winners” in the case. She hoped the spirit of Batie, a magnanimous man who loved to dress up and bred dogs in his spare time, ”continues to shine.”

She said Batie’s mother was his “superhero” and praised her for her strength and resilience for enduring two trials.

Elaine Batie said her son’s death forced her into early retirement. She recalled the moments he has missed and lamented he doesn’t get to see his newborn nephew.

“I know this pain with last for life,” Elaine Batie said.

She hopes one day she can forgive Skillman and Tucker.

“Justice was done,” she said outside the courtroom. “And I pray for the city of Trenton.”

Jonathan Weathers

Charges filed against a Trenton man accused of brutally beating a well-respected member of the capital city’s arts and music community have been upgraded to murder.

Jonathan Weathers, 25, has been charged with murder and felony murder in connection with the death of 60-year-old Stephen Merrill.

Weathers has been in jail ever since his August 10 arrest for allegedly beating Merrill on Lamberton Street the week prior.

Weathers’ girlfriend told police he was driving her car around 3 a.m. on Aug. 2 when the pair saw Merrill walking alone. Weathers asked his girlfriend what she “thought about him,” prosecutors say, and she told Weathers not to rob him.

Weathers then parked the car on a side street and told his girlfriend to switch to the driver’s seat while he approached Merrill.

Prosecutors say Weathers attacked Merrill and stole his wallet, cash, a Samsung phone and a Fitbit watch. Weathers later drove to a gas station, where he used Merrill’s credit card to purchase cigarettes and gas, according to prosecutors.

Stephen Merrill

Merrill suffered a brain bleed, a collapsed lung, facial fractures, a broken arm and broken ribs. His neighbors found him unconscious on the ground and called police.

Police used surveillance video to identify Weathers as the person who robbed Merrill, and Weathers’ girlfriend provided an eyewitness account to law enforcement.

Merrill died in the hospital 15 days after the brutal attack, after being taken off of life support.

“[Stephen] was the kind of guy who makes the city of Trenton special,” TC Nelson, owner of Trenton Social, previously told The Trentonian. “He was supportive of everything and everyone who was trying to do something positive in the city.”

Merrill's friends say he was a regular volunteer at Art All Night, as well as an active member of the Trenton Photo Club.

Weathers’ bail for the murder charges was set at $1,000,000.

A man was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer here in the 500 block of Roosevelt Street.

A city man was shot and killed Saturday night after he allegedly tried to wrestle a handgun away from an off-duty police officer.

The incident happened around 9:50 p.m. Saturday in the 500 block of Roosevelt Street where the off-duty officer was attending a post-funeral gathering.

Officials say 30-year-old Constantine Toe and his brother Alfred Toe, 34, attended the funeral and gathering as well.

Prosecutors say Constantine was shot in the hand while trying to disarm Alfred during an altercation involving several men at the gathering, which prompted intervention from the officer.

After hearing the gunshot, prosecutors say, an armed off-duty Trenton Police officer drew his weapon, ordered Constantine onto the ground and confiscated the handgun he took from his brother.

The officer was holding both handguns, prosecutors say, when Alfred tried to grab one of the weapons from him.

During the struggle, Alfred was shot once in the chest, according to prosecutors in the case. He later died at the hospital.

Prosecutors did not disclose the name of the officer involved in the shooting. But several sources confirmed that Officer Sheehan Miles was the person who was struggling with Alfred when the gun fired. Sources say Miles was with a female companion, whom also attended the funeral and gathering, and that he was “very close-by” when he heard the shot that injured Constantine.

Miles has been on the force for more than 13 years and earns a yearly salary of $91,871, according to public records. He suffered injuries to his arm and hand earlier this year while breaking up a street fight on North Broad Street.

Dating back to 2013, there has been at least one police-involved shooting in the capital city each year.

In May 2013, 38-year-old Gerald Murphy was shot and killed by police during a 37-hour standoff in a Grand Street home after he killed his girlfriend, her 13-year-old son, and held the woman’s three other children hostage at gunpoint.

Then, in August 2013, Eric McNeil, 23, was justifiably shot and killed by police after he ambushed two detectives as they were escorting a domestic violence victim back to her Hobart Avenue home.

In November 2014, 31-year-old Darnell Stafford was shot and killed by cops after he fired gunshots through the windshield of their police cruiser on Wilson Street.

And last year, police shot 23-year-old Jeremiah Sanchez in the neck and arm after he allegedly hit an officer with his car while fleeing from the first block of Chestnut Avenue. Sanchez survived the shooting.

The Trentonian will include Toe's death in its yearly homicide count, and will differentiate between homicides and murders in its end of year review. But TPD and state police do not include justifiable police killings in yearly homicide statistics. This year’s homicide toll is now 15.

Two teens were arrested in connection with the murder of Lance Beckett in the city's West Ward last Sunday.

Quashawn Emanuel

Acting Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri told The Trentonian that the Homicide Task Force arrested 18-year-old Quashawn Emanuel and a 17-year-old, both of whom are Trenton residents, for the murder on East Stuyvesant Avenue.

The pair was charged with murder, possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

Emanuel is currently being held on one-million dollars cash bail. The juvenile is being housed in the Middlesex County Youth Correctional facility.

The victim, Lance Beckett, 19, of Trenton was gunned down on East Stuyvesant Avenue, and according to witnesses at the scene he was stomped after being shot.

So far this year, 21 people have been killed in the capital city, which includes the police-involved shooting death of Alfred Toe and the hit-and-run death of Edwardo Martinez. While the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit considers “death by auto” a manslaughter it does not as a homicide statistic.

The Trentonian includes death by auto and justifiable police shootings in its yearly homicide count.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or contact the Trenton Police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663. Individuals may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

A city man is accused of luring another man to his death in a Trenton alley in a heinous city murder potential involving two others, prosecutors said.

Quashawn Emanuel

Quashawn Emanuel, 18, admitted to authorities he knew he was helping set up 19-year-old Lance Beckett to be fatally shot on Sept. 18, Assistant Prosecutor Tim Ward said at a bail hearing Tuesday.

Beckett was also apparently stomped out after being shot in an alley on East Stuyvesant Avenue in Trenton’s West Ward.

A 17-year-old boy, also from Trenton, has also been charged in connection with Beckett’s murder.

His role in the brutal slaying remains unclear as his charges are being heard, at the moment, in juvenile court.

Prosecutors may waive him up as an adult to faces charges of murder, possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. They normally have 30 days to do so.

Authorities are also seeking a third suspect in the case, who was apparently with the two suspects when Beckett was shot. No arrests have been announced.

Ward did not say at Emanuel’s bail hearing whether authorities believe the unidentified third suspect, who apparently remains on the loose, or the 17-year-old boy pulled the trigger.

Emanuel was charged as an accomplice to the Sept 18. murder, which happened shortly before 3 p.m. near a grassy and wooded area in the city’s West Ward. Police said Beckett was suffering gun shot wounds when they found him sprawled out near East Stuyvesant Avenue, Ward said.

Lance Beckett (Facebook photo)

Three witnesses said they saw three black men run away from the scene. One appeared to be wearing a red and gray shirt, the witness told police.

Detectives combed through surveillance zeroed in on Beckett and the man in the red who allegedly helped shoot him dead.

Authorities tracked down Emanuel at a home in Lumberton Township in Burlington County, Ward said. He agreed to speak with authorities. Back at headquarters, they showed him surveillance stills of the man in the red.

Emanuel identified himself as the man in the red, Ward said. He denied shooting Beckett to death, but admitted to authorities he knew he was sleepwalking the 20-year-old to his death, Ward said.

Emanuel has had “steady contact with the juvenile justice system” over the years, Ward said. He spent time locked up at a juvenile detention center on robbery and weapons convictions, Ward said.

He was popped with drugs in June, right before his 18th birthday, Ward said.

Despite his young age, Emanuel has fathered two children, his attorney said. He maintains his innocence, despite the apparent confession prosecutors lauded at the bail hearing.

A judge kept Emanuel’s bail at $1 million; the 17-year-old boy is being housed in the Middlesex County Youth Correctional facility.

A defense attorney for one of two suspects charged in the sensational Route 29 Statehouse slay in 2012 put on a “dog food” and pony show in court Tuesday.

Defense attorney Patrick O’Hara attacked prosecutors’ case against murder suspect Andre Romero in his opening statement, telling jurors that no matter how the state dresses it up, they’ll be left with “dog food.”

Murder victim Daquan Dowling

“The state has two wonderful cooks,” O’Hara said. “The meal is only as good as the ingredients, and the main ingredient is dog food. You’re gonna wonder how they were ever chefs.”

O’Hara didn’t delve into specifics about why he says his client is innocent of committing the Jan. 30, 2012 murder, which closed down Route 29 for several hours.

The adrenaline-crazed attorney stopped short of bringing a unicorn into the courtroom, to complete the dog food and pony show.

Driven around in a stolen black Chrysler Sebring with its passenger-side windows down, co-defendant William “Bill Bill” Mitchell and Romero are accused of lighting up Daquan Dowling’s white Ford Taurus as it traveled northbound, in the slow lane, along Route 29 around dusk.

Mitchell was in the front passenger seat, Romero in the back, when they riddled the side of the Taurus with bullets, instantly killing Dowling after he was struck in the head, prosecutors said.

Assistant Prosecutor Bill Haumann said Dowling’s vehicle careened out of control and clipped the suspects’ Sebring as it paralleled it down the highway.

“What erupted was nothing short of mayhem,” he said.

Two other men, Jamar Square and Anthony Marks, were inside the Sebring with the alleged shooters when gunfire erupted near the Statehouse.

They accepted plea bargains to lesser charges and are expected to participate in the trial.

After the collision caused them to spin out of control, the four men abandoned their car, leaving it in drive, and fled on foot – discarding guns and clothing along their escape route, Haumann said.

In the hurried panic to get away, Mitchell forgot his cell phone under the seat, the prosecutor said.

The driverless Sebring got turned around and, motoring southbound, crashed head-on into another driver.

The Taurus continued northbound for a half-mile before slamming into yellow sand barrels near Memorial Drive.

The suspects ran toward the William Trent House on Market Street, scaling a wall and leaving behind a gun, another cell phone and a hat with attached dreadlocks, Haumann said.

The 23-year-old Dowling was left slumped over center console.

Prior to the shooting, the quartet stopped at Mitchell’s home in East Trenton, where they armed themselves with a cache of guns – a .357 Smith & Wesson for Square; a .45-caliber for Romero and a snub-nosed, semi-automatic .357 magnum revolver for Mitchell, prosecutors said.

They went to Lamberton Liquors on Cass Street in South Trenton.

While they were in the parking lot, they spotted the Ford Taurus and began following it.

Prosecutors’ case is built on photos, surveillance and what people say happened.

More than 90 people are on the witness list, but prosecutors expect to call a fraction of those people, including a State Police ballistics expert and someone from the FBI with electronics expertise.

Christopher Campbell, Mitchell’s attorney, urged jurors to take the position of “convince me.”

He believes the case will leave jurors wanting more to be firmly convinced his client was involved.

Echoing as much, O’Hara added: “Just because they say it’s so doesn’t make it so. If they it’s so is it really so?”

Talk about a downward departure.

The plea deal went from 25 years with cooperation for a man charged with murder to a dozen years – without any explanation from prosecutors.

Grady A. Blue III

Grady Blue III, 23, jumped at the plea deal Friday in Mercer County criminal court.

In doing so, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter for fatally shooting Naquan Ellis, 23, as he was stood with a group of people outside of the North 25 housing complex in June 2014.

A woman was also hit by gunfire but did not sustain serious injuries.

Blue, who also pleaded to an unrelated gun charge, admitted shooting “recklessly” into the crowd, but didn’t say why or who he was targeting.

