Police are investigating a shooting that claimed the life of a city man early Sunday morning.

Taquan McNeil, 25, of Trenton (Mercer County Prosecutor's Office Photo)

According to Trenton Police Lt. Stephen Varn the incident occurred in the city's West Ward around 2:20 a.m. Varn said that officers were detailed to the 100 block of Boudinot Street on report of a male shot. Upon police arrival they found the victim, identified as Taquan McNeil, 25, lying on the sidewalk in front of 131 Boudinot suffering from gunshot wounds. Varn said the 25-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

McNeil has had a checkered past with city law enforcement recently. In June of 2014 he was arrested by the fugitive task force after he punched two police officers in an Oakland Street apartment stairwell to escape arrest on June 20 following a domestic dispute. In that incident police allege McNeil climbed a ladder toward the roof access ladder, but was thwarted by a locked door. Police said he placed a silver .40 caliber handgun on the ledge of the roof access and then climbed back down the ladder and charged the officers. It was in the struggle that followed McNeil is alleged to have punched the officers and evaded capture. The handgun was reportedly stolen out of Willingboro, police said last year. McNeil was arrested in the 100 block of North Hermitage Avenue by the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force on June 24. He was charged with a number of offenses related to the incident.

He was also one of three people arrested driving in a car stolen out of Delaware last October, he received charges of receiving stolen property, driving while suspended and failure to signal.

Authorities said they have not yet identified a suspect or a motive in the McNeil's killing.

The case is currently being investigated by the Homicide Task Force. Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call (609) 989-6406. Or use the Trenton police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663. Tipsters may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tipline at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

Nigel Dawson and William Brown are accused of the 2008 murder of Tracy Crews. (Submitted photos)

William “Paperboy” Brown cared about one thing and one thing only. And it led him to betray his best friend, Tracy Crews, in the worst way, the prosecutor, Al Garcia, said Tuesday, summing up the drama-packed Crews murder trial.

Brown’s nickname, Garcia said during closing arguments, is “Paperboy. Not Tracyboy. Paperboy, because he’s all about the paper. And that’s what they were trying to get when they shot Tracy Crews.”

Brown and co-defendant Nigel Joseph Dawson have been on trial for the last month for the Sept. 12, 2008 murder of Crews, a Bloods gang member and convicted drug dealer.

But, Garcia said, above all, “He was a man. You don’t get the drug-dealer discount if you’re a murderer.”

The state, relying on 16 witnesses, including pivotal testimony from jailhouse informants, contends Dawson confessed to shooting Crews in the neck after he panicked when Crews recognized Dawson and Brown as the ski mask-clad assailants inside the kitchen of his Whittaker Avenue residence.

Jailhouse informants, Isaiah Franklin and Terrell Black, said Brown, Crews’ close friend, former roommate and the best man at his wedding, admitted setting up the robbery, which was supposed to net the defendants $40,000 in drug proceeds.

Brown, a fellow member of Crews’ G-Shine set of the Bloods street gang, knew his friend resumed dealing heroin after he was paroled from state prison on a drug conviction in November 2007, the state says.

The largely circumstantial case against the defendants, Garcia conceded, pits the state’s jailhouse informants against the defense’s lone jailhouse informant. Maria Cappelli, was cellmates with Sheena Robinson-Crews, the victim’s widow, in state prison in Muncy, Pa, where Robinson-Crews spent time on a drug conviction she picked up after she was arrested months after her husband’s death.

As part of a third-party guilt defense, the defense contends Robinson-Crews set up her husband’s murder because he was physically and emotionally abusive. Cappelli testified last week Robinson-Crews admitted handing the killers, two unnamed gang members, keys to the couple’s apartment while she waited outside for her husband to tuck their then-2-year-old daughter into bed.

Garcia said Cappelli got critical facts incorrect and her story was “all wrong.” Additionally, he asked the jury to examine her track record alongside the state’s jailhouse informants.

Cappelli waited four years to report Robinson-Crews to prison officials, was arrested more than 200 times and has nearly 50 aliases, Garcia said.

“She lied to police about her name,” he said.

Steven Lember, Brown’s attorney, told the jury the state is asking it to convict his client of murder, felony murder, robbery and weapons offenses based upon inconclusive DNA evidence – a ski mask, recovered in an alley near the murder scene, that had a mixture of DNA matching Brown and another unidentified person – testimony from jailhouse informants who were incentivized to lie and the word of a “confirmed, committed and compulsive liar,” referring to Robinson-Crews.

Robinson-Crews testified her husband’s last words, responding to her question about the identity of his murderer, was “Paperboy.”

At the same time, she admitted she refused to cooperate with police for several critical hours after he husband’s death and repeatedly lied to them about his dying declaration.

Initially, she told police, Crews also mentioned Dawson, but recanted that statement several years later, in 2013, during a jailhouse interview with lead police detective, Gary Britton.

“The only thing we know is someone shot and killed Tracy Crews,” Lember said. “Everything else is up for grabs, It’s not your job to solve this cold case.”

In his nearly hourlong summation, Lember said he couldn’t explain why police did not pursue criminal charges against Robinson-Crews when they realized she falsely accused his client of pointing a gun at her sometime after the murder.

“The state knew, ‘We can’t prosecute the case on her word,” Lember said. “So it went cold. … The case didn’t get better [after that]. It got worse.”

In regards to testimony from jailhouse informants Franklin and Black, dubbed by the defense the “Burlington boys” since they shared a connection through the county as well as a series of grocery-mart robberies, Lember told the jury they were “resourceful job-seekers who were looking for a payback.”

Franklin and Black were released from a county jail the same day they gave statements implicating Dawson and Brown in the murder, Lember said.

“They got a get-out-of-jail-free card,” he said. “And the state was too happy to oblige.”

Dawson’s attorney, Edward Hesketh, zeroed in on a blurry still of his client, taken from a surveillance system that captured two figures fleeing the murder scene shortly after Crews was shot, that Crews’ mother identified as Dawson.

In the still, the man is wearing a coat resembling one found strewn in an alley near the murder scene.

When the authorities showed Barbara Portis, Crews’ mother, the photo, she identified it as Dawson, based off his posture and mannerisms.

The state has said the tall, distinctive profile of the man in the photo aligns with Dawson, who is a lanky 6 feet, 3 inches.

Hesketh said the grieving Portis, who was told by her daughter-in-law that Dawson was involved in the murder, just wanted to see someone held responsible for her son’s slaying.

Then, Hesketh turned his attention to Crews’ dying declaration, saying it was implausible, based off testimony of William Rivera, a city man who said he rushed to Crews’ side and asked him what happened.

Rivera said Crews strained to say something, but couldn’t muster any words.

Rivera conceded he was distracted while speaking on the phone with an emergency dispatcher, didn’t notice Robinson-Crews rush to her husband’s side and wouldn’t necessarily have heard something Crews told his wife while she cradled him in her arms.

Nonetheless, Hesketh said, Crews was getting weaker not stronger.

“Every heart pump, more blood was coming out,” he said. “Life was leaving him.”

Garcia revisited several of the defense’s points in his closing argument, notably that the murder case “rises and falls with Sheena Robinson-Crews.” Quite simply, he said, it doesn’t. Then he spent several minutes patching up holes in her character.

Sure, she lied to police, Garcia said. Who wouldn’t in her position, Garcia said, pointing to the fact that her husband ran a drug enterprise and was a gang member.

Beyond that, he said, Robinson-Crews wanted recriminations – that’s why she didn’t cooperate with the police and lied.

“She wanted street justice,” he said.

Plus, the prosecutor said, if she had really conspired in her husband’s murder, then why did she shower him with gifts earlier in the day.

Garcia pointed to a home-theater system Robinson-Crews purchased for her husband 10 hours before he was killed.

“Tracy Crews was a man,” Garcia said, echoing statements the family has made to The Trentonian. “All he was doing was coming home to put his daughter to bed.”

A camouflage ski mask with traces of William Brown’s DNA.

Jailhouse informants who said co-defendant Nigel Joseph Dawson confessed he fatally shot Tracy Crews, a Bloods gang member and convicted drug dealer, in the neck with a 9 mm luger inside the kitchen of his Whittaker Avenue residence on Sept. 12, 2008.

And Crews’ dying declaration, as told by his widow, Sheena Robinson-Crews, that Brown, known as “Paperboy,” was responsible for the murder of his close friend.

Those were the state’s strongest proofs in the Crews’ murder trial.

“Everything else,” Steven Lember, the attorney for Brown, surmised during summations, “was reasonable doubt.”

But on late Friday afternoon, after two days of deliberation a jury of 12 convicted Brown and Dawson on eight counts of felony murder, murder, robbery and weapons offenses, not quite how defense attorneys boldly predicted at the outset of an action-packed trial, defined by salacious allegations of a setup by Crews’ best man and former roommate, Brown, over $40,000 in drug proceeds.

“My client is very disappointed,” said Lember. “He put his good faith in the good sense of the jury. We have to respect the jury’s decision [but] don’t have to agree with it. I fully expect that my client will appeal this decision, and I believe there are significant appealable issues that emerged during the trial, and that’s what I’m going to counsel him to do.”

Nigel Dawson and William Brown are accused of the 2008 murder of Tracy Crews. (Submitted photos)

For Brown, 30, one of five men accused in the 2011 murder of U.S. Army veteran and Liberian immigrant Dardar Paye, it’s one murder charge down, another to go.

Edward Hesketh, Dawson’s defense attorney, believes jurors made the wrong decision.

“I feel that in some ways they should’ve taken a little longer,” said Hesketh. “For some reason they changed their minds in the last hour and they elected to find our clients guilty. I just disagree with it.”

Barbara Portis, Crews’ mother, testified after a judge ruled the state was allowed to present evidence of Crews’ dying declaration – a late coup for Assistant Prosecutor Al Garcia after another judge had previously ruled it was unreliable and excluded it from evidence.

The prosecutor, Garcia, after salvaging a possible mistrial because of evidentiary issues that caused repeated delays in testimony, seemed confident the state met its burden of proof, emboldened by crucial testimony from jailhouse informants Isaiah Franklin and Terrell Black.

Defense attorneys, in cobbling together a third-party guilt defense that relied on testimony of a Pennsylvania inmate, accused Robinson-Crews of having a hand in her husband’s murder, attacking her lack of cooperation and repeated lies in the hours after her husband’s death as proof she was trying to stymie law enforcement and hide her involvement.

They put Maria Cappelli, a cellmate of Robinson-Crews for four months at the state prison in Muncy, Pa., where Robinson-Crews served time on a drug conviction, on the stand and she testified that Robinson-Crews admitted in 2009 she set up her husband’s murder because he was physically and emotionally abusive.

The state, while acknowledging the case pitted jailhouse informants against each other, implored the jury to disregard Cappelli’s testimony as a fantastical story spun by a woman arrested more than 200 times and who has a history of lying to the police about her own name.

Garcia said Cappelli’s account, rife with factual errors, had been investigated and ultimately dismissed by Gary Britton, the lead police detective in the Crews murder case.

But the defense said Cappelli, unlike the state’s informants, had no incentive to fabricate or embellish her testimony that Robinson-Crews admitted she handed keys to the couple’s apartment to two unnamed gang members and waited outside while her husband went inside to put their then-2-year-old daughter to bed.

She got no time off her sentence or any extra benefit for her testimony; Franklin and Black were released from the county jail the same day they provided statements to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and have negotiated plea deals that are contingent on them providing testimony for the state in a handful of cases.

If there was a point in the murder trial when defense attorneys had to feel good about their chances, it came during Black’s testimony. In the middle of contentious cross examination, Lember suddenly dropped a series of Robert Frost-like lines.

While locked up in a county jail, the attorney wanted to know, did Black ever hear the expressions, “Don’t go to the pen; send a friend”; or, “If you can’t do the time, drop a dime”?

The jury burst into laughter; even Black cracked a smile.

While Lember’s questions introduced some levity into an otherwise serious arena, they also seemed out of place.

But legal observers believe Lember’s tactics were a strategic way of gauging his connection with the jury.

The date of sentencing is set for April 10, but it is subject to change.

-Trentonian reporter Jada Vanderpool contributed to this report.

