Akee Harris

A city man was arrested Tuesday night in connection with the stabbing death of 22-year-old Edwin Saddler.

Akee Harris, 26, of Ellsