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.

The former beau of a Latin “queen” gang member allegedly ordered killed by Latin King gang leader Jose Negrete testified Wednesday he knew something was wrong when he encountered a swarm of police officers in his former girlfriend’s neighborhood after he was dispatched there to pick up a vehicle.

Dimas Peralta, a former high-ranking Latin Kings gang member and the father of murder victim Jeri Lynn Dotson’s two children, said he was on call as a tow truck driver when he arrived at Dotson’s Chestnut Street apartment around 8 a.m. on Aug. 31, 2004.

He was intercepted by a detective, who asked him if he knew a young girl sitting outside of the home. Peralta recognized the girl as his daughter. He was informed police needed to speak with him at headquarters.

Fifteen hours passed, Peralta said, before he was informed his former girlfriend was killed. She was shot in the head and left on the basement floor of her Chestnut Street apartment with a cigarette lighter and piece of candy on her body.

Peralta testified he and Dotson had a “rocky relationship” before they split in December 2003. Soon after, she began dating Fernando Rivera, the former leader of the Ñetas street gang, which caused tension in the Latin Kings ranks. Rivera testified earlier this week he declined Negrete’s request to kill Dotson.

A day before Dotson turned up dead, Peralta testified, he spoke with Negrete, who is also accused of ordering a botched hit on Dotson’s roommate and gang turncoat Alex Ruiz, and several members of the Latin Kings during a meeting at his city apartment.

They held a “trial” for Dotson, who was accused of feeding information about the Latin Kings’ business to Rivera. Latin Kings and Ñetas had previously fraternized and were free to date each other, but everything changed when Ruiz defected, sparking a war between the rival factions.

The meeting ended shortly before midnight, roughly two and a half hours before Dotson was shot by convicted killer Angel “Ace” Hernandez. Dotson’s neighbor testified he heard a loud noise shortly after he took his dog out in the backyard around 2:30 a.m.

The medical examiner who performed Dotson’s autopsy testified a bullet was found lodged in her skull, near her bulging right eye.

Days later, at Dotson’s funeral, Negrete approached Peralta, at one point his second-in-command, and released him from his duties as a Latin King so he could take care of his children, who were 1 and 3 at the time of their mother’s death. Negrete’s attorney, Jack Furlong, elected not to cross examine Peralta.

Peralta’s testimony came after the judge, Pedro Jimenez, held an early-morning hearing outside the jury’s presence to determine whether Joey Martinez would be dismissed as a state witness.

Martinez, who served more than 10 years in state prison for his role in Dotson’s murder, testified earlier this week he couldn’t remember aspects of the case even though he previously testified against Negrete at trial.

Jimenez, characterizing Martinez’s memory lapse as “feigned” and an “implied denial” of past testimony, opted not to hold Martinez in contempt for being uncooperative. He ruled prosecutors can read his prior testimony to the jury, which was instructed to disregard Martinez’s testimony from Tuesday.

“You can forget birthdays and anniversary dates,” he said. “I would charitably describe his memory lapse as not sincere.”

Martinez acknowledged at the hearing outside the jury’s presence his previous testimony was accurate and he wasn’t forced to testify against his “will.”

“I don’t want to waste my time or the state’s time,” he said. “I just blocked it out. It’s my past. I’m not gonna sit here and say I remember.”

Furlong objected to Martinez’s previous testimony being read because he said his client shouldn’t have a “trial by transcript.” Furlong said Martinez’s refusal to cooperate was a “constructive recant” of prior testimony.

Two people were murdered in Trenton within a 24-hour period.

Police inspect a car that a driver who was shot crashed into a building on Ardmore Avenue. March 11, 2015 (Trentonian/L.A. Parker)

Around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, police were dispatched to the 400 block of Ardmore Avenue to investigate reported gunfire and found a man suffering from at least one gunshot wound. The victim was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead. His name and age were not available at press time.

Police scanners reported that the man was driving a car and crashed it into a building. Investigators were on-scene looking for evidence inside the car, but it is unclear how much damage was caused to the building.

The man was the second person to be killed in the capital city within 24 hours. Around 10 p.m. Tuesday, former city boxer Steven Quinton Brannon, 46, was shot in the throat on East Hanover Street and later died at the hospital.

So far this year, five people have been murdered in Trenton.

TRENTON >> A Trenton man shot to death Wednesday in the city’s East Ward was parked in a car with two passengers when he was ambushed by a unknown assailant who remains at large, authorities said.

Darryl Ford, 19, was found in the driver’s seat of a green Hyundai Tucson that had crashed into the side of a Hamilton Avenue building suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the 400 block of Ardmore Avenue after police were dispatched around 8:30 p.m. on a report of gunfire.

Ford was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, authorities said. He became the city’s second murder in a span of 24 hours after a stretch of nearly a month without a homicide.

Ford was parked with two passengers on Ardmore Avenue when they were approached by unknown black man, clad in black mask and hooded sweatshirt, authorities said. The man opened fire on the vehicle as Ford attempted to drive away. He was struck and veered off the road and into the building. The other two individuals were not injured.

Investigators were on scene looking for evidence inside the car, but it was unclear the extent of damage to the building.

The murder is being investigated by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force. Authorities did not say whether they have identified a motive in the slaying.