(left to right) Amanda Austin holding Jakalya, one of James Austin's twin daughters, Kim Bellamy, and Luddie Austin holding the other twin Janalya. (Contributed photo)

When Kim Bellamy was 14 years old he started street hustling to earn extra cash.

A few years later, while still in high school, Bellamy’s first child was born, and he realized that he needed to find a job that paid more than what he earned on the streets. So, Bellamy decided to transfer from Trenton Central High School to Daylight/Twilight, where he could attend morning classes, leaving him free to start work in the early afternoon. But as Bellamy tried to navigate the process of transferring schools, he decided to drop out completely so that he could work full-time and support his family.

At the time that Bellamy dropped out of high school, he was a senior and only needed five more credits to graduate. Today, at the age of 27, Bellamy still does not have a high school diploma. But he has finally enrolled in Daylight/Twilight, where he attends adult classes. He is scheduled to graduate this spring.

“For me to pursue my career, I need to earn my diploma and get my life right,” Bellamy said.

Bellamy now has two daughters, ages nine and four, and he’s been married for about five years. Bellamy said he and his family sometimes struggle financially, but he believes things will turn around after he earns a high school diploma. He plans to pursue a career in residential and commercial painting.

Retired Trenton Police Sergeant Luddie Austin recently learned about Bellamy’s situation after he decided to mentor a local young father who is trying to turn his life around. Austin posted his intentions on his Facebook page and some of his followers told him about Bellamy. On Wednesday evening, the two met and Austin presented Bellamy with a monetary and food donation.

“This is something that I wanted to do to honor my son’s legacy,” Austin said. “I understand that sometimes it can be hard out here for young fathers who are trying to do the right thing; they get discouraged. I just want to be a positive influence in their lives and help keep them on the right path. As long as they continue to do the right thing, good things will come from it.”

James Austin with his twin daughters

Austin’s son, James Austin, was shot and killed on Feb. 26, 2013; he left behind two young daughters. A day after the murder, Robert Bartley and Raheem Currie were arrested in connection with Austin’s death.

According to court documents, witnesses told police that Currie was driving along East State Street when he saw James Austin and decided to stop the car and start a fight. During the fight, witnesses said, Austin broke the windshield of Currie’s car. In return, Currie broke the rear windshield of Austin’s car. Austin then went into a residence in the 900 block of East State Street, and Currie drove away.

Witnesses said that after driving away, Currie called Bartley and told him about the altercation. Currie then picked up Bartley from Monmouth Street, and they drove back to see Austin. During the drive, according to witnesses, Bartley stated that he was going to “spray the house” with bullets.

Witnesses said that when they arrived at the house, Bartley exited the vehicle, walked up to the house, opened the door and started arguing with Austin. Then, moments later, Bartley shot Austin once in the chest.

Robert Bartley

Raheem Currie

In September last year, Bartley pled guilty to aggravated manslaughter. Currie, meanwhile, is out on bail after pleading innocent to murder and conspiracy charges.

“Currie is trying to play like he is not culpable in any way,” Luddie Austin said. “But his direct actions caused my son’s death. He should be held just as much responsible (as Bartley).”

Luddie Austin is now in the process of establishing a non-profit organization so he can continue helping young fathers who are trying to walk a straight and narrow path through life. Austin said he has received overwhelming support from locals who want to support his mission. In fact, the donation he gave to Bellamy included donations from others who contacted him through Facebook.

“It’s a way for me to remember my son’s legacy in a positive way,” Austin said. “It helps me heal and gives me inner peace to be able to help someone else.”

Luddie Austin, who was also 17 years old when he learned that he was going to be a father, plans to continue mentoring Bellamy in any way that he can, whether it be with career advice, job training, or help with college applications.

Bellamy said he regrets dropping out of high school, but he’s excited to now have a mentor who understands the struggles of kids living in urban cities.

“It took me 10 years to get where I needed to be at 10 years ago; I do regret that,” Bellamy said. “But I learned from it, I grew from it and I realized that street hustling is not for me. Stay focused and continue your education because without knowledge you can’t live out here.”

TRENTON >> One of two men charged in connection with the shooting death of Chevin Burgess, whose badly charred body was found inside an abandoned burning vehicle, was offered a plea deal that requires him to serve a 25-year prison sentence and cooperate with the state against his co-defendant.

Joeryan Foreman

Joeryan Foreman, 20, charged with counts of murder, arson, robbery and weapons offenses, would be required to admit guilt to a reduced charge of aggravated manslaughter after authorities said he helped alleged triggerman Calier Samad, 27, dispose of the body.

As a part of the plea bargain, Foreman would also receive nine years for aggravated arson, which would run concurrently to the sentence imposed on the manslaughter charge, Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said during a status hearing Monday.

Samad, who prosecutors said has been offered a 30-year prison term for murder, shot Burgess once in the head during a botched robbery, authorities said, before he and Foreman drove to the 100 block of Hart Avenue and torched the car on the night of Jan. 4, 2014.

Authorities used a phone number Foreman provided to staff during a hospital visit to connect him to the crime after the same number appeared in Burgess’ call logs some time before the murder, Scott said.

Foreman had checked into a local hospital on the night of the murder after he sustained burns on his hands and face authorities believe happened when he tossed lighted matchbook into the car, Scott said.

Burgess, 22, was discovered after firefighters extinguished the flames inside the car. He was burned beyond recognition and had to be identified by dental records, authorities have said.

Foreman, who is being held in jail in lieu of $600,000 bail, is expected back in court May 26. Samad remains jailed on $1 million bail. His next court appearance was not immediately available.

A Pennsylvania inmate testified Wednesday that Sheena Robinson-Crews, the widow of a Trenton gang member, confessed setting up her husband’s Sept. 12, 2008 murder.

Maria Cappelli appeared by video conference from state prison in Muncy, Pa., and said she could no longer keep the alleged confession a secret so she reported it to corrections officials about two years after Robinson-Crews reportedly confided in her sometime in 2009 while they were housed at the Bucks County jail.

Cappelli said Robinson-Crews told her she conspired with two gang members — Robinson-Crews never named them — to have her husband killed because he was physically and emotionally abusive.

Cappelli also said Robinson-Crews admitted handing the killers keys to the couple’s apartment. She said she believed Robinson-Crews told two other inmates about the conspiracy, based on conversations she had with those inmates in which they reported the same story.

“The whole thing was all set up,” said the orange jumpsuit-clad Cappelli, a short white woman with shoulder-length hair. “It was eating my conscience up.”

Robinson-Crews has denied under oath that she set up her husband’s murder or spoke with Cappelli about her alleged role in setting it up. Robinson-Crews described a distant relationship with Cappelli, who is five years into a maximum 20-year sentence on a conviction on drug, unlawful gun possession and forgery counts.

Cappelli described a much-closer bond with Robinson-Crews, saying the women were cellmates for four months at Muncy. Cappelli said she and Robinson-Crews played cards together, watched TV and talked about their families and personal lives.

Robinson-Crews had testified she and Cappelli were “cordial” with each other but didn’t have “conversations.” They simply exchanged pleasantries whenever they encountered each other in prison.

Gary Britton, the lead police detective who worked the murder case, previously testified at a hearing outside of the jury’s presence he disregarded Cappelli’s story as “unreliable” because she was wrong about certain details of the murder and he believed she cobbled together the story by reading newspaper accounts.

Cappelli said she never read newspaper coverage of Crews’ murder and only learned the details through conversations with Robinson-Crews.

Cappelli testified Robinson-Crews told her the couple was out the night of the murder. They returned home with their two children and Crews grabbed one of the sleeping children out of the back seat and went to tuck the child into bed while Robinson-Crews parked the car.

In actuality, the couple drove in separate cars after a day of shopping and running errands. Britton previously pointed out the couple didn’t have two children. But it came out during testimony that Robinson-Crews was eight months pregnant with Crews’ baby at the time of the murder.

The couple also each had a child from prior relationships.

The prosecutor, Al Garcia, hammered these details on cross examination, also bringing up Cappelli’s extensive criminal history. Cappelli admitted she has been arrested more than 200 times.

Her most recent arrest which led to her being sent to Muncy was for filling fake prescriptions and hawking the pills to support her family, Cappelli said.

Defense attorneys were quick to point out that Cappelli — unlike the state’s two jailhouse informants, Isaiah Franklin and Terrell Black — isn’t receiving time off her sentence or other benefits in exchange for her testimony.

Franklin, the state’s star witness, previously testified Dawson admitted shooting Crews in the neck with a 9 mm luger during a botched home invasion. He and co-defendant William Brown were reportedly at Crews’ home to rob him of $40,000.

After Cappelli testified, the defense rested its case, which was predicated on a third-party guilt defense. Summations are scheduled for Tuesday morning.

The defense was dealt a blow earlier in the morning when the judge, Andrew Smithson, ruled the defense could not call Trenton Police Detective Nathan Bolognini and Matthew Norton, a detective from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, to the stand.

Bolognini was tangentially related to the murder investigation. He is the police officer who overheard Robinson-Crews telling someone police believed was Crews’ killer, “You didn’t have to shoot him. You got what you came for. You didn’t have to shoot him.”

Bolognini testified at a hearing held outside the jury’s presence he couldn’t recall hearing the exact comment, nor could he recall reporting it to Norton. But he said he had no reason to dispute its authenticity based on the fact that it appeared in Norton’s search warrant.

In fact, defense attorneys said, the state used Bolognini’s reporting as justification for at least three search warrants, including one filed last month, around the time Robinson-Crews was released from state prison.

Robinson-Crews’ conversation appeared in quotations in Norton’s search warrant, making Norton believe he received the information directly from Bolognini.

While Norton said he was “pretty sure” Bolognini was the source of the information, he wasn’t certain.

Smithson ruled Robinson-Crews’ phone conversation, as reported by Bolognini, was “unreliable.” Smithson was “shocked” Bolognini didn’t recall such a potentially incriminating statement.

“I find it untrustworthy,” he said.

Defense attorney were overheard in the lobby outside the courtroom complaining that the ruling “gutted” their third-party guilt defense.

A Trenton man was arrested Wednesday morning in connection with a murder that occurred last month.

Naquan Green

Naquan M. Green, 26, was arrested around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday by members of the Fugitive Unit and the Counter Gang Intelligence Unit of the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Prosecutors say Green was found inside an apartment on Bellevue Avenue. He is charged in connection with the murder of 25-year-old Taquan McNeil.

According to prosecutors in the case, around 2:20 a.m. on Feb. 15, police found McNeil lying on the sidewalk in the 100 block of Boudinot Street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force developed enough evidence to charge Green with murder and weapons offenses in connection with McNeil’s death.

During the course of his apprehension Wednesday, prosecutors say, Green tossed a handgun out of a fifth-floor window. He faces additional charges for that offense.

Green is being held in jail on $1 million cash or bond.

Opening statements are set for Thursday morning in the fourth murder trial of a Latin Kings gang leader accused of ordering the murder of a 23-year-old woman to ensure her silence after she witnessed the abduction of a fellow gang member.

Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete

Two weeks after attorneys began the process of selecting, whittling down and peppering a pool of more than 100 prequalified prospective jurors with questions about their thoughts on gangs and whether the defendant’s gang ties would impact their ability to serve fairly and impartially, they came away Wednesday with a panel of 16 jurors for the trial of Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, who is charged with ordering the Aug. 30, 2004 murder of 23-year-old Jeri Lynn Dotson.

The 16-member panel, which includes four alternates who will be selected randomly before the beginning of deliberations, consists of nine women and seven men, said Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Only 12 jurors will determine whether Negrete ordered the killing of the mother of two, who suffered a gunshot to the back of the head in an execution-style slaying after she witnessed the abduction of gang member Alex Ruiz. Her body was left inside her Trenton home with her two young children.

Negrete is also accused of ordering the hit on Ruiz after he reportedly instructed three gang members to go to the house and abduct him. After that, prosecutors said, the gang members choked Ruiz and left him for dead in a dumpster on Duck Island, but he survived.

Opening statements are set for 10:30 a.m., barring the closure of state offices for inclement weather.

Tom Meidt, the lead assistant prosecutor handling the case, is being assisted by Assistant Prosecutor John Boyle. Negrete is represented by attorney Jack Furlong, of Furlong & Krasny.

In 2009, Negrete was found guilty of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to murder but had his conviction overturned by an appellate court because a juror reportedly knew the father of Dotson’s children and provided prejudicial information to respective jurors that wasn’t a part of evidence at trial.

Negrete’s first trial in 2008 ended with a hung jury and another trial was scuttled before jury selection.

Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, then the new leader of the Latin Kings street gang, was charismatic. He was also two-faced, a former member of the street gang testified.

Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete

Standing over the casket of Latin “Queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson, Negete and a now ex-Latin Kings gang member turned state witness Jonathan Rodriguez were paying their final respects at Dotson’s funeral. Negrete placed black and yellow rosary beads — the gang’s colors — and a yellow bandana in Dotson’s casket.

Then, growing enraged, Negrete blamed the woman’s fate on her choices. Dotson was found dead inside her home August 30, 2004, suffering from a single execution-style gunshot wound to the back of the head, after she witnessed the abduction of another gang member, Alex Ruiz.

The state contends Negrete feared Dotson, who was believed to have already broken the gang’s street omerta, or code of silence, by providing information to police and a rival gang, the Ñetas, would break her silence and speak about the abduction.

“This is what you get for being a snitch, b****,” Negrete said, according to Rodriguez. He warned “Boom Bat” members of Dotson’s family could have heard.

Rodriguez, whose testimony provided a dramatic backdrop Friday on the opening day of Negrete’s fourth murder trial, said he recalled Negrete responded he didn’t “give a [expletive]” whether the family heard.

Later, the duplicitous Negrete held a march in honor of Dotson and vowed to her family at a “bogus speech” he would help bring about justice for her death, Rodriguez said.

He also testified that, at one point, Negrete enlisted him in a plot to kill Ruiz, but he declined, potentially exposing himself to the top’s boss’ wrath.

Few escaped the wrath of Negrete, the newly enshrined “Inca,” or leader of the Latin Kings street gang. Not Dotson, nor Ruiz, who was abducted by three gang members who were instructed to beat, strangle and leave him for dead in a garbage dumpster on Duck Island, Assistant Prosecutor John Boyle said during opening statements.

“That falls at the feet of Jose Negrete,” Boyle said, pointing to the defendant, “because it was all done on his orders.”

But Ruiz survived.

Thomas Keyes, a state police detective who responded to the area where motorists reported seeing Ruiz, testified Ruiz appeared to be hallucinating when he encountered him walking on a southbound entrance ramp along New Jersey Route 129.

He was holding a towel, his eyes were swollen shut and he had a deep red ligature mark around his neck, from when he was choked out.

Keyes said he attempted to get Ruiz to sit on the ground but he insisted he wasn’t safe because there were snakes on the ground.

“It was almost as if he was on narcotics,” said Keyes, who placed Ruiz in handcuffs and into the back of his patrol unit until an ambulance arrived to transport him to a city hospital.

Ruiz was targeted after he defected from the Ñetas, triggering a “war” between the rival factions that resulted in brutal beatings, stabbings and gunfights, Rodriguez testified.

On one occasion, a handful of Ñetas planned to fight more than a dozen members of the Latin Kings at a city park. Cops arrived and interceded within minutes, Rodriguez testified. As soon as Negrete saw the cops, he handed off a silver revolver, Rodriguez said.

Furlong loudly objected to the testimony and immediately moved for a mistrial, which wasn’t granted after a lengthy sidebar between the attorneys and the judge, Pedro Jimenez. The judge instructed jurors to disregard that part of the testimony.

Beef wasn’t something Negrete, the gang’s new top boss who wanted to expand the Latin Kings’ numbers, needed at the time.

So top leaders from each gang met to broker an end to the violence. Members of the Ñetas, including Ruiz’s own brother, wanted Ruiz handed over to atone for his defection, Rodriguez said.

The Latin Kings, on Negrete’s orders, were told to hand over Ruiz.

Rodriguez, a “pee-wee” or low-ranking solider who was recently ranked in, went with several gang members to pick up Ruiz, who was unaware he was being handed over. Boyle called the process “sleepwalking,” or lulling a gang member into a false sense of security.

Rodriguez said they smoked marijuana and talked, waiting for members of the Ñetas to arrive so they could hand him over.

But the beating at the hands of the Ñetas was apparently not enough for Negrete, who allegedly enlisted three of his own gang members to finish the job.

Rodriguez testified “Boom Bat” and several other gang members visited him and Negrete asked him to “take out” Ruiz. Negrete shouted Ruiz was a “goner” and referred to Dotson as a “snitch” who had to be eliminated, according to Rodriguez.

Boyle asked Rodriguez to explain the meaning of snitch to the jury.

“I’m basically considered one now by being on the stand,” he said.

Rodriguez said he called Negrete “crazy” and refused the top boss’ order, exposing him to punishment that included the possibility of death.

Negrete’s attorney, Jack Furlong, looking to paint the street gang in less violent terms, referred to the Latin Kings as a “community organization” with national leadership and localized chapters, saying members were encouraged to seek and maintain steady employment, not take drugs and do good in their community.

The central theme in the defense’s theory is that Negrete would have never done anything to “contract the membership” of his new empire, Furlong said during his opening statement.

“Are they a gang or are they a community organization?” Furlong asked. “Nothing in their manifesto says ‘break heads.’”

Furlong’s opening statement included a lengthy preamble about his client’s constitutional right to a jury trial. He told jurors they were obligated to keep an open mind, hear all the evidence and not conclude Negrete is guilty simply after hearing the state’s opening argument.

As long as his client was not “starting out 30 yards behind the end zone or 40 points down in a basketball game” after the state’s opening remarks, Furlong said he could live with the jury’s verdict.

“You’re the best 16 people we could find,” he said.

Furlong planned to attack the allegations by calling into question the credibility of the “young men and women who will point the finger at Jose Negrete.”

Poking holes in Rodriguez’s account, Furlong suggested it was unlikely Negrete would have asked a newly ranked-in member to partake in such a heinous crime.

“These three guys just came to you as a pee-wee and said, ‘Hey, do you want to shoot up Alex?’ That’s how it went down?”

“Yes,” Rodriguez responded.

One of two men charged with felony murder for the brutal beating death of a Guatemalan immigrant was offered a plea deal that calls for a 25-year sentence.