His agreement calls for him to serve 12 years for killing Ellis and a concurrent 7-year term on the gun charge, which are expected to be imposed by Judge Thomas Brown at sentencing in November.

Prosecutors sweetened their offer to Blue, who had been floated a deal last year that called for him to serve 30 years for murder.

Assistant Prosecutor Kathleen Petrucci also offered an alternative deal at that time that would have called for Blue to spend 25 years in prison if he cooperated with prosecutors in another case. Petrucci declined to go into detail about what case prosecutors wanted Blue’s help in.

It was not clear if his 12-year deal includes the same terms of cooperation.

A key witness who was allegedly held hostage by a group of men charged with killing a Liberian immigrant in 2011 has “gone off the grid” after he received phone calls and threatening letters from two suspects in Trenton’s infamous “trunk case,” prosecutors said.

Now Mercer County prosecutors must decide in the next four months whether to charge suspected triggerman Danuweli Keller and co-defendant Mack Edwards with witness tampering in one of Mercer County’s oldest murder cases.

Prosecutors were scheduled to deliver opening statements this week in the suspected killers’ murder trial but it has been pushed back to February because of the witness tampering allegations.

The two accused killers are being tried along with Phobus Sullivan for the execution-style slaying of Dardar Paye, a Liberian immigrant and U.S. veteran who was kidnapped, robbed and shot inside the basement of a Monmouth Street home on Jan. 16, 2011 in Trenton.

Paye’s body was placed in garbage bags and stuffed in the trunk of a Buick, which one of the suspects drove while attempting to dispose of the body.

The suspects were apprehended following a high-speed car chase involving three vehicles – one carrying Paye’s body – that began in Trenton and ended in Pennsylvania, where police used spike streets to stop some of the fleeing suspects, prosecutors said.

The three men are also accused of carjacking, kidnapping and robbing another city man months before the murder.

Assistant Prosecutor Michael Grillo revealed at a hearing prior to the start of the murder trial that his office intercepted several phones calls between Keller and witness and kidnap victim Alfonso Slaughter.

In the phone calls, Keller advised Slaugher to “lay low” because detectives from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office are going to be looking for him to come testify at the murder trial, Grillo said.

The phone calls were accompanied by threatening letters, sent to the home of one of Slaughter’s relatives.

Prosecutors further alleged Keller and Mack sent a courier to Slaughter to get him to sign a statement recanting what he told authorities about being taken hostage, locked in a basement, strapped to a chair and robbed at gunpoint of jewelry and cash on Halloween night 2010.

Slaughter eventually escaped and gave authorities a detailed account of the terrifying ordeal, prosecutors said.

“This has been an ongoing campaign to subvert the criminal justice system,” Grillo said.

The calls were made on recorded lines at the Mercer County Correction Center, Grillo said, some coming days after prosecutors subpoenaed Slaughter on Sept. 5 to come testify.

Prosecutors played portions of the tapes for the suspects’ defense attorneys.

In one alleged exchange, Keller tells Slaughter, “They’re gonna be on you. They’re gonna be looking for you. You gotta lay low. The judge isn’t going to put up that buls---. He’s not gonna put [the trial] off a third time. You just gotta lay low. I’ll be home by Thanksgiving.”

Another time, Keller puts Edwards on the phone with Slaughter, urging him not to cooperate with prosecutors.

Slaughter supposedly responds, “Don’t worry. You guys got nothing to worry about. I won’t bring no harm on you if you don’t bring no harm on me.”

Slaughter apparently told Keller people visited him at his home.

Keller didn’t seemed surprised, Grillo said, warning Slaughter to be careful.

“I know. Those people are on some crazy sh--. You gotta stay away from them.”

Then the week of Sept. 24, two “startling” unsigned letters arrived at Slaughter’s house, Grillo said.

They made it clear what would happen if Slaughter testified. “If you come to court, anyone can get it.”

Grillo said the letter contained similar language Edwards used on one of the calls with Slaughter.

The suspects’ attorneys dismissed the phone calls and letters and asked a judge to move forward with the trial.