Ford was arrested and charged last year with carrying a concealed handgun in his waistband following a foot chase with police. Police recovered a stolen Glock .357 loaded with hollow-point bullets.

Ford was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of a stolen handgun, possession of a handgun with intent to use it unlawfully, possession of hollow point bullets, resisting arrest by flight and criminal trespass.

A spokesperson for the County Prosecutor’s Office didn’t have details regarding the status of those earlier charges against Ford.

Ford’s death was the city’s second homicide in the last day and its fifth of the year. Former city boxer Steven Quinton Brannon, 46, was fatally shot in the throat on East Hanover Street and later died at the hospital.

Anyone with information can contact Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-989-6406 or the Trenton Police confidential tip line at 609-989-3663.

TRENTON >> Two men convicted of fatally shooting convicted drug dealer Tracy Crews during a 2008 botched robbery are asking a judge to render a jury’s verdict moot and acquit them of murder.

William “Paperboy” Brown, 30, and Nigel “Youngin” Dawson, 31, were convicted last month of felony murder, murder, robbery and weapons offenses following a six-week jury trial. They face life in prison when they are sentenced April 10 by Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson.

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

Their attorneys argue Smithson’s decision to allow in Crews’ dying declaration biased the jury, especially after a previous judge ruled it was inadmissible.

Steven Lember, Brown’s attorney, wrote in his motion Smithson’s decision “irreparably damaged” the defendants’ right to a fair trial. Anticipating Smithson will deny the motion for acquittal, Lember also requested a new trial.

“The verdict was against the weight of the evidence in that the state never proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was in the victim’s home at the time of the shooting,” Lember wrote.

Smithson allowed the jury to hear Crews’ dying declaration, reversing Judge Robert Billmeier’s decision, which was based off an evolving account from Sheena Robinson-Crews, the victim’s widow.

Robinson-Crews admitted initially lying to police when she said her husband implicated both defendants. She later said her husband only mentioned Brown.

Assistant Prosecutor Al Garcia successfully argued at trial the defense opened the door for the dying declaration by accusing Robinson-Crews of conspiring in her husband’s murder.

Smithson ruled the dying declaration could help the jury make sense of Robinson-Crews’ lies, specifically when she accused Brown of pointing a handgun at her sometime after the murder. The inference was Robinson-Crews did anything to ensure her husband’s killers were arrested.

“The court’s decision to permit evidence of the so-called dying declaration after the trial had commenced and after the law of the case had been settled amounted to an error of law and constituted manifest injustice,” Lember wrote.

The defense also took issue with Smithson’s decision to bar testimony from Trenton Police Officer Nathan Bolognini, saying it “eviscerated” their third-party guilt defense.

Bolognini testified at a hearing outside the jury’s presence he did not recall reporting to superiors overhearing a phone conversation Crews’ wife had with an individual police believe was Crews’ killer hours after his death.

Police included comments Robinson-Crews’ made during the phone conversation in a warrant giving them permission to scour the couple’s Whittaker Avenue residence and phone call logs.

Attorneys also accused Garcia of misleading the jury during closing remarks. They said a PowerPoint presentation he used contained erroneous statements not in evidence the defense couldn’t rebut since they had delivered summations.

“The court failed to take necessary corrective action including requiring the state to immediately discontinue use of the presentation,” Lember wrote.    

When Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete was installed as leader of the Latin Kings in the summer of 2004, the group underwent a stark transformation, from a loosely organized group of men who grew up together in Trenton, into a feared street gang, codified by a commitment to crime and carrying out orders, a former gang member said.

Wilfredo “Hype” Rosa, who spent nearly a dozen years as a Latin King after joining as a teenager, testified Tuesday he also witnessed the evolution of Angel “Ace” Hernandez, from a young boy into a cold-blooded convicted killer serving a life sentence for fatally shooting Latin “Queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson on Aug. 31, 2004.

In chilling testimony, Rosa, now 32, said he and Hernandez visited the woman’s neighborhood hours after Hernandez executed Dotson at point-blank range inside the basement of her Chestnut Street apartment. Hernandez apparently didn’t stir when the duo noticed the area overrun by police officers and cordoned off by yellow police tape.

Hernandez took his cues from Negrete, who is on trial for the fourth time for ordering Dotson’s murder and the botched murder of gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.

There was something about Negrete that was different from past Incas, or leaders, Rosa said.

For starters, he wasn’t from Trenton and paid little attention to the Trenton tribe’s tradition. He ratcheted up recruitment and deposed high-ranking members of the gang with others he trusted.

Under Negrete’s leadership, the Latin Kings also became increasingly violent.

“It was more of a street gang,” Rosa said. “It was more violent. After he showed up, we had to fight everybody. Everybody who looked at us wrong, we went to war with.”

Rosa’s testimony was crucial in helping the state prove Negrete was the gang’s unquestioned leader.

Assistant Prosecutor John Boyle directed Rosa through a series of questions about the gang’s inner workings and hierarchical structure, which included “five crowns,” or positions. Rosa likened the gang’s Inca to the “president of the United States.”

But he said Negrete was more of a dictator, snatching up the gang’s manifesto from members and implementing his own rules.

“Nothing happened without him knowing,” Rosa said.

For example, Rosa said, members previously voted for ranking members of the gang. That changed under Negrete, who selected his own sort of executive cabinet. Rosa said he was formerly Negrete’s second in command until he was deposed by Esmeraldo “Esmo” Rodriguez.

“This is who’s gonna be this and this is who’s gonna be that,” Rosa said of Negrete’s decision-making.

Jurors were also read 2009 testimony from Latin King Joey Martinez, who served 10 years in state prison for his role in Dotson’s murder. Martinez previously testified Negrete instituted a policy of “beat on sight,” of rival Netas after Ruiz defected to the Latin Kings, triggering a war.

During his brutal tenure as leader of the Latin Kings, Negrete burnished a reputation as a charismatic carpetbagger, feared and revered, witnesses testified. Jurors were told of a time when Martinez was no longer involved with the Latin Kings, which was in disarray.

Negrete allegedly flashed a nickel-plated gun at Martinez, telling him he had to “get down or lay down,” meaning rejoin or be killed.

Rosa testified about his own problems with the Latin Kings, saying he was jumped by his own brothers. He couldn’t recall an exact date but said it was some time after he and other Latin Kings handed over Ruiz to the Netas for a beating.

The jury was instructed by Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez to disregard the testimony since there is no evidence Rosa was jumped on Negrete’s orders.

Rosa was also asked to describe the process of uninitiating Latin Kings. He said members who wanted out were granted a free pass, known as “golden gates,” or beaten. In the most extreme case, he said, “they put you in a box.”

A convicted drug dealer accused in last month’s fatal shooting death of 25-year-old Taquan McNeil has been charged with an additional count of drug possession after prosecutors said he was found with drugs inside the county jail.

Naquan Green

Naquan Green, 26, allegedly shot McNeil three times during a botched drug deal Feb. 15 on the 100 block of Boudinot Street. Superior Court Judge Gerald Council did not impose bail on the new drug charges for Green, who is already being held in lieu of $1.1. million on the murder charge.

McNeil was found face-down in a snow bank and died a short time later after a bullet pierced both his lungs.

Ballistics from recovered shell casings 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 Green had set up a drug deal after encountering each other at a city gas station.

Green 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 also charged with drug and gun possession after police found him with ecstasy.

Green has multiple 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.

TRENTON>> A former Latin Kings gang member testified Wednesday he overheard Latin Kings leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete give a direct order to execute gang turncoat Alex Ruiz whose defection from a rival gang sparked a war.

Roberto “Bam Bam” Rodriguez, 40, recounted for a jury how he and three other gang members were sent Aug. 30, 2004, to the Chestnut Street home Ruiz shared with Jeri Lynn Dotson with the intent of beating him.

All that changed once they arrived.

Rodriguez, once the leader of the Latin Kings who is now free after serving a 12-year sentence in state prison the attempt on Ruiz, said he was within earshot of a phone conversation between Negrete and Esmeraldo “Esmo” Rodriguez, Negrete’s second in command.

Negrete, who is on his fourth trial for ordering the murder of Dotson and the botched murder of Ruiz, was on speaker phone when he instructed “Esmo” to have “Bam Bam” “take out” Ruiz.

Shortly after, Esmeraldo Rodriguez asked “Bam Bam” to take a walk with him. That’s when he communicated the hit on Ruiz.

Roberto Rodriguez went inside Dotson’s home, found a Christmas ribbon, which he later used to strangle Ruiz. He and other gang members piled into a car with Ruiz as Latin King Joey Martinez began driving.

Roberto Rodriguez positioned himself in the back seat behind the driver next to Ruiz. As Martinez drove, “Bam Bam” wrapped the ribbon around Ruiz and began choking him in the car while they drove toward Duck Island, where Ruiz’s body was dumped.

Roberto Rodriguez said Ruiz, who was still recovering from a beat down at the hands of the Netas, did not see the attack coming.

“The kid was messed up,” he said. “He really thought we were gonna help him out.”

When they arrived at Duck Island, Ruiz was unloaded from the car. Martinez and another gang member took turns kicking and stomping him. Martinez checked Ruiz for a heartbeat before he was dumped in a trash bin and left for dead, but survived.

Afterward, Esmeraldo Rodriguez called Negrete to let him know the job was finished. The gang members tossed Ruiz’s sneakers. Roberto Rodriguez had his fellow gang members drop him off but not before he threatened them if they ratted.

On cross examination, Roberto Rodriguez grew combative with defense attorney Jack Furlong, who pointed out inconsistencies in a statement “Bam Bam” provided police in February 2005. In that statement, Roberto Rodriguez denied strangling Ruiz and said he had an alibi, which he admitted on the stand was a lie.

Furlong also pointed to a portion of Roberto Rodriguez’s statement in which he said he was solely responsible for choking Ruiz because he grew tired of him “flip-flopping” gangs.

At one point, “Bam Bam,” growing frustrated with the questions, referred to Furlong as a “piece of shit” and told him to stop “playing games.”

Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete’s fourth murder trial isn’t over, and his attorney already raised the specter of a fifth trial Thursday when he renewed concerns his client’s constitutional rights are being trampled so the state can get its so-far elusive conviction.

Safe to say those issues will form the basis of a future appeal attorney Jack Furlong will file on behalf of the Latin Kings leader, who is accused of ordering the 2004 murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt of gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.

Negrete has already had an 80-year sentence overturned by the appellate court because of jury misconduct.

And even if he is convicted by this trial jury, Furlong hinted an appeal could have merit because Negrete’s fourth murder trial has devolved into a “trial by transcript,” with Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez ruling the state can read 2008 testimony of Latin Kings gang member Rhadames “Havy” Acosta to the jury.

Acosta is the third witness whose testimony is being read, joining Ruiz and Latin Kings gang member Joey Martinez. Each expressed various reasons for not testifying.

Furlong said the state is being allowed to “cherry pick” testimony most favorable to its case and transcript testimony cannot substitute for live testimony, which gives the defendant the opportunity to confront witnesses. 

“The cumulative impact,” of the so-called trial by transcript has resulted in “a sham of the Fifth Amendment right to confrontation,” Furlong said during a contentious back-and-forth with Jimenez.

Jimenez acknowledged he and the attorneys are in murky legal water, considering he couldn’t point to a case where a bulk of witness testimony was gleaned from prior proceedings.

Jimenez said these issues “limit and sublimate” Furlong’s ability proffer a defense theory.

“You and your client are stuck with what’s been done,” Jimenez said. 

Witnesses’ refusal to testify has been a common refrain in Negrete’s trial as many co-conspirators who struck plea bargains with the state for their cooperation have served or are nearing the end of their sentences.

The state, which once wielded all the power, has found itself at the mercy of people like Martinez, who was released from state prison in 2013 after he was sentenced to 10 years for his role in Dotson’s murder.

Its only recourse is Jimenez, who has been reluctant to hold witnesses in contempt.

Assistant Prosecutor John Boyle expressed frustration with the way the trial has gone but told the court neither he nor Deputy First Assistant Tom Meidt knew they’d encounter such resistance.

“Our hands are tied with the witnesses, too,” he said. “Even in the face of being held in contempt, they’ve been recalcitrant.”

In Ruiz’s case, he acknowledged blocking out a near death experience when he appeared before the jury. The state later relied on his past testimony after he said the attack left him with a spotty memory.

By contrast, Martinez feigned memory problems, telling prosecutors he could not recall aspects of the case even when he was shown transcripts of his prior testimony.

On Thursday, Acosta, now 27, told the court he would not testify against Negrete out of concern for his safety and the safety of his family.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office attempted to eliminate that concern before trial by asking news outlets not to publish the names of the witnesses it trumpeted out to testify against Negrete.

Acosta, clad in tan prison garb with his hands shackled, said at a hearing outside the jury’s presence his decision not to testify was out of self-preservation and not “disrespect of the state.”

He was unmoved when Jimenez informed him his refusal meant he could be held in contempt.

Acosta is finishing a state prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to attempted murder for his role in the near-strangulation of Ruiz. His expected release date is in November, according to the Department of Corrections, and he didn’t want to put himself at risk of being labeled a snitch while he remains behind bars.

“This sparks everything back up and I want no part of it,” Acosta said. “I don’t want to testify against Jose Negrete. Period.”

A city man already in jail and awaiting trial for a 2014 killing has been charged with murder in connection with another slaying that took place in Ewing in 2012.

Jared Littlejohn, 22, of Trenton, was gunned down and run over with his own vehicle in broad daylight on Sept. 27, 2012 on Parkside Avenue in Ewing, and authorities now say it was 29-year-old Markquice “Tank” Thomas who was responsible for the death.

Littlejohn was abducted from a Ewing supermarket and driven a short distance to the location on Parkside, where he was “assaulted and shot in the head,” according to a press release issued jointly Tuesday by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and the Ewing police.

The county’s Homicide Task Force, along with the township police, investigated the case, leading to the charges being filed against Thomas late last week, according to the release. He’s been charged with murder, kidnapping, robbery, and weapons offenses.

Thomas was notified of the charges in Mercer County jail, where he’s been held after his indictment on murder charges related to the killing of 44-year-old Joseph “Power God” Gaines last Spring.

Gaines, a former city drug dealer, who had reportedly turned his life around to become a counselor to troubled youth, was shot in the head while sitting in his SUV parked on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Trenton on March 9, 2014. Initially Gaines survived, clinging to life in a city hospital for nearly a month. Thomas was arrested and charged with attempted murder not long after the shooting, and when Gaines finally succumbed to his injuries on April 3, the suspect’s charges were upgraded to murder.

He was already being held on $500,000 cash bail in connection with the Gaines murder, and he’s now being held on an additional bail of $1 million, which also must be paid in cash.

Thomas was also previously arrested in 2011 in connection with an incident similar to what preceded the murder of Littlejohn.

In May of that year, a 49-year-old male victim reported to police that he was on Bellevue Avenue when two men grabbed him, threw him in a car and drove him to Stuyvesant Avenue. Once there, according to police at the time, the two men tried to rob the victim, who was then shot in the feet when he attempted to flee.

Thomas, along with city resident Tahir Davis, was arrested and charged in connection with that incident, though the status of that case is unclear at this time.

Davis, 25, was just recently in the news as well, after he was arrested March 18 in Trenton on drug charges.

They came here to see testimony from witnesses implicating a Latin Kings leader for ordering the brutal 2004 murder of a gang “queen” and attempted murder of a gang turncoat.

But the troupe of high school students in attendance at Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete’s fourth murder trial was forced to settle for the disemboweled voice of Latin Kings gang member Rhadames “Havy” Acosta, played by a detective in the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Detective Roberto Reyes took the stand once again Tuesday in place of Acosta, who last week said under the threat of contempt he would not testify against Negrete for ordering the execution-style murder of Jeri Lynn Dotson to ensure her silence after she witnessed several gang members lure gang turncoat Alex Ruiz from the Chestnut Avenue home they shared.

Ruiz was choked out and left for dead on Duck Island on Aug. 30, 2004 by members of the Latin Kings allegedly on orders from Negrete because his defection from a rival gang sparked a war.

While the Latin Kings leader has maintained his innocence over the last decade as prosecutors have struggled to convict him of conspiracy, murder and attempted murder, Negrete was overhead mouthing to sheriff officers while he was being uncuffed that students came to see a “bad guy.”

Negrete, dressed in a charcoal suit with a red tie, eyed students lining the benches of the courtroom before sitting down next to his attorney, Jack Furlong.

Testimony proceeded as usual with Reyes reading Acosta’s answers from previous testimony.

Acosta had previously testified there were two options for the rival gangs to settle their dispute. Either Negrete could fight former Ñetas leader Fernando Rivera “to the death,” or the Latin Kings had to hand over Ruiz.

Despite his published proclivity for fighting, Negrete chose the latter, Acosta said. But he later ordered his henchmen to “finish” Ruiz when the Ñetas didn’t kill him, in part because Ruiz’s brother was a member of the Ñetas.

Earlier in the day, Esmeraldo “Esmo” Rodriguez said at a hearing outside of the jury’s presence he couldn’t remember his prior testimony.

Rodriguez, 29, was released from state prison in May 2012 after serving a 7-year sentence for conspiracy for his role in the near-strangulation of Ruiz, according to the Department of Corrections. He is the fourth state witness whose testimony was read to the jury, joining the likes of Ruiz, and gang members Joey Martinez and Acosta.

Furlong has opposed testimony being read, saying he has not had an adequate opportunity to cross examine witnesses. Furlong has questioned few of the state’s witnesses who have taken the stand as part of a trial strategy he laid out at the outset of the trial.

The murder weapon used in last year’s fatal shooting death of Enrico Smalley outside a violence-riddled city bar is linked with a separate homicide in Essex County and two shootings in Trenton, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Prosecutor said shell casings at those scenes ballistically matched ones recovered from La Guira Bar, where authorities say suspected killer Shaheed Brown

Police guard and process the crime scene outside of La Guira Bar where a man was shot and killed on Dec. 13, 2014. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

opened fire July 12 on Smalley, striking him several times, including once in the head. Smalley was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Authorities have not recovered the murder weapon, Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley said, a critical piece of evidence that could be used to possibly tie Brown, 30, to the crimes.

For now, Brown, who pleaded not guilty and rejected a plea offer calling for a 45-year prison term for the murder of Smalley, has not been charged in the Essex murder or city shootings.

As a repeat offender, with convictions for aggravated assault and aggravated arson, Brown faces up to 60 years in prison if he is convicted of murder. He remains jailed on $1 million bail.

Brown was arrested in Newark in August for the death of Smalley who was found on the sidewalk outside of La Guira Bar, on the corner of Poplar Street and North Clinton Avenue. Brown was indicted in November on counts of first-degree murder and weapons offenses.

Prosecutors did not identify the murder victim in Essex County, which took place sometime after Smalley was gunned down. But McCauley said Brown was believed to be in Essex County around the time of the murder. An investigation is ongoing and he did not say whether authorities have enough evidence to pursue charges against Brown. A spokesperson for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office was not able to provide further information Wednesday.

Brown was previously suspected of shooting a Trenton man in the face during a carjacking in Newark, prosecutors had said at a bail hearing. But charges were never brought against Brown because the victim refused to cooperate with authorities.

Brown’s attorney has asked a judge to fast-track the case for trial. He faces a life sentence if he is convicted of the charges. Edward Heyburn, Brown’s attorney, has said someone other than Brown killed Smalley.

After the attorney released a video to The Trentonian he claimed showed the identity of the gunman, a judge issued a gag order preventing attorneys from discussing the case outside of court. Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier was concerned pretrial publicity would prevent Brown from receiving a fair trial.

The video appears to show a man known only as “King” reaching for something tucked into the left side of his waistband moments before Smalley was shot.

Heyburn said police did not attempt to interview the man in order to rule him out as a suspect.

McCauley said release of the video discouraged a potential witness from cooperating with the investigation and accused Heyburn of “doctoring” the video for his client’s benefit.

Heyburn denied violating ethics rules by releasing the video because he did it to counter “adverse publicity.”

La Guira Bar has come under fire after several city residents, outraged about a second fatal shooting, said the establishment has become a hotspot for violence.

In December, Patrick Walker was gunned down outside the bar, leading officials from the Alcoholic Beverage Control to inquire about the establishment’s practices.

Latin King gang members who testified against their leader couldn’t get his nickname right, let alone a story they gave prosecutors about how they carried out his orders to murder fellow gang members, the defendant said at a past trial.

Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete

A jury Thursday heard previous testimony of Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, who is on trial a fourth time for ordering the murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and a botched attempt on the life of gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.

In his previous testimony, Negrete said his nickname is “Boom Bap,” a moniker he earned as teenager by beating up a bully. Boom Bap are words that appear in cartoon sound clouds when Batman finishes his opponents, the defendant said.

But Negrete denied ordering his henchmen to “finish” Ruiz or Dotson after she witnessed several gang members lure her platonic roommate away from the Chestnut Street home they shared Aug. 30, 2004.

“I’m not a coward,” Negrete previously testified when asked by his former attorney if he ordered Dotson killed. “That’s some coward s---.”

While Negrete is expected to testify later in this trial, prosecutors wanted the jury to hear his past testimony for when they begin deliberation, which could begin next week, the judge said.

Negrete has said several former Latin King gang members were duped by Esmeraldo “Esmo” Rodriguez, once his second in command, into believing he was behind the plot to murder Dotson and have Ruiz killed.

Negrete pinned the crimes on Rodriguez, a disobedient gang member who acted on his own volition because he felt responsible for triggering the war that broke out when Ruiz defected from the Ñetas.

According to the defendant, Rodriguez convinced Ruiz to dump the Ñetas for the Latin Kings. Then he was involved in an altercation with the Ñetas’ leader outside of Dotson’s home. The Ñetas wanted Ruiz handed over.

The friction between the gangs paralleled that between Negrete and Rodriguez.

Even though he was the new Inca, Negrete said he inherited a “mess” of an organization with no structure. Gang members weren’t used to taking orders. On top of that, he barely had juice in Trenton, after living most of his life in Perth Amboy.

Rodriguez was with the Trenton tribe two years before Negrete’s arrival and held considerable sway with members. Rodriguez convinced fellow Latin Kings to crown Ruiz into the Latin Kings against Negrete’s wishes.

The subtext was obvious: Was it plausible Negrete cemented his iron-fist regime after being on the job fewer than two months?

Negrete claimed he could not order someone killed under the Latin Kings’ manifesto.

When Negrete told Rodriguez he needed to “handle” the Ruiz situation or risk being kicked out of the gang, Rodriguez took extreme measures, the defendant said.

Negrete never meant kill when he told Rodriguez to “handle” the problem.

It was, “You made your bed now sleep in it,” Negrete said, according to past testimony.

Negrete also claimed he was at a mosque when his underlings testified he was meeting with them to hear whether they executed his heinous plot, an alibi his previous attorney said was corroborated by phone records.

The jury will likely hear from the defendant sometime next week. Trial resumes Tuesday.

A man implicated with two others for his role in a deadly, gang-related shootout that ended the life of Rayshawn Ransom in June 2013 pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and is expected to be sentenced to 11 years in state prison.

Marquis Skillman

Marquis Skillman, 28, was charged along with West Ward gang members Alton Jones, 23, and Dyquise Leonard, 20, in connection with the June 12, 2013 fatal shooting death of Ransom, 19, who was gunned down while he sat in a car with friends on Passaic Street.

Authorities said Jones and Leonard were involved in an ongoing feud with a group of people who hailed from Passaic Street. The two groups met that day as part of an expected truce when Jones, Leonard and Skillman reportedly opened fire on three men, including Ransom who was seated in the car. Ransom’s friends were wounded in the shootout.

Skillman, who is free on bail and appeared in court from the streets, is the twin brother of Maurice Skillman, who was charged with the November 2012 murder of of Mercer County Corrections Officer Carl Batie.

While Marquis Skillman admitted Monday he was armed with a handgun, he did not say he opened fire on the vehicle carrying Ransom.

Prosecutors said Skillman did not fire into the car, and investigators have said the fatal shot came from Jones’ 10 mm automatic handgun, which witnesses said was tossed out of a getaway car that sped away from the scene.

Prosecutors would not say if Skillman, who was initially charged with murder for Ransom’s death, must cooperate against his codefendants as part of the plea deal.

Jones also faces murder charges for the fatal shooting death of Tiara Green. 19, who was shot in the stomach three days later on the same street as Ransom. He has rejected prosecutors’ offer of 40 years.Leonard pleaded guilty to attempted murder for Ransom's death as part of a 12-year sentence.

Skillman’ sentencing date was not immediately available.

A city man who was arrested last week after police raided his home and found weapons and drugs has been charged in connection with the murder of former city boxer Steven Brannon.

On the evening of March 10, police found 46-year-old Steven Quinton Brannon and 58-year-old Marvin Williams suffering from gunshot wounds in the 200 block of East Hanover Street. Williams was shot in the hip and groin area and survived his injuries. Brannon was shot in the throat and later died at the hospital.

William Snead III

On Thursday last week, police raided the East Hanover Street home of 31-year-old William Snead III and found six grams of cocaine, 25 grams of marijuana, a Hi-Point .40 caliber handgun, a TW-11 stun gun, numerous rounds of ammunition and drug paraphernalia. Snead was arrested at the time of the raid and charged with various drug and weapons offenses.

Then, on Friday, prosecutors charged Snead with murder, aggravated assault and various weapons offenses in connection with the March 10 shooting that claimed Brannon’s life and injured Williams. Snead is now being held on $1 million cash or bond for the murder charges.