Michael Holman

Under the terms of the deal, Michael Holman, 19, of Trenton, would plead guilty to counts of aggravated manslaughter and aggravated assault. He would be required to serve a consecutive 6-year state prison term for the aggravated assault, for a combined sentence of 31 years, Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said at a status hearing Monday.

Holman was charged alongside Dante Martin, 19, for the Feb. 14, 2014 death of Julio Cesar Cruz which caused uproar in the city’s Latino community. He would have to serve 85 percent of his sentence as a condition of the No Early Release Act.

Martin’s offer has not been made public, Scott said.

Cruz was walking home from a bakery on Whittaker Avenue when he was attacked, authorities have said. The defendants allegedly forced Cruz, who was seeking a better life and had been in the U.S. only a little more than a month, to the ground. Holman rifled through his pockets while Martin kicked Cruz in the head several times, authorities have said. Cruz later was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Surveillance footage showed Holman and Martin in the area of Rusling Street before the murder. They were arrested weeks after the killing. Holman’s next court appearance is scheduled for June while Martin is due back in May

A Trenton man accused of fatally shooting 33-year-old Pinkey Priester entered a not guilty plea at an arraignment Monday.

Tomarkus Whitfield

Tomarkus Whitfield, 36, was indicted in December on counts of murder and weapons offenses after authorities said he pumped more than 10 rounds into Prieseter.

Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian said at a bail hearing she spoke with the victim’s family but needs more time to speak with the lead detective in the case before presenting Whitfield with a plea offer.

Authorities said Whitfield fired at Priester during a longstanding financial dispute. Priester was found lying in the street in a pool of blood on the 300 block of Centre Street on June 16 and later died at a local hospital.

Whitfield was arrested by Mercer County Prosecutor’s Detective Gary Wasko and the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force on Division Street.

Whitfield has an extensive criminal history, remains jailed in lieu of $750,000 cash bail, prosecutors said.

Masceo Emanuel was about 210 pounds; his 5-year-old daughter, Diamond Smith, was 33 pounds and didn’t stand a chance.

Emanuel, 27, of Trenton, charged with murder in connection with the death of his 5-year-old daughter, admitted Monday in accepting a plea deal calling for a 25-year sentence that he was caring for the child alone when he grew angry with her and struck her in the head nearly a dozen times with a hair brush.

Masceo Emanuel (left) and Dominique Smith

He testified that he repeatedly struck the girl using a belt he and his girlfriend and co-defendant Dominique Smith, 24, used to discipline the girl and her brother.

The July 2012 beating was so severe the child lost control of her bodily functions, Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Kimm Lacken said, causing the girl to urinate and defecate on herself.

Lacken said the parents didn’t seek medical treatment for their daughter, telling authorities they found the the girl unresponsive after giving her asthma medication July 10 and allowing her to sleep in the living room.

An autopsy revealed the child suffered hemorrhaging in four areas of her head and died of blunt force trauma to the head. She was severely underweight and had likely been abused over a lengthy period as she had fresh and healing wounds, prosecutors have said.

Emanuel, a burly inmate outfitted in teal prison garb, will have to serve roughly 21 years of his sentence under the No Early Release Act before he is eligible for parole.

He didn’t explain why he chose to accept prosecutors’ deal against the advice of his attorney, Steven Lember, who was prepared to try the case before a jury.

Lember appeared confounded when explaining to Judge Robert Billmeier his client’s decision, noting he advised Emanuel to reject the plea deal.

But Emanuel’s decision appears motivated by his desire to shield the mother of the child from severe prosecution.

Smith was also charged with murder, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child and weapons offenses after authorities searched the couple’s home and found a belt and belt buckle which they say was used to beat the girl and her brother.

Smith, who was supposed to appear before the court Monday but didn’t because her attorney had a scheduling conflict, is expected to plead guilty to a single count of child endangerment in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence.

Emanuel is scheduled for sentencing May 28. Smith is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

A Trenton man admitted Monday he pried a knife from the hands of his girlfriend and stabbed her to death after she attacked him during a jealous rage.

Jose Delgado-Febres, 39, acknowledged stabbing 27-year-old Yerika Hernandez in the back during an early-morning argument April 28, 2009 that erupted after his live-in girlfriend accused him of cheating.

Delgado-Febres fled to Guatemala and wasn't arrested until 2013. Delgado-Febres pleaded guilty to manslaughter — a reduced charge that accounts for the provocation that led to the woman’s death.

Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Kimm Lacken said the state intends to argue for a 10-year prison term at the defendant’s June 25 sentencing while the defense, citing Hernandez’s previous threats and penchant for flying off the handle, is expected to ask for as few as five years.

While acknowledging the couple had a history of domestic disputes, Delgado-Febres said Hernandez previously threatened to kill him and cut off his penis if she caught him cheating.

On the night in question, Delgado-Febres told the court, Hernandez appeared intoxicated and lunged at him with a frying pan. She then armed herself with a knife and prepared to attack.

“Whenever she was drunk, she got crazy,” Delgado-Febres said.

Delgado-Febres subdued the woman and pried the knife from her hands. But instead of securing it and alerting authorities, Delgado-Febres plunged it into his former girlfriend’s back after being “pushed to the limit.”

A city man charged in the 2012 stabbing death of the brother of his former girlfriend allegedly sexually assaulted his former girlfriend shortly after she was released from a hospital where she gave birth to her dead child, prosecutors said.

David Noncent, whose age was unavailable, is charged in the Dec. 4, 2012 murder of 26-year-old Courtney Levine. Levine intervened on behalf of his sister when she had told him about the alleged rape, Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Kimm Lacken said at a Monday status conference.

Lacken wouldn’t say whether prosecutors expect to bring charges against Noncent, who has been offered a plea deal calling for a 10-year sentence for manslaughter, for the alleged sexual assault, which took place after the woman needed a cesarean section in order to help her give birth.

An initial offer extended by prosecutors called for Noncent to serve 30 years in state prison. His attorney, Jason Charles Matey, extended a counter offer of 5 years.

Levine’s sister, who is expected to testify against her former boyfriend, was traumatized after her child died during delivery, but Noncent still allegedly forced himself on her when she returned home.

Prosecutors said the couple had a history of domestic disputes and the alleged sexual assault helps shed light on Noncent’s motive for the murder.