Mark Fury, Keller’s attorney, said his client and Slaughter knew each other prior to the kidnapping case and talked weekly for five years.

They’d discuss “social relations in the street and sporting events,” Fury said, stressing his client never threatened Slaughter.

About the letters, Fury said, he didn’t know who wrote them.

In a phone interview with The Trentonian, Fury would say is his client was “locked up” and didn’t pressure Slaughter into not coming forward.

Slaughter was expected to tell jurors about his horrifying encounter with the three suspects months before in the same basement where Paye was shot and killed.

But he did not show for an evidentiary hearing Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday’s opening statements, and has been almost completely unreachable.

Grillo said a detective briefly spoke to Slaughter earlier this week.

Since then, detectives have been unable to track down Slaughter, who has a plea bargain with prosecutors in an unrelated drug case.

Fury termed the witness’ unexpected absence a “procedural dilemma” for prosecutors, leading the judge to declare a mistrial since a jury had already been impaneled.

Grillo said his office is still investigating the witness tampering allegations but will likely ask a grand jury in the coming months to return a superseding indictment against Keller and Mack, which could further complicate the multi-defendant case.

Two other suspects are being tried separately and another has struck a deal with prosecutors.

The four-month setback in the trunk case, which earned its name after defense lawyers tried to get Paye’s body suppressed from evidence by claiming cops illegally searched the car trunk, marks the latest delay for a case that has dragged on for more than five years.

It has been derailed in the past by a series of lawyer blunders.

Keller has gone through several attorneys in that span.

One of his former counselors, famed New Jersey defense attorney Richie Roberts, was bounced from the murder case after he was suspended from the practice of law earlier this year.

A new trial date has been tentatively set for Feb. 27, 2017.

Defendants Williams Brown and Abdutawab Kiazolu are being tried separately, while a sixth man named in an indictment has admitted his role in Paye’s fatal shooting and struck a deal with prosecutors to testify at trial.

Keller’s phone privileges at the county jail have been revoked. He complained to Judge Robert Billmeier when he was told he is only allowed to call his attorney for the next few months.

“You forfeited that right,” the judge said. “When you abuse your privilege, this court will take action.”

Former Deputy Attorney General Ellen Balint testified Wednesday in the murder trial of two city men that while she was walking from the Hughes Justice Complex toward her car after getting out of work on the evening of Jan. 30, 2012 she was startled by the cackle of gunfire and screeching tires.

Murder victim Daquan Dowling

She didn’t know it at the time, but 23-year-old Daquan Dowling had just been shot in the head as he and a friend motored northbound in the slow lane of Route 29, in a callous drive-by execution that shut down the busy highway for hours, prosecutors said.

Dowling slumped over the car console, his bloodied head landing in the lap of his shell-shocked passenger.

Prosecutors showed photos of the blood-soaked interior of Dowling's Ford Taurus. And a supervising sergeant from the Trenton Police department held up for jurors to inspect the apparent blood-spattered shirt and sweater of Dowling's friend, who was riding shotgun when the horror unfolded.

Balint testified that she was initially confused when she heard a single loud pop around 6:30 p.m., right as the dark of winter settled on the capital city.

“I thought it was a blown tire,” she said.

That was followed by a succession of three more shots. Only then she realized, “That sounds more like a gun. You're not gonna have that many blowouts at once.”

What followed, described by prosecutors’ in opening statements last week as pure “mayhem,” was the sounds of doors slamming, people yelling and cars crashing, Balint said.

“I was like, ‘Wow, what's going on?’” she said.

Prosecutors said what was going on was a cold-blooded execution by suspected killers Andre Romero and William “Bill Bill” Mitchell, who riddled Dowling’s car with bullets as they drove by in stolen Chrysler Sebring.

The Sebring, which was owned by a city woman who also testified Wednesday, had been lifted from outside of crime-riddled La Guira bar at the intersection of Poplar Street and North Clinton Avenue.

Balint, who worked for the state Attorney General’s Office for 16 years, was the first witness put on the stand who caught a glimpse of the suspected killers, though she didn’t know that at the time.

