A Trenton man has been indicted in connection with the 2006 murder of 27-year-old Kevin Thomas.

According to prosecutors in the case, Thomas, of Hamilton, was shot and killed around 4 a.m. on September 3, 2006. He was a passenger in a car that was stopped at a red light at the corner of East State and Chambers streets when a dark-colored SUV pulled up beside him. Someone inside the SUV then fired several shots at the other vehicle, according to prosecutors.

Ronald C. Smith

Thomas suffered multiple gunshot wounds, prosecutors say, and the driver of the car he occupied drove directly to the hospital, where Thomas was later pronounced dead. Another passenger in that vehicle also suffered a gunshot wound, but survived.

Prosecutors say 32-year-old Ronald C. Smith was identified as the shooter, and that he was charged with the murder last year while serving time in jail for an unrelated offense.

Smith was indicted last week on charges of murder, aggravated assault and related weapons offenses in connection with Thomas' death. He remains in prison.

Standing tall before the judge in his pea-colored suit, his hands nestled inside his pockets, Latin King leader Jose Negrete told the court Wednesday he would not testify in his fourth murder trial.

“I’m going to let him run the show,” said Negrete, referring to his attorney, Jack Furlong. Furlong advised his client against taking the stand.

And with that, summations begin Thursday afternoon, and the jury will begin deliberating next week whether Negrete ordered the August 2004 murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt on gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.

Negrete testified at past trials but said he arrived at his decision not to testify this time around after consulting with Furlong. Moments before Negrete announced his decision, Furlong playfully threatened to sic his client’s mother on him if he changed his mind.

Prosecutors rested their case after calling the last of two detectives to the stand to testify about phone records that showed a series of calls were made from Dotson’s cell phone to that of Negrete in the hours before she was killed.

Furlong pointed out on cross examination the phone records do not prove Dotson made the phone calls and someone could have had access to and used her phone. The phone records also revealed several phone calls Dotson’s phone to one linked to Fernando Rivera, the former leader of the Netas.

Early on, police focused on Rivera as a possible suspect because he had dated Dotson. But surveillance footage showed Rivera was at work at the time of the murder, according to testimony.

Earlier in the day, retired Trenton Police Detective Sgt. Albert DiNatale said Negrete and several other Latin Kings showed up at police headquarters sometime after Dotson’s death demanding answers about the case.

Witnesses have testified Negrete was charismatic and knew how to play to his audience while concealing his real motive.

For example, he gave a speech at Dotson’s funeral saying it was his mission to find Dotson’s killer. This was after he referred to the gang queen as a “snitch” while standing over her casket.

DiNatale recalled speaking to Negrete after he was arrested in February 2005 and asking him about the attempt on Ruiz. Negrete acknowledged he had ordered Ruiz turned over to the Netas to quash an ongoing gang dispute between the rival factions.

But when DiNatale asked if he knew what happened to Ruiz, Negrete shrugged his shoulders.

Negrete is hoping for a better outcome this time around. His first trial in 2008 ended in a hung jury. One was scrapped following jury selection while another resulted in a conviction that led to a 80-year sentence which was later overturned because of jury misconduct.

Latin Kings leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete “is not an innocent man,” his attorney said during closing arguments in his client’s fourth murder trial.

“But he is not guilty of the crimes in this indictment,” defense attorney Jack Furlong said Thursday, referring to charges of murder, conspiracy and attempted murder.

That distinction was important for Negrete, who is accused of ordering the summer 2004 murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and the botched murder of gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.

The state has tried for the better part of a decade to convict the Latin Kings leader, relying on some of the gang leader’s former henchmen who have testified against him. It believed it had succeeded in 2009 when a jury found Negrete guilty, only to see the appellate court later overturn an 80-year conviction because of jury misconduct.

In his closing, Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Tom Meidt pointed to several late-night phone calls between Negrete and Dotson shortly before she was killed, saying the state believes Negrete was reassuring Dotson nothing was wrong after a beat-up Ruiz showed up at the Chestnut Street home they shared complaining how he was set up by the Latin Kings.

Meidt said the defendant was “sleepwalking” Dotson the same way his henchmen did Ruiz.

“She was a security threat,” Meidt said. “A threat that had to be eliminated.”

During his summation, Furlong attempted to tease out reasonable doubt in the mind of jurors by blaming others for the crimes, including former Netas leader Fernando Rivera. Rivera admitted ordering the beating of Ruiz after he defected to the Latin Kings and said he would have ordered Ruiz killed if not for his brother being a part of the Netas.

Furlong referred to Rivera as a “stone-blooded killer” and assailed the character of the few Latin Kings gang members who took the stand in this trial. Most openly refused to testify against Negrete; some feigned memory problems; other kept their mouths shuts even with the threat of contempt hanging over their heads.

Prosecutors supplemented the lack of witness cooperation by reading transcripts of Latin King gang members prior testimony, which pointed the finger at Negrete for ordering Dotson’s killing to ensure her silence after she witnessed the abduction of Ruiz.

Furlong told jurors they should discount transcript testimony because it deprived his client of his constitutional right to confront witnesses.

Furlong also focused on deposed Inca Roberto “Bam Bam” Rodriguez, saying his testimony was contrived so he could absolve himself of his culpability in the near-strangulation of Ruiz.

Rodriguez was sentenced to 10 years in state prison after he admitted wrapping a Christmas ribbon around Ruiz’s neck and choking him out until he and other gang members disposed of his body in a dumpster on Duck Island.

Furlong said Rodriguez did not strangle Ruiz on his client’s orders and that Rodriguez did it on his own volition. Furlong called it an “intentionally personal, angry attack.”

“He had a motive to lie and was willing to exercise it,” Furlong said, pointing out Rodriguez initially told police other Latin Kings were not involved and he acted alone. “He was prepared to lie under oath to get the benefit of a deal. He bargained for the truth. There is a bottom floor to that.”

TRENTON >> One of three people charged as accomplices in the fatal shooting death of Rodney Burke admitted he was involved in a plot to rob the 48-year-old but denied any involvement in his murder, prosecutors said.

But Assistant Prosecutor Lew Korngut said at a bail hearing Tuesday authorities believe Jaquan Dallas, 20, is one of two men who could have fired the fatal shot that killed Burke in the early-morning hours of Nov. 4, outside of a South Broad Street apartment, following a botched robbery.

Rodney Burke

A second male captured on surveillance fleeing the scene shortly after witnesses heard gunfire remains unidentified and at large, prosecutors said.

Two others, Kenneth Hines, 34, and Alexa Gomez, 30, have been arrested and charged with murder and conspiracy. Gomez is accused of setting up the robbery while Hines is believed to have driven the getaway car, prosecutors said.

Witnesses said Gomez, who is being held on $1 million, was acting suspicious and asked Burke to go with her to the store shortly before the murder. Hines, who remains incarcerated on $750,000 bail, was on crutches at the time he was behind the wheel of a white Suzuki SUV, prosecutors said.

Korngut said at the bail hearing surveillance shows a man authorities believe is Dallas talking on a cell phone with his cousin, Hines. Hines’ phone records revealed a call traced back to a cell phone used by Dallas around the time of the murder, prosecutors said.

Further, Dallas admitted he was in the area on the night witnesses say they saw two men fleeing from the apartment after shots rang out, Korngut said.

Hines reportedly told Dallas he knew of a “easy” robbery victim, but Dallas told authorities he was spooked because something “didn’t feel right,” prosecutors said.

Burke remained conscious after he was shot but was unable to identify the shooter as he was dragged inside the residence, Korngut said. He later died at a local hospital.

Sam Goldberg, Dallas’ attorney, said evidence against his client is “flimsy” and circumstantial.

Dallas, who also faces an unrelated drug charge, was incarcerated on warrants at the time her was charged with Burke’s death. He has several disorderly persons convictions and served 18 months in a juvenile facility for simple assault, prosecutors said.

TRENTON >> Jurors began deliberations in the fourth murder trial of Latin Kings leader Jose Negrete but broke for the day without reaching a verdict.

The 12-member panel, which will decide whether it believes Negrete ordered the 2004 murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt on gang turncoat Alex Ruiz, was handed the case Tuesday after being charged on the law.

Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete

Judge Pedro Jimenez’s courtroom was devoid of any action for much of the day. Members of Negrete’s family were perched outside the courtroom for part of the day waiting for any indication of a verdict, but it never came. Jimenez dismissed jurors around 4 p.m. and ordered them to return to court Wednesday morning to resume deliberations.

Prosecutors have tried in vain for more than a decade to convict Negrete, who was portrayed at trial as a ruthless leader whose primary goal was to grow the Trenton tribe of the Latin Kings from a feeble, loosely associated organization into a feared street gang.

Prosecutors said he did that by striking fear in his members, pointing to a time some time before the murder when Negrete flashed a silver handgun at Latin Kings member Joey Martinez after he had disassociated himself from the gang. Negrete allegedly told Martinez to “get down or lay down.”

Prosecutors also painted Negrete as a fierce recruiter, saying he was the one who initiated Ruiz, a former rival Netas member, into the Latin Kings.

When that triggered a war between the rival gangs, Negrete ordered Ruiz handed over to the Netas to quash the violence. But prosecutors said Negrete was enraged when the Netas didn’t kill Ruiz, in part because his brother was a Netas gang member, and ordered his henchmen to finish him.

Negrete allegedly ordered Dotson killed because she was a “security risk” who was believed to be feeding information to the cops or Netas and couldn’t be trusted to keep quiet after she witnessed the Aug. 30, 2004 abduction of Ruiz from the Chestnut Street home they shared.

Negrete’s first trial in 2008 ended in a hung jury. Another trial was scrapped following jury selection while a jury in 2009 convicted him of conspiracy, murder and attempted murder. Negrete’s 80-year sentence was ultimately overturned because of jury misconduct.

A Trenton man accused of fatally shooting former boxer Steven Brannon admitted to the murder in a taped confession, prosecutors said.

William Snead III, 31, is accused of opening fire on two men March 10 outside of his city apartment last month, mortally wounding Brannon, and injuring Marvin Williams.

Steven Quinton Brannon

Snead told authorities that a .40-caliber handgun State Police found during a drug raid of his East Hanover residence was the same one he used to kill Brannon.

Snead faces counts of murder, aggravated assault and weapons offenses.

Brannon was shot in the throat, lost too much blood and succumbed to his injuries after being taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center; Williams spent a few days in the hospital, nursing a gunshot wound to the hip.

During a bail hearing Wednesday, Assistant Prosecutor William Fisher said prosecutors are waiting to see whether ballistics from a bullet recovered from Williams confirm it was fired from the handgun found inside Snead’s apartment.

Witnesses identified Snead as the shooter, Fisher said, although he did not reveal a motive, saying after the hearing he had “very little information.”

Snead’s attorney, Diane Lyons, said her client indicated he does not know anything about the crimes.

“He knows nothing about the charges,” she said. “He was questioned by the police and locked up.”

Snead has prior convictions for gun possession, receiving stolen property and drug offenses. He also faces drug charges after police found cocaine and marijuana inside his home, prosecutors said. His combined bail is $1.2 million.

Bryant Brannon, the victim’s brother, previously told The Trentonian one of his siblings ran into Snead days after the murder. Snead greeted him and acted like he was not involved in the crime.

“My brother just looked at him like ‘Come on, you have the nerve to speak to me,’” Bryant said. “This is something that will take a long time for my family to heal from.”

TRENTON >> The attorney for a Latin Kings leader on trial for murder did not step foot in a Mercer County courtroom Wednesday, leaving the reins to his young, baby-faced associate, Andrew Ferencevych.

In retrospect, it was as good an indication as any that no verdict was coming in the fourth murder trial of Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, who is accused of ordering the 2004 murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt on gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.

The 12-member panel, which received the case Tuesday, was locked in deliberations most of Wednesday, breaking only for lunch. Jurors resume deliberations Thursday morning.

Prosecutors have tried in vain for more than a decade to convict Negrete, who was portrayed at trial as a ruthless leader whose goal was to grow the Trenton tribe of the Latin Kings from a feeble, loosely associated organization into a feared street gang.

When Ruiz defection from the Netas to the Latin Kings triggered a war, Negrete ordered Ruiz handed over to quash the violence. Negrete was enraged when the Netas didn’t kill Ruiz and ordered his henchmen to finish him, prosecutors said.

Negrete allegedly ordered Dotson killed because she was a “security risk” who was believed to be feeding information to the cops or Netas and couldn’t be trusted to keep quiet after she witnessed the Aug. 30, 2004 abduction of Ruiz from the Chestnut Street home they shared.

Negrete’s first trial in 2008 ended in a hung jury. Another trial was scrapped following jury selection while a jury in 2009 convicted him of conspiracy, murder and attempted murder. Negrete’s 80-year sentence was ultimately overturned because of jury misconduct.

Latin Kings leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete was convicted Thursday for his role in the summer 2004 slaying of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt of gang turncoat Alex Ruiz, drawing a presumed close to a case that spanned more than a decade and required several jury panels to decide a verdict.

Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete

Security was tight with a dozen sheriff officers on hand as Dotson’s family and several members of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, including Acting Prosecutor Angelo Onofri, crammed inside the Mercer County courtroom to listen as a jury of eight women and four men who had deliberated for three days returned guilty verdicts to counts of conspiracy, murder and attempted murder against Negrete, the Latin Kings Inca who was on trial for the fourth time for ordering the killing of Dotson to ensure her silence.

The jury also agreed Negrete was guilty of attempted murder related to the near-strangulation of Ruiz, who was ordered handed over by Negrete to the rival Ñetas after his defection to the Latin Kings sparked a war between the factions.

Linda Dotson, the victim’s mother, gasped and embraced a family member as the jury foreman read the guilty verdict. It was a moment the family had lived in 2009 when Negrete was convicted on all charges only to see the appellate court overturn an 80-year sentence because of jury misconduct. They left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.

Negrete remained seated next to his attorney, Jack Furlong, as the verdict was read. Furlong said after the verdict was read he would file a motion for a new trial which will delay sentencing. Judge Pedro Jimenez revoked Negrete’s $2 million bail and set a hearing on the new trial motion for May 29.

If the motion is denied, Furlong plans to appeal.

As he was shackled and led away, he turned to the back of the courtroom and blew his wife a kiss.

Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Tom Meidt, who handled the case from its inception, acknowledged the difficulties trying the case, adding that he hopes the verdict brings the Dotson’s family some solace.

“I’ve never been involved in a case like this,” Meidt said. “It didn’t feel right to hand it over to someone else.”

Furlong said his client was deprived of his constitutional right to confront some of the Latin Kings co-conspirators who testified against him in exchange for plea bargains. In fairness, most of them refused to testify, unconvinced by the prospect of being jailed for contempt. The state supplemented the lack of witness cooperation with transcripts of the gang members’ testimony from previous trials.

“For the first time in recorded history, the state was able to lay down with dogs and not get up with fleas,” Furlong said.

Prosecutors said at trial Negrete was enraged after the Ñetas did not kill Ruiz and ordered his henchmen to finish him.

Prosecutor said Dotson fell into Negrete’s cross-hairs because she witnessed Ruiz’s abduction. She was shot in the head execution-style by convicted killer Angel Hernandez in the basement of her Chestnut Street apartment on orders from Negrete.

Dotson’s allegiance was already in doubt as she was suspected of feeding information to cops or the rival Ñetas and could not be trusted after she was several Latin Kings members lure Ruiz, her roommate, from the home they shared, prosecutors said.

Ruiz was choked out and left for dead in dumpster on Duck Island, but he survived. Gang member and deposed Inca Roberto “Bam Bam” Rodriguez testified earlier he and three other gang members were sent to Dotson’s house Aug. 30, 2004 with the intent of beating Ruiz. That changed once they arrived and he said he heard Negrete give the order to take out Ruiz.

The moment a jury foreman pronounced Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete guilty of ordering the killing of a gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and the near-strangulation of a gang turncoat Alex Ruiz in 2004, a single question danced in the minds of all those involved in what has become a decade-long ordeal.

Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete

Now that the whodunit aspect is settled, again, will this guilty verdict stand? It’s a fair question considering more than 10 years have elapsed since Negrete and several of his co-conspirators, holed up in his Brunswick Avenue residence, were rounded up by authorities in February 2005. In that time, Negrete had four trials, a span encompassing two Mercer County prosecutors.

Retired prosecutor Joe Bocchini was around for Negrete’s first three trials, which resulted in a hung jury and a guilty verdict, sandwiched around a trial that was scrapped shortly after jury selection. He was at Myrtle Beach Thursday when he received news of the guilty verdict.

“We went through one conviction, and we had the retrials,” Bocchini said, reflecting on the journey to get to this point. “The conviction here is very warranted; it was warranted the first time.

“It was nerve-wracking only to the extent that we knew he was guilty. We knew he deserved to be in jail. It was frustrating to go through the retrials. Negrete is where he belongs and should stay for the remainder of his days.”

While Bocchini had to settle for dialing up his former right-hand man, Acting Prosecutor Angelo Onofri had a firsthand look, seated a row behind Dotson’s family, keeping watch over them as the verdict was read.

For Onofri, it was symbolic. He’s the one who had the Dotson’s back over the years, asking them for patience and reassuring them when doubt crept in their minds as Negrete, the seemingly untouchable Inca, was granted a new trial when the appellate court overturned his life sentence because of juror misconduct.

Onofri wouldn’t comment on the specifics of how those conversations went with Dotson’s family, other than to say they were heartfelt.

“We were not going to rest until the offenders were brought to justice,” he said in a phone interview with The Trentonian. “I’m delighted that there’s closure for the families. They’ve been dealing with this for a considerable period of time.”

If justice is a metric, this is what prosecutors achieved as it relates to Negrete’s co-conspirators, all gleaned from the Department of Corrections: Angel Hernandez, life, for the execution-style murder of Dotson; Roberto “Bam Bam” Rodriguez, 10 years for strangling Ruiz with a Christmas ribbon, already released; Maurice Young, 17 years for aggravated manslaughter, with an expected release date of Aug. 10, 2019; Josue “Sway: Maldonado, 15 years for conspiracy, with an expected release date of July 30, 2022; Rhadames Acosta, 6 years for attempted murder, set for release Nov. 17, 2015; and Joey Martinez, released in August 2013 after a 10-year sentence for conspiracy.

Negrete, portrayed as the newly enshrined unquestioned leader who ruled with an iron first, was the big catch as Assistant Prosecutor John Boyle said in his opening statement the crimes fell “at the feet of Jose Negrete because it was all done on his orders.”

Negrete’s attorney, Jack Furlong, said he never bought the state’s theory about his client.

“He’s never going to get an award for being the most Machiavellian person,” Furlong said of Negrete. “The guy they described in the transcript was way more obsessive compulsive than the guy I met.”

Yet Boyle, admittedly “second banana,” and Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Tom Meidt took turns tag-teaming Negrete.

Bocchini called Boyle a “rising star” and a “little tiger.” Onofri said the duo worked tirelessly together on the case.

“My role was to provide any of the resources Tom and John needed, whether it was to bring the witnesses here. I had the absolute confidence that they would make sure justice was done.”

There were at least two people who walked away feeling justice was not done. Negrete, who has maintained his innocence the over the last 10 years. And Furlong, who immediately informed the court he will file a motion asking for a new trial. If that’s not fruitful, he will file an appeal, expected to be based on concerns that the proceedings devolved into a “trial by transcript” that deprived Negrete of his constitutional rights.

“The judge had to make a series of calls that would have challenged [Judge] Learned Hand,” Furlong said. “I’m unaware of any case in New Jersey or any other state of the union where the defendant faces the prospect of life in prison based on nothing more than a dramatic reading of self-serving testimony.”

Furlong then proceeded to slam the credibility of the state’s witnesses, saying the sheer number of Latin Kings gang members who were willing to testify against his client was mystifying, especially since their manifesto expressly frowned upon cooperation with authorities.

“In the old days, we used to say, ‘If crimes were committed in churches, we’d have choir boys for witnesses,” he said. “The alternative is if crimes were committed at Yankee Stadium, we’d have 6,000 eyes. But crimes tend to be committed behind closed doors.

“When a witness has an allegiance higher than the criminal justice system, you’re gong to run into a brick wall 9 times out of 10,” he said. “It was kind of surprising how many of those members of the Latin Kings gave statements the first day. At the end of the day, the people I meet who claim to be gang affiliated are just kids trying to be tougher than they are and sometimes they have access to guns.”

In the end, the kids with guns did a lot of damage and caused a lot of grief.

“What happened in the past is what happened in the past,” Bocchini said. “Whatever appeals, we’ll wait and see. From my outside view, I don’t think there is any irreversible error.”

A city man accused of fatally shooting Naquan Ellis must decide whether cooperating with the state in an unrelated case is worth getting five years shaved off his sentence as part of a plea package presented by prosecutors Monday.

Grady A. Blue III

Grady Blue III, 22, was indicted in February on counts of murder, aggravated assault and weapons offenses in connection with the June 2014 death of 23-year-old Ellis, who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest after he was struck in a parking lot of the North 25 housing complex. A woman was also hit by gunfire but did not sustain serious injuries.

Under the terms of a plea agreement extended by prosecutors, Blue would be required to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter and cooperate in another unspecified matter in exchange for a 25-year prison term.

The alternative calls for Blue to serve 30 years in state prison for murder, Assistant Prosecutor Kathleen Petrucci said.

Both pleas would also require Blue to plead guilty to an unlawful possession of a weapon charge for a 10-year sentence, which would run concurrently, prosecutors said. Petrucci would not reveal which case prosecutors are seeking Blue’s help. He is being held on $1 million.