What started as an argument between Noncent and Levine inside the Chapel Street home Levine shared with his sister quickly turned violent.

Noncent stabbed Levine once in the chest, piercing his lung. Levine bled to death internally.

Noncent offered an alibi for himself for the time of the murder by having family members account for his whereabouts, but Lacken said authorities disproved it.

Noncent, a convicted sex-offender, has been arrested more than a dozen times. In 1995, he was convicted of criminal sexual contact against two underage females, court records show.

He remains jailed on $1 million bail.

A convicted ecstasy dealer fatally shot an acquaintance on a city street during a botched drug deal, and authorities aren’t sure of a motive, prosecutors said.

“Only two people know the reason,” Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley said. “One guy is dead and another is not talking.”

Naquan Green

McCauley was referring to Naquan Green, 26, a convicted drug dealer who was arrested and charged March 4 with the murder of 25-year-old Taquan McNeil. Superior Court Judge Timothy Lydon maintained Green’s bail at $1.1 million, citing the strength of the state’s case and the defendant’s potential as a flight risk.

McNeil was found face-down in a snow bank after being shot three times Feb. 15 on the 100 block of Boudinot Street, prosecutors said at a bail hearing Tuesday. One of the bullets pierced both of his lungs, McCauley said.
Ballistics from shell casings found under McNeil’s body matched an unknown caliber gun authorities found in a nearby alley, and witnesses said Green was with the victim minutes before the murder.

McNeil and some friends had encountered Green at a city gas station after attending a Rick Ross rap concert earlier in the night, McCauley said. McNeil wanted to buy drugs from the defendant so they traveled together in a dark colored SUV to Boudinot Street, near Green’s former residence.

McCauley said witnesses’ account of the night is corroborated by surveillance authorities stitched together from multiple businesses.

Once in Green’s old neighborhood, the two men got out together while others waited in the car. Witnesses saw two men walking together; shots rang out and a dark-colored SUV was seen leaving the scene.

Green’s attorney, Sam Goldberg, said there is no physical evidence linking his client to the murder and eyewitness testimony is often unreliable.

An arrest warrant was issued for Green, who evaded authorities for two weeks, McCauley said, before he was arrested March 4 at a Bellevue Avenue apartment in Trenton by members of the U.S. MarshalsNY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force.

He was apprehended after a short pursuit in which he allegedly tossed a .357-caliber Ruger out of the fifth-floor window of the apartment. He was additionally charged for drug and gun possession after police found him with ecstasy, prosecutors said.

Green is a felon with several state and federal convictions, including for a 2005 drug offense as a juvenile. He was sentenced to three years in state prison in 2012 for a 2009 aggravated assault in which he used a bottle to strike someone, McCauley said.

A former leader of the Ñetas street gang testified Tuesday he ordered underlings to beat gang turncoat Alex Ruiz for more than 20 minutes near railroad tracks at a park after he defected to the Latin Kings, triggering a war between the rival factions.

Fernando Rivera, the Ñetas’ former top boss, said the only reason he didn’t order Ruiz murdered was because the victim’s brother was a member of the Ñetas. Apparently even in gangland culture, blood is thicker than beef.

“To be honest,” said Rivera, whose own criminal rap sheet includes convictions for kidnapping, aggravated assault and drug trafficking, “the reason I didn’t kill Alex was because of his brother. I can’t take his family member out even though he crossed the line.”

Rivera’s testimony in the fourth murder trial of Latin Kings gang leader Jose Negrete was startling even on a day filled with fireworks. Another witness’ refusal to answer prosecutors’ questions could lead to him being held in contempt.

Rivera’s incriminating testimony somehow topped that since he openly admitted committing crime even though he was not granted immunity for taking the stand and exposed himself to possible criminal charges.

Prosecutors, bound by a gag order imposed by the trial judge, were not authorized to discuss whether they would explore bringing charges against Rivera.

Rivera’s admissions contrasted starkly with Negrete, who is charged with ordering the 2004 execution-style murder of Latin “Queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched hit on Ruiz, but has maintained his innocence as a jury alternately was unsure of his guilt and later convicted him.

Negrete’s first trial in 2008 ended in a hung jury. He was ultimately retried and convicted but an appellate court threw out an 80-year sentence because of jury misconduct.

Here was Negrete, again, facing his accusers. He and Rivera locked eyes only once, when Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Tom Meidt asked Rivera to point out the defendant in court.

Rivera recounted for the jury numerous conversations with “Boom Bat” in which he attempted to convince him to “take care of” Dotson.

“She was a good girl,” Rivera said. “I wasn’t gonna do that.”

Negrete doubted the mother of two’s loyalty to the Latin Kings because she had dated Rivera. Rivera described how the relationship between the Ñetas and Latin Kings deteriorated soon after Negrete became “Inca,” or leader.

It isn’t explicitly clear whether Negrete, looking to bolster his gang’s membership, convinced Ruiz to switch allegiances. But Rivera recalled Ruiz called him one day and told him of his plan to become a Latin King.

Rivera didn’t take it well. Ruiz’s own brother fought with him and a “war” between the gangs erupted.

“You had family members fighting each other,” Rivera said.

Negrete and Rivera met twice at a convenience store to try to halt the violence. The Latin Kings were to hand over Ruiz, who was later uninitiated from the gang through a vicious beating at the hands of the Ñetas. After it was over, a gang member drove Ruiz to the hospital.

Ruiz, one of six witnesses to take the stand Wednesday, didn’t testify about the beating at the hands of the Ñetas. Nor did he recall being abducted beaten, strangled and left for dead in a trash dumpster on Duck Island by members of the Latin Kings on Aug. 30, 2004.

The 31-year-old Ruiz, wearing a black button-down shirt with light blue jeans, his jet black hair pulled back tightly into a ponytail, blamed his spotty memory on the near death experience.

This came after the physician who treated him took the stand and said Ruiz suffered “cognitive deficits” from a loss of oxygen to the brain. But it is unclear if the injuries affected his memory and Ruiz was discharged from the hospital after three days and told to follow up with specialists.