She normally parked in the underground garage of the massive Market Street justice complex. But on this day her car was in a visitors parking lot closest to the nearby William Trent House, where Mitchell, Romero and two others allegedly fled after lighting up Dowling’s car and bailing out of the crashed Sebring.

Shortly after the shot rang out, Balint heard footsteps and “sharp and urgent” shouts from four men but she couldn’t make out the words.

They scaled a brick wall of the museum that Balint estimated was about six feet tall. She said the men, whom she said appeared to be African American, all looked  about as tall as the wall or taller.

She couldn’t make out faces and only clothes of two of four, who were dressed in Carhartt overalls and tan work boots, and another in a ball cap.

Balint said she the men appeared to coming from the direction of Route 29, where the drive-by murder had occurred, and seemed in a rush.

They hopped off the wall, picked up their pants, unruffled their jackets and walked down Warren Street, casually, so not to arouse suspicion, Balint said.

Balint didn’t call the cops that night but spoke to detectives the next day, while they were still processing the crime scene. She told them all she knew, which she admitted wasn’t much.

Balint may not have given prosecutors a vivid glimpse of the faces of the suspected killers.

But they believe a trail of evidence leading from the highway to the Trent House – including bullet casings, abandoned guns, pieces of clothing and a phone apparently belonging to one of the suspects left inside the stolen car – is enough to send Romero and Mitchell away for life.

They also expect to get a big boost from at least one of the two of the men who were in the car with Romero. They both struck plea deals and are expected to participate in the trial.

An electronics expert from the FBI also took the stand and testified that he examined Mitchell’s phone.

A parade of police officers was also brought into to discuss finer points of the investigation – from the autopsy that concluded Dowling’s death as a homicide to how Trenton Police processed the sprawling crime scene on a blustery night in the dead of winter.

The trial resumes Thursday.

Prosecutors must be throwing a fall blowout sale after a Trenton man essentially paid for one crime and got another free in murder and attempted murder cases.

Dashawn Bethea admitted Thursday to aggravated manslaughter and aggravated assault in two violent cases in Trenton and will spend less than two decades behind bars under terms of his deal with prosecutors.

He fired a .40 caliber handgun into a crowd on the 400 block of Stuyvesant Avenue on June 9, 2013 while walking with his father, Charles Boston, back from a nearby store.

Bethea missed bicyclists who were his intended targets, and a stray bullet struck Berkeley McDaniel, 61, in the head, killing him. Bethea also wounded his father, who suffered a gunshot wound to his shoulder. Boston recovered from his injuries.

Police found spent .40 caliber shell casings at the scene, along with a broken cell phone, a bicycle, and an ammunition magazine.

Bethea was indicted in the June 2013 murder and also faced attempted murder and weapons offenses in a separate case for shooting two victims. His plea deal calls for him to serve 14 years for manslaughter, and seven years for aggravated assault – both of which he will serve concurrently.

The deal is far better than the 30 years previously extended to Bethea for murder.

It’s the second time in the last week Mercer County prosecutors have agreed to lenient deals with murder suspects – perhaps suggesting their cases weren’t strong.

Grady Blue III, 23, jumped at a plea deal last Friday, in admitting to a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter for fatally shooting Naquan Ellis, 23, as he was stood with a group of people outside of the North 25 housing complex in June 2014.

Blue’s deal calls for him to serve 12 years in the slammer.

Bethea’s sentencing date was not immediately available. He remains jailed on $1 million bail.

A disabled Trenton man who took special education classes throughout high school and whose IQ is far below average is viewed by prosecutors as a “lying murderer,” his defense attorney said.

And now a real gangster who may be a “professional cooperator,” having ratted on other Trenton men for murder and attempted murder, has pointed the finger at Robert Smith for the drive-by killing of Sidique Richardson-Howlen.

The state-approved snitch and apparent member of the 793 Bloods, Hector Maldonado, has his own problems. He was one of several members indicted in a massive racketeering case leveled against the violent street gang.

In exchange for a plea bargain, Maldonado has come forward with information implicating Smith for allegedly knowing what was about to go down when he got behind the wheel of his mother’s station wagon in April 2013.

Smith’s defense attorney contends in court papers that police and prosecutors pinned the murder on Smith and didn’t investigate whether one of the Galilee Baptist Church shooters was the real killer.

Further, prosecutors have asked a judge to exclude a defense expert who will testify about Smith’s educational difficulties and mental limitations, claiming her report offers inappropriate opinions about the murder suspect’s credibility.

Smith was at a carnival near Route 29 and Cass Street on April 5, 2013, when gunshots rang out and sent people scattering in all directions.

As he was getting in his car to drive off, Smith was approached by two men who offered him $10 to give them a ride.

The men got in the back seat of a station wagon belonging to Smith’s mother.

While Smith chauffeured the men around, one of them rolled down the window and fired a shot at a group of people standing on Home Avenue at the intersection of Jersey Street.

Richardson-Howlen was struck in the hail of bullets and killed almost instantly; another person was shot in the leg.

Onlookers couldn’t identify the shooters but recognized the vehicle as one belonging to Smith’s mother, because of its gold doors and burgundy frame, according to court papers.

Smith was “shocked and horrified” about what happened and, after dropping off the two men and giving them their money back, called his mother and told her.

She told him to go home and wait for the police. They arrived the next day, taking him down to the police station for an interview.

Smith was interrogated four times, over several hours, according to court papers.

He cooperated with the police, even eventually providing them with the name of the shooter, whom he identified as Samier “Bus” Vincent, according to court papers.

Vincent is one of the three convicted Galilee Baptist Church shooters, who along with his brother Samuel, admitted to shooting Kashon Beckett and targeting unnamed North Trenton gang members, when they fired into a crowd of mourners at the funeral of 19-year-old Cagney Roberts in 2013.

But because he kept jumbling the route he took after the shooting, Smith was eventually charged as an accomplice to murder.

“Because of that they believe he must be lying and he must have been the murderer,” Turner said.

Police waited to charge Smith, initially allowing him to walk free, but later sent a fugitive task force after him when they learned he was out of state, Turner said.

Worried about her stressed-out son, Smith’s mother bought him a plane ticket to visit relatives in North Carolina.

Sometime after that, police armed with a warrant came to arrest Smith.

His mother bought him a plane ticket back to Trenton so he could surrender.

During a second round of questioning, Smith told police he knew the name of the shooter, claiming to have seen him on the streets.

Police apparently didn’t follow up the lead, and Samier Vincent was never questioned, according to the court papers.

The authorities didn’t have much on Smith until Maldonado came forward and gave them a statement two years after the shooting.

Maldonado has also given statements on fellow gang member Shabazz Boyd in the racketeering case, on another murder suspect, Masiyah Howard, and perhaps in cases in other counties, according to Turner.

In Smith’s case, Maldonado told members of the county homicide task force he was Smith’s bunkie at the correction center and had a “couple of conversation” with him in their shared cell in May and August 2014.

Maldonado waited another year before approaching detectives with the information he allegedly obtained.

Maldonado told police Smith admitted he was at the carnival with people from Trenton’s Wilbur Section.

A fight apparently broke out and someone was badly beaten by the Jersey Street boys. The Wilbur Street crew wanted to get revenge on the Jersey Street crew, so they directed Smith to drive them to “shoot them n-----,” according to court papers.

Maldonado lived on Jersey Street and hung out with Richardson-Howlen in the past. He gave authorities the alleged route Smith took after leaving the carnival.

“The only evidence of any motive or intent for conspiracy to murder Sidique Howlen comes from the testimony of the jailhouse informant whose own gang activity with the 793 Blood street gang is notorious,” Turner wrote.

Turner cited a federal case that said using jailhouse informants to prosecute cases is “fraught with peril” and cited a statistic about how nearly half of the first 111 death-row convictions were overturned because of false testimony from informants.

About her client, who had been offered 20 years, Turner said:  “This guy is innocent. I know it in my bones.”