Accused killer Wayne Bush locked eyes with the mother of slain hip-hop artist Jafar Lewis and allegedly mouthed two words: “F--- you.”

This was a man who had once attended holidays and family gatherings. So naturally, Lewis’ mother, Jacqueline, lashed out, launching into an expletive-laced tirade. Sheriff’s officers had to remove her from the courtroom when she interrupted the proceedings.

That was the divisive backdrop of this evidentiary hearing Wednesday in a case that has wrenched a family apart. Bush was engaged to the victim’s cousin, Ghadah, when he allegedly killed Lewis on Aug. 23, 2013 over a drug debt.

“It’s an intra-family tragedy,” said Jack Furlong, Bush’s attorney. Bush, 37, was indicted by a grand jury last year, has pleaded not guilty and rejected a plea offer of 29 years for aggravated manslaughter. The start of trial was set for July 6 but that is expected to change.

Added Furlong: “I don’t expect any winners, regardless of the outcome.”

A hearing was held so Assistant Prosecutor Lewis Korngut and Furlong could argue about whether prosecutors should be allowed to present evidence of Bush’s alleged motive.

Judge Robert Billmeier, taking his cues from the appellate court, said a trial jury would likely hear a “sanitized” version of events relayed by Lewis’ fiancée, Twanna Robinson, who claims to have witnessed the murder on Middle Rose Street.

Robinson testified her fiancé was involved in a “business relationship” with Bush, a known heroin dealer. The men, who were acquainted for years, had a falling out after Lewis was provided 80 bricks of heroin by Bush. Lewis was supposed to sell the drugs and return the profits to Bush.

Prosecutors believe Bush grew enraged after he couldn’t get in touch with Lewis and believed he stiffed him out of drug proceeds.

Robinson said she recalled being in a vehicle with Bush and Lewis about a week before the murder, when they set up their drug-dealing arrangement. Bush allegedly unloaded 80 bricks of heroin, wrapped in newspaper, in the back seat. Then he turned to Lewis and told him there was more if he flipped it.

“This 80, you knock this off, I got 250 for you,” Robinson recalled hearing Bush say.

After Robinson dropped off her fiancé, she unloaded the bricks from her vehicle and placed them into the basement of the home the couple shared. Later, she and Lewis drove to a remote wooded part of Ewing, where he buried the heroin while she waited in the car.

That weekend the couple went to Atlantic City. Robinson posted photos of them on her Facebook and Instagram accounts. Bush’s fiancée, Ghahada, must have saw them and told her beau.

Bush wondered where Lewis got the money to go to Atlantic City.

Robinson said she saw numerous text messages and private Facebook messages between Lewis and Ghadah the day of the murder. She had reached out to her cousin at Bush’s urging after he was incommunicado.

According to documents of the messages read in court, Ghadah Lewis reportedly told her cousin he was “grimy” because she believed he was dodging Bush’s calls. She said she had convinced Bush to front him the drugs.

“Family ain’t never do shit for me,” Jafar Lewis texted back.

Furlong pointed out on cross examination Robinson never mentioned the drug transaction that allegedly took place a week before Lewis’ death in prior statements to police. She didn’t come forward with the information until last month. The transaction is important because it underpins the state’s theory of Bush’s motive.

When police initially asked Robinson if the men had any prior problems, she failed to mention text and Facebook messages.

Furlong appeared incredulous of Robinson’s purported “fantasy world.”

A man who suffered burns during a house fire last month died in the hospital Sunday and his death has been ruled a homicide.

The man, whose identity is still not known, suffered extensive burns during a March 12 house fire that occurred in the 200 block of Elmer Street.

“He passed away on Sunday and a post-mortem examination was conducted Wednesday, but he is still a John Doe,” Lt. Steven Varn said.

Police say a second victim was injured in the fire, but he is still alive. After they were rescued, both men were taken to Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, where John Doe passed away over the weekend.

The on-duty fire chief could not provide specifics about the fire Thursday night, but police said the incident was ruled an act of arson.

When asked whether officials believe the deceased victim was homeless, Lt. Varn said, “I can't say.”

The case is now being investigated by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force. Anyone with information 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.

TRENTON >> Prosecutors had offered a Trenton man charged with murder a plea deal that would have led to murder charges being dropped if he agreed to cooperate and testify against his co-defendant, The Trentonian has learned.

Daniel McCargo

The deal undermines Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley’s previous assertion after a status hearing earlier this year that Daniel McCargo, 28, is “equally culpable” for the fatal shooting death of 24-year-old Jahmir Hall.

McCauley confirmed such a deal was “floated” to McCargo, who was indicted as an accomplice on counts of first-degree murder, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and second-degree certain persons not to possess a firearm.

Curtis Grier, 28, who was also indicted on murder charges but remains free on $300,000 bail, is believed to be the alleged gunman, prosecutors have said. Both men have subsequently been offered plea bargains calling for 30-year sentences for murder. They face the possibility of life in prison if they take their case to trial and are convicted by a jury.

Sources told The Trentonian prosecutors would have dropped all charges against McCargo if he had agreed to testify against Grier.

McCauley disputed that, saying any deal would have required McCargo to plead guilty to a lesser crime such as a weapons offense. McCauley said Hall’s family was never consulted about the offer because it never got that far. McCargo, who is incarcerated on $300,000 cash-only bail while his codefendant walks the streets, outright rejected the overture.

“That’s not in the cards anymore,” McCauley said. “He’s not willing to cooperate, so it’s a moot point.”

Both men – one shackled in orange prison garb, the other in a short-sleeve button-down shirt and dark pants -- appeared in court Friday with their attorneys for a hearing on a dismissal motion. Grier is represented by Trenton defense attorney Robin Lord; McCargo, who was previously represented by attorney Robert Rogers, is defended by Maleika Montgomery of the Office of the Public Defender in Mercer County.

Montgomery previously said it was an “injustice” Grier remains free while her client is locked up. She filed a motion this week asking for bail reconsideration for her client. A hearing is set for April 21 before Judge Robert Billmeier.

Montgomery joined Lord’s request for the murder indictment to be dismissed despite apparent fissures between the codefendants, who were seated within feet of each other but did not appear to speak or glance at one another. Billmeier heard arguments from both sides but reserved decision and will likely offer a written opinion on the motion in the future.

Lord said the grand jury panel that indicted her client was charged on the law for murder seven weeks before it handed up its indictment. She said too much time had elapsed for grand jurors to remember necesary elements of the law required for murder.

“We’re not talking about indicting Mr. Grier for spitting on a sidewalk,” she said. “We’re talking about indicting him for a serious charge.”

Lord criticized what she believes is the state’s “lackadaisical” approach to securing indictments. Lord used as an example Judge Gerald Council’s remarks about sexual assault cases to grand jurors last year.

Billmeier said a sexual assault case in question as a result of Council’s comments had nothing to do with the murder case.

McCargo was seen with Grier shortly after the April 19, 2014 early-morning shooting on Quinton Avenue, authorities said. Police responded to a report of shots fired and found Hall lying partially under a pickup truck. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Witnesses told police they saw two men flee in a black Mercedes Benz. Grier and McCargo were spotted a short time later in a vehicle matching the description. Police said McCargo attempted to hide a black handgun. The handgun was not the same one used in the murder, which is backed by ballistics results.

Attorneys mentioned a bar video at the hearing but it’s unclear how the footage relates to Hall’s death.

Prosecutors have pointed to McCargo’s prior criminal record, which court records show includes convictions for narcotics sand weapons offenses, to justify his cash-only bail requirement. Grier did not have the same cash-only requirement because he lacked a prior criminal record, prosecutors have said.

Both men are due back in court in June for a status hearing.

TRENTON >> The attorney for an admitted drug dealer charged as an accomplice to murder rhapsodized at a Tuesday bail hearing about injustice. But prosecutors needed only point to the man’s previous rap sheet in order to convince Judge Robert Billmeier to leave bail unchanged.

Daniel McCargo

Daniel McCargo, 29, who is being held on $300,000 cash-only bail, appeared to have everything going in his favor. His attorney, Maleika Montgomery, argued her client was not as “culpable” as alleged gunman Curtis Grier for the fatal shooting death of 24-year-old Jahmir Hall in April 2014.

That argument was bolstered when prosecutors previously offered to drop murder charges against McCargo if he agreed to cooperate and testify against Grier, who is free on $300,000 bail. Prosecutors also conceded Tuesday they would have a hard time proving to a jury McCargo shared Grier’s alleged intent to kill.

Surveillance footage shows a man authorities believe is McCargo standing outside a black Mercedes Benz while Grier allegedly shot Hall on Quinton Avenue in the early-morning hours of April 19, 2014, prosecutors said. Grier was not captured in the footage, prosecutors said, but gunshots can be heard.

Authorities later spotted the two men in a vehicle matching a description. McCargo attempted to hide a black handgun, but ballistics revealed it wasn’t the same one used in the murder.

Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley once again pointed to McCargo’s prior criminal record, which court records show includes convictions for narcotics sand weapons offenses, to justify the cash-only requirement.

He also said McCargo was “complicit” in the murder because he did not attempt to contact police and continued driving around with Grier for a half-hour after the murder, until they were stopped by police.

“He’s different because of his prison record,” McCauley said, comparing McCargo to Grier, who does not have a record.

Both men, facing the possibility of life in prison if they’re convicted by a jury at trial, were offered plea bargains calling for 30-year sentences for murder.

McCargo has refused to testify against Grier as part of a plea deal that would have required him to admit guilt to a lesser crime, prosecutors said. Both men, who appeared in court last week for a hearing on a dismissal motion, are due back in court in June for a status hearing.

A man accused of fatally stabbing 49-year-old Keisha Alexander last year has been indicted in connection with the case.

Jorge Rodriguez

Jorge L. Rodriguez, 21, is accused of breaking into Alexander’s Edgewood Avenue apartment to commit a burglary and then stabbing her in the process.

According to prosecutors in the case, sometime before 8 a.m. on June 21, 2014, Rodriguez reached through a rear window to Alexander’s apartment and unlocked the back door. He then physically and sexually assaulted Alexander, and then stabbed her with a knife.

Police were dispatched to the apartment after a neighbor called emergency 911 and reported hearing a woman scream. Alexander was pronounced dead at the scene.

Rodriguez was arrested the same day as the murder and charged in connection with the case. He was indicted last week on 12 different charges including aggravated murder, burglary, aggravated sexual assault and weapons offenses.

Rodriguez faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if found guilty of the aggravated murder charge. He remains in jail on $500,000 cash bail.

Keisha Alexander

Alexander’s friends who spoke to The Trentonian on the day of her death described her as being a kind and caring person – the kind of person every community needs. She often spent time gardening in her backyard, her friends said, and she loved taking care of plants that hung on her apartment’s window sill.

Residents gather for a prayer service on the steps of Shiloh Baptist Church on May 1, 2014, in observance of the National Day of Prayer.

Like biblical verses, Rev. Lukata Mjumbe can recite the names of the city’s murder victims, the date they were killed and where.

In an attempt to humanize the victim, the executive director of Urban Mission Cabinet Inc. has made it his mission to learn what he can about the lives that ended too soon.

“I know these names because we pray about them by name when we come together,” Mjumbe said in an interview last week with other community religious leaders. “They’re no longer statistics for us.”

For the second year in a row, the United Mercer Interfaith Organization (UMIO) will host a “Unity Walk” on May 1 to visit the sites where victims were murdered this year. The Mercer County freeholders and Trenton council have already passed resolutions recognizing May 1 as the official day of unity in the community.

The walk originated last year after bullets entered the Galilee Baptist Church during a funeral in April, injuring several. Religious leaders met and decided they needed to take the message to the streets, said Mjumbe, who co-chairs UMIO.

“We need to go to those places where we were having these types of community conflicts, to go into the places where violence was running rampant and to directly engage the people,” he said. “We not only need to talk the talk we need to walk the walk.”

Islamic Center of Ewing Imam Qareeb Bashir, who is also the city’s fire director, co-chairs UMIO, an organization which spans many different denominations.

“We’re one human family,” Bashir said. “The murders that took place, these were people who were parts of families … but also part of the Trenton community.”

By the religious community coming together, Bashir said it exemplifies comprehensive strength that it is a serious matter and something needs to be done to stop the bloodshed.

“Hopefully, it will bring awareness, unity and it also will show the families that people really care,” he said.

Two years ago, Trenton experienced the city’s deadliest year with 37 murders. Last year, even though there was an 80-day stretch with no murders during the summer, 33 people were murdered. So far this year, there have been six reported homicides.

“We want to say to the kids that are living, let’s stop the murder,” Shiloh Baptist Church Rev. Darrell Armstrong said. “Trenton as a land has had so much turmoil, so much challenge, so much tragedy, so much trauma. It’s time to give the land a rest.”

Armstrong, who is on the UMIO steering committee, says the walk will be part in parcel with the Black Lives Matter marches. But he believes it’s more than just white police officers involved in the deaths of black men – it’s blacks killing other blacks like mostly what has occurred locally.

“What is the value of any life regardless of who pulled the trigger and who is on the other side that received a bullet?” Armstrong questioned. “What we’re saying in our local community, the lives of these six persons matters so much that we want to not only go to the places and reclaim where their murders took place, but we also want to make a very definitive statement that death of any kind is not acceptable. “

Unlike the recent Black Lives Matter protests, though, Westminster Presbyterian Church Rev. Karen Hernandez-Granzen said the “Unity Walk” will have no chants or signs.

“For me, it’s a statement without using any words when we walk the streets of Trenton,” said Hernandez-Granzen, the vice-chair of UMIO. “It gives us an opportunity to just enter into conversations with our neighbors. I think that it is a statement in our commitment to claim our city and that we want to have a better relationship with our neighbors.”

Stops on the walk to pray will include where Anthony Jones, Wilbur Thomas, Taquan McNeil, Steven Quinton Brannon, and Darryl Ford were murdered. A visit is also planned to the 200 block of Elmer Street where a man recently died from a fire that authorities determined to be set by arson.

First Baptist Church of Trenton Rev. Calvin Powell said he’s been trying to reach out to the victim’s families to have them come out and participate.

“We believe this would be the process of healing,” he said. “With us coming together, I think this is saying we too want a safe haven for our children. This needs to stop, it’s time to come together in peace.”

The “Unity Walk” will have three starting points: At 3:30 p.m., Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1140 Greenwood Ave., and the Islamic Center of Ewing, 685 Parkway Ave., will begin their walks. For the after-work crowd at 5 p.m., the walk at the Shiloh Baptist Church, 340 Reverend S. Howard Woodson Way, will commence.

The three groups will converge at the Gandhi Peace Garden, 223 E. Hanover S., at 6 p.m. That will be followed by a free dinner at the Trenton Masonic Temple, 100 Barracks St., at 7 p.m.

“We want to bring the families together very intentionally,” Mjumbe said of the dinner. “At the dinner, we will be sitting together as a community, and breaking bread together.”

At dinner, important service providers will be offered such as job training, crisis and grief counseling, legal assistance and drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

With more than 40 sponsors already participating, Mjumbe said there is still an opportunity for businesses, organizational and congregational sponsorships.

For more information email umioorganizer@gmail.com or visit www.unitedmercerinterfaith.org.

Mjumbe has one lofty goal from the “Unity Walk.”

“Moving forward, we want to change the headlines,” he said. “We hope that eventually we’ll put the Trenton Homicide Watch page out of business.”

One of two Trenton men accused of gunning down 26-year-old Brandon Nance outside a city bakery in 2013 was offered a plea deal by prosecutors calling for a 28-year sentence.

Dante Alexander

Dante Alexander, 31, was indicted earlier this year on counts of murder and weapons offenses after prosecutors said he fatally shot Nance in broad daylight Aug. 29, 2013 in front of Italian People’s Bakery on Butler Street.

Under terms of the plea deal, Alexander would be required to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter and an unrelated robbery. He would receive a concurrent 15-year sentence on the robbery charge, which stems from a 2013 armed holdup of two Philadelphia residents on Perry Street.

The proposed deal is contingent on Alexander providing information to prosecutors, Assistant Prosecutor Lewis Korngut said at a status hearing Monday. He was not more specific.