“We were wondering why it was taking so long for them to make an arrest,” Steven’s brother Bryant Brannon said.

According to Bryant, witnesses told the Brannon family that Snead was the last person seen talking to Steven. Witnesses also told the Brannon family that Snead ran from the scene of the crime shortly after the shooting.

Steven Quinton Brannon

Steven Brannon, who is also known as “Strength,” was a former city boxer who won both of his amatuer fights. But he never became a professional fighter because he got caught up in the street life. His brother Bryant was a professional boxer who once fought Roy Jones Jr. at Madison Square Garden.

“Steven was like a baby to us all,” Bryant said. “We were always there for him throughout his addiction trying to encourage him to get off of the streets before something like this happened. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to save himself.”

A couple of days after his brother’s murder, Bryant said, Snead saw one of the other Brannon brothers on Hanover street and spoke to him using a traditional Muslim greeting. The Brannons thought the greeting was odd, Bryant said, considering the rumors about Snead being the killer.

“My brother just looked at him like ‘Come on, you have the nerve to speak to me,’” Bryant said.

Bryant said he then questioned whether Snead was indeed the shooter because he found it strange for him to be walking the streets as if nothing happened.

“I thought that if this guy had murdered Steven he wouldn't be out in the open like this,” Bryant said.

Prosecutors have not yet disclosed what evidence led them to charge Snead in connection with Brannon’s death. But Bryant said he wouldn’t be surprised if the gun found in Snead’s home last week matches shell casings found at the scene of his brother’s murder.

"This is something that will take a long time for my family to heal from,” Bryant said. “I want to thank the police for their swift action in this particular case. There's a lot of unsolved murders in the city right now. We're glad that police are doing what they're getting paid to do.”

Three men charged in the fatal shooting death of 34-year-old Emilio Lopez rejected prosecutors’ offer calling for 30-year sentences for murder and are expected to be tried together.

No trial date has been set for Roberto Cruz, 33, Kenneth Rivera and Jose Rivera, both 21, who all face up to 75 years in state prison if they are convicted by a jury of charges of murder and weapons offenses in the Nov. 16, 2012 death of Lopez.

No motive has been established for the slaying, and it doesn’t appear any of the defendants had any known associations with the victim, Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian said.

Video surveillance appears to show Lopez crossing near Kent Street when he is approached by the three cousins, each from a different angles, Gasparian said. They boxed him in and surveillance captures the spark of a gun blast as Lopez was shot in the back.

The murder weapon was never recovered, and although investigators know each defendant was armed, they have not been determined which one fired the fatal shot, prosecutors said.

Gasparian said she intends to call an expert witness to the stand who will testify cell phone tower evidence puts at least two of the defendants in the area of the murder on the night in question.

Authorities arrested Cruz hours after the slaying wearing the same clothes used in the murder, Gasparian said. A minivan that served as the getaway vehicle is registered to Jose Rivera’s mother, Gasparian said.

Gasparian said authorities also have a statement from Kenneth Rivera but don’t plan to use it at trial unless he takes the stand and says something that contradicts with what he told police, All three are expected back in court in June for a voir dire conference.

The mother of a 5-year-old girl who died after her father bludgeoned her in the head with a brush handle in July 2012 admitted she did not seek medical treatment for her daughter.

Dominique Smith, 24, and Masceo Emanuel, 27, were charged with murder as a result of the death of their daughter, Diamond Smith. Emanuel accepted a plea deal earlier this month calling for a 25-year sentence after he admitted he grew angry with the girl and struck her while he was caring for her July 10, 2012.

Smith said Monday in pleading guilty to a single count of endangering the welfare of a child that she was not home at the time of the beating. She is expected to receive a 10-year sentence, which is contingent on Emanuel’s sentencing.

Smith said she did not seek medical treatment for her daughter even after she noticed she had a black eye and was acting strangely. Prosecutors have said the girl was hit in the head nearly a dozen times with a hair brush, causing her to lose control of her bodily functions.

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. Emanuel admitted he used the belt to discipline the girl and her brother.

Prosecutors said the parents told authorities they found 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. She was severely underweight and had likely been abused over a lengthy period as she had fresh and healing wounds, prosecutors have said.

At the time, Emanuel didn’t explain why he chose to accept prosecutors’ deal against the advice of his attorney. But Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Kimm Lacken said it was to take the “heat” off Smith.

Emanuel is scheduled for sentencing May 28. Smith is scheduled for sentencing June 2.

A Trenton man accused of stabbing his roommate to death in 2013 maintains he acted in self-defense and rejected an offer calling for a 30-year sentence if he pleads guilty to murder.

But the attorney for Fredy Gonzalez, 22, who was indicted on charges of murder and weapons offenses in the stabbing death of 24-year Raul Cruz, said at a status hearing Monday she is confident the case will resolve in the near future as she is involved in plea deal negotiations with Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Tom Meidt.

Maleika Montgomery, Gonzalez’s attorney, negotiations have been delayed while Meidt is trying to murder case of Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete. She told Judge Robert Billmeier she expects a deal should be hammered out by her client’s next court appearance, in May. She did not shed any light on terms of the forthcoming deal.