Ruiz said he did not recall his affiliations with the Latin Kings and Ñetas, nor names of other gang members, such as Angel “Ace” Hernandez, who was previously convicted of murdering Dotson under orders from Negrete. Assistant Prosecutor John Boyle flashed pictures of the gang members, which Ruiz claimed did not help him remember.

“I’m bad with names,” he said. “Certain things I’ve blocked out. I don’t want to open that book back up. I deal with that on a daily basis. I can barely remember what my kids look like unless I see their pictures.”

It was unclear whether Ruiz was being intentionally uncooperative or couldn’t remember. The latter appeared to be the case for Joey Martinez, a former Latin Kings member who is now free after serving more than 10 years of a 12-year sentence for conspiring with others to kill Dotson.

Martinez, now a 32-year-old working father who has previously testified in Negrete’s numerous trials, responded to many of prosecutors’ questions by saying he didn’t remember. Martinez kept up the routine even after Meidt showed him transcripts of his previous testimony to refresh his recollection.

“I don’t remember any of that,” Martinez said after glancing at a transcript.

Before leaving the court, Martinez looked at Negrete’s supporters and pounded his chest.

At Meidt’s behest, the court will conduct a hearing with Martinez outside of the jury’s presence before testimony resumes Wednesday at 10 a.m.

A late night Tuesday shooting injured one man and killed a former successful city boxer.

Steven Quinton Brannon, 46, was shot in the throat, according to a family member who spoke to The Trentonian.

"Just one bullet killed Steven," his relative said.

Brannon had two daughters and four grandchildren, according to family members.

Police were dispatched to the 200 block of East Hanover Street to investigate reports of gunfire around 10 p.m. Tuesday. When they arrived on-scene, they found two people suffering from gunshot wounds.

Police guard the scene of a fatal shooting on East Hanover Street. (March 11, 2015 - Trentonian/Penny Ray)

Police say a 58-year-old man was shot in the hip and groin area, but the would not confirm exactly where Brannon was struck.

The men were both taken to Capital Health Regional Medical center, where Brannon was pronounced dead a short time later.

No arrests have been made and police have not released a suspect description.

The case is being investigated by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force. Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call (609) 989-6406. Or use the Trenton police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663. Tipsters may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tipline at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

-Trentonian columnist L.A. Parker contributed to this report.

One of two men charged in connection with the shooting death of Chevin Burgess, whose badly charred body was found inside an abandoned burning vehicle, was offered a plea deal that requires him to serve a 25-year prison sentence and cooperate with the state against his co-defendant.

Joeryan Foreman

Joeryan Foreman, 20, charged with counts of murder, arson, robbery and weapons offenses, would be required to admit guilt to a reduced charge of aggravated manslaughter after authorities said he helped alleged triggerman Calier Samad, 27, dispose of the body.

As a part of the plea bargain, Foreman would also receive nine years for aggravated arson, which would run concurrently to the sentence imposed on the manslaughter charge, Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said during a status hearing Monday.

Samad, who prosecutors said has been offered a 30-year prison term for murder, shot Burgess once in the head during a botched robbery, authorities said, before he and Foreman drove to the 100 block of Hart Avenue and torched the car on the night of Jan. 4, 2014.

Authorities used a phone number Foreman provided to staff during a hospital visit to connect him to the crime after the same number appeared in Burgess’ call logs some time before the murder, Scott said.

Foreman had checked into a local hospital on the night of the murder after he sustained burns on his hands and face authorities believe happened when he tossed lighted matchbook into the car, Scott said.

Burgess, 22, was discovered after firefighters extinguished the flames inside the car. He was burned beyond recognition and had to be identified by dental records, authorities have said.

Foreman, who is being held in jail in lieu of $600,000 bail, is expected back in court May 26. Samad remains jailed on $1 million bail. His next court appearance was not immediately available.

A Trenton man was arrested Wednesday morning in connection with a murder that occurred last month.

Naquan Green

Naquan M. Green, 26, was arrested around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday by members of the Fugitive Unit and the Counter Gang Intelligence Unit of the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Prosecutors say Green was found inside an apartment on Bellevue Avenue. He is charged in connection with the murder of 25-year-old Taquan McNeil.

According to prosecutors in the case, around 2:20 a.m. on Feb. 15, police found McNeil lying on the sidewalk in the 100 block of Boudinot Street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force developed enough evidence to charge Green with murder and weapons offenses in connection with McNeil’s death.

During the course of his apprehension Wednesday, prosecutors say, Green tossed a handgun out of a fifth-floor window. He faces additional charges for that offense.

Green is being held in jail on $1 million cash or bond.

Opening statements are set for Thursday morning in the fourth murder trial of a Latin Kings gang leader accused of ordering the murder of a 23-year-old woman to ensure her silence after she witnessed the abduction of a fellow gang member.

Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete

Two weeks after attorneys began the process of selecting, whittling down and peppering a pool of more than 100 prequalified prospective jurors with questions about their thoughts on gangs and whether the defendant’s gang ties would impact their ability to serve fairly and impartially, they came away Wednesday with a panel of 16 jurors for the trial of Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, who is charged with ordering the Aug. 30, 2004 murder of 23-year-old Jeri Lynn Dotson.

The 16-member panel, which includes four alternates who will be selected randomly before the beginning of deliberations, consists of nine women and seven men, said Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Only 12 jurors will determine whether Negrete ordered the killing of the mother of two, who suffered a gunshot to the back of the head in an execution-style slaying after she witnessed the abduction of gang member Alex Ruiz. Her body was left inside her Trenton home with her two young children.

Negrete is also accused of ordering the hit on Ruiz after he reportedly instructed three gang members to go to the house and abduct him. After that, prosecutors said, the gang members choked Ruiz and left him for dead in a dumpster on Duck Island, but he survived.

Opening statements are set for 10:30 a.m., barring the closure of state offices for inclement weather.

Tom Meidt, the lead assistant prosecutor handling the case, is being assisted by Assistant Prosecutor John Boyle. Negrete is represented by attorney Jack Furlong, of Furlong & Krasny.

In 2009, Negrete was found guilty of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to murder but had his conviction overturned by an appellate court because a juror reportedly knew the father of Dotson’s children and provided prejudicial information to respective jurors that wasn’t a part of evidence at trial.

Negrete’s first trial in 2008 ended with a hung jury and another trial was scuttled before jury selection.