A second gunman remains unidentified and at large, prosecutors said.

Surveillance captured Nance being shot multiple times. He collapsed in front of the bakery and was shot several more times while he lay on the ground. Police recovered 16 .40-caliber shell casings along Butler Street.

Alexander, who was arrested in Virginia last May, remains jailed on $1 million bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for June.

A Trenton man accused of fatally shooting city pharmacist Arjun Reddy Dyapa in 2011 must decide whether he is going to plead guilty to an unrelated gun possession charge or take his case to trial, a judge said Tuesday.

Jamar Meyers, 28, has a backlog of cases, prosecutors said. He faces murder, robbery and felony murder in the shooting death of Dyapa, who was shot inside his pharmacy store in April 2011 after he refused to turn over prescription pills during an armed heist, prosecutors said.

Meyers has been incarcerated for four years while awaiting trial on a myriad of cases. Prosecutors’ plea bargain calls for Meyers to admit guilt to weapon possession for a 5-year sentence. He has enough jail credits for a time served sentence.

If he were to reject that offer, his case would proceed to trial July 14 before Judge Robert Billmeier, prosecutors said.

Meyers’ attorney, Ron Garzio, has insisted authorities found the gun during an illegal vehicle stop. Authorities said the gun was in plain sight.

Regardless, Meyers isn’t getting out of jail any time soon.

The murder case is still pending, and he also faces charges in a robbery of a 7-Eleven in Hamilton that occurred days after the murder as well as aggravated assault for throwing a ready-made meal at a corrections officer, Grillo said.

Myers reportedly confided in friends he killed Dyapa and told one where he hid the gun, which was recovered by police. He is jailed on $1.25 million.

Prosecutors believe a former city drug dealer who had reportedly turned his life around to become a mentor for troubled city youth was killed because of an outstanding drug debt.

The revelation came at a hearing Tuesday in the case of alleged killer, Markquice “Tank” Thomas.

Markquice Thomas

Thomas, 29, is charged with a pair of city murders, including that of 44-year-old Joseph “Power God” Gaines, who was shot to death in March 2014.

Thomas is also accused of kidnapping and killing 22-year-old Jared Littlejohn in September 2012.

Gaines had sent Thomas text messages sometime before he was slain telling Thomas he intended to pay off the debt, prosecutors said.

“This week you’ll have your money,” he wrote. “No B.S.”

Gaines past criminal life was the center of much debate at the hearing, which was scheduled to determine whether Thomas’ attorney, Robin Lord, must withdraw from her client’s case. A judge has not issued a decision on the recusal motion.

Prosecutors argued Lord must recuse herself from the case because she represented Gaines in an unrelated drug case more than a decade ago.

Korngut said it was a conflict of interest for Lord, who would have had access to information about Gaines she could use to help defend Thomas. Prosecutors added Lord is representing Trenton Police Detective Damon Jefferson, who helped investigate Gaines’ death, in a civil matter.

The only away around the conflict, Korngut said, would be if Gaines agreed.

“He can’t give consent because he’s dead,” Korngut said.

Lord fired back, accusing prosecutors of “shooting from the hip” and said her past representation of Gaines was too distant to matter. She said Thomas was in middle school when she took on Gaines’ case.

Lord also said any suggestion that the motive for Gaines’ murder was drug-related was “stupid” because a drug dealer would want to recoup debts not kill a debtor.

“Why kill somebody who owes you money?” she asked.

Jurors will never know slain hip-hop artist Jafar Lewis was allegedly gunned down in 2013 over a drug debt.

Attorneys for both sides agreed to scrub references to a drug debt at the upcoming murder trial of accused killer Wayne Bush. Prosecutors will be allowed to suggest Lewis owed Bush money as a motive for the killing but cannot elaborate beyond that.

Bush, 39, was engaged to a relative of Lewis at the time of the Aug. 23, 2013 murder. He was supposed to go on trial July 6 on charges that he fatally shot Lewis after he believed Lewis stiffed him out of drug proceeds.

Bush rejected a final plea offer of 29 years for aggravated manslaughter.

Judge Robert Billmeier said Wednesday he expects to push back the start of trial but he did not say when it would be rescheduled.

In the meantime, Assistant Prosecutor Lewis Korngut and defense attorney Jack Furlong settled their dispute over testimony suggesting the defendant and Lewis were partners in an illicit trade that went awry.

Lewis’ fiancée, Twanna Robinson, who claims to have witnessed the murder, testified at an evidentiary hearing earlier this month that Lewis was involved in a “business relationship” with Bush, a known heroin dealer.

The men, who were acquainted for years, had a falling out after Lewis was provided 80 bricks of heroin to sell and was supposed to return the profits to Bush.

Robinson recalled being in a vehicle with Bush and Lewis about a week before the murder, when Bush allegedly unloaded 80 bricks of heroin in the back seat.

Robinson said she unloaded the bricks from her vehicle and placed them into the basement of the home the couple shared. Later, Lewis drove with her to a remote wooded part of Ewing and buried the heroin.

Billmeier previously said he was inclined to issue a written opinion that would have effectively “sanitized” Robinson’s testimony because it was prejudicial to Bush, once a close friend of the Lewis family who was engaged to Lewis’ cousin, Ghadah.

Prosecutors must find a way around drug references contained in evidence, which includes numerous text messages and private Facebook messages between Lewis and Ghadah the day of the murder.

Furlong objected to Robinson’s testimony about the drug venture because it did not appear in prior statements she gave police. She came forward with the information last month.