Cruz was stabbed inside his residence on the 800 block of South Clinton Avenue on Sept. 29, 2013. Some of the housemates told police they restrained Gonzalez after he stabbed the victim.

Gonzalez remains jailed on $1 million bail.

Four Liberian men accused in the execution-style slaying of Liberian immigrant and U.S. Army veteran Dardar Paye rejected final plea offers from prosecutors calling for 30-year sentences for murder and will be tried together next year, a judge said Tuesday.

Phobus Sullivan, 30, Mack Edwards, 29, Danuweli Keller, 27, and Abdutawab Kiazolu, 26, all of Trenton, are charged with murder, felony murder, robbery and weapons offenses in Paye’s death.

Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier scheduled trial, which is expected to last up to six weeks, for Jan. 19, 2016.

Keller is the suspected gunman. The men were charged as accomplices because they were in the vehicle where Paye’s body was discovered.

A fifth man, William Brown, 30, who faces sentencing in April after he was convicted earlier this year in the unrelated murder of convicted drug dealer Tracy Crews, will be tried separately from co-defendants in the Paye case.

Brown’s alleged role in the murder is unclear, but prosecutors asked for a severance based off an incriminating statement he gave to authorities they want a jury to hear. Under evidence rules, that statement cannot be presented at a joint trial, officials said.

Sullivan is serving a 20-year sentence for aggravated manslaughter in the shooting death of 21-year-old Andrew Leonard, who was driving his vehicle on Hanford Place on Dec. 14, 2010 when he was struck by a single bullet. His vehicle ran down the 700 block of Greenwood Avenue, crashing and overturning. An autopsy revealed Leonard died of a gunshot wound to the torso, authorities have said.

Authorities have said Paye, 33, of Maplewood, was fatally shot in the basement of a Monmouth Street home Jan. 16, 2011. His body was placed in garbage bags and stuffed in the trunk of his Buick, which Sullivan later drove while attempting to dispose of the body.

Billmeier warned the defendants they face the possibility of life in prison if they are convicted by a jury, and he said he would not allow them to renege on their decisions to reject plea offers even if one of their codefendants unexpectedly begins cooperating with prosecutors.

Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian said she expects none of the defendants, who were all offered deals requiring them to testify against each other, will change their minds now that the matter is scheduled for trial.

Keller nodded that he understood when he the judge told him he would be tried in absentia if he refused to be transported from the Camden corrections center where he is housed. Sullivan did not appear in court Tuesday.

Gasparian said police officers from New Jersey and Pennsylvania will testify, presumably about a car chase that began when Trenton police spotted three vehicles, including a Buick belonging to Paye, that matched the description of a vehicle suspected of being used in several home invasions in the area.

The drivers rode along Route 1, fleeing across the border to Pennsylvania where they were later stopped and apprehended. One of the vehicles, believed to be carrying Brown, got away.

Sullivan was arrested after a brief foot pursuit. A search of the trunk turned up Paye’s body, which became part of a suppression motion that was later denied by a judge.

A city man accused in the 2014 springtime murder of a former drug dealer was recently charged with killing a Ewing man in 2012 during a botched robbery after recent witnesses came forward, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Markquice “Tank” Thomas, 29, is charged with the brazen broad daylight shooting of 22-year-old Jared Littlejohn, who was kidnapped Sept. 27, 2012 and driven to a parking lot on Parkside Avenue where he was shot and run over with his own vehicle, prosecutors said. He is being held on a combined $1.6 million cash-only bail.

During a bail hearing Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian said Littlejohn is seen on a soundless video surveillance screaming and struggling to get out of the passenger’s side of his vehicle before he is forcibly pulled back in before being driven to an apartment complex parking lot where he was shot in the head.

Gasparian said phone records show Thomas and Littlejohn spoke on the phone minutes before he was kidnapped. Witnesses placed Thomas in the victim’s car on the day in question and said he later told them he killed the victim following a “robbery gone bad,” Gasparian said.

Thomas found out prosecutors were filing additional murder charges against him while he was incarcerated on charges that he killed 44-year-old Joseph “Power God” Gaines last March.

Gaines was a former city drug dealer who had reportedly turned his life around to become a counselor for troubled youth.

Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier asked Gasparian at the hearing why the state waited more than two years before charging Thomas with Littlejohn’s murder.

Gasparian said it was not “prudent” to file the charges until investigators had all the necessary pieces, including recent statements from witnesses.

“The state was not hasty to charge,” until it had all the evidence, Gasparian said.

Robin Lord, Thomas’ attorney, said the case against her client is largely circumstantial and there is no direct evidence linking him to Littlejohn’s murder.

She also questioned the timing of the new murder charge, implying the state’s new witnesses are either jailhouse informants or people facing their own criminal troubles who have, in turn, agreed to turn on her client for a deal with prosecutors.

She also chastised prosecutors for trying to speak with her client about Littlejohn’s murder without her permission. Lord said prosecutors misrepresented to her client that she was no longer representing him based on a motion prosecutors filed asking that she be recused.

Prosecutors want Lord off the case because they say she has a conflict of interest. Lord once represented Gaines, the murder victim, in a prior matter and is currently representing Trenton Police Detective Damon Jefferson in a civil matter against city police. Jefferson was involved in the investigation of Gaines’ death.

The matter is scheduled to be heard by a judge later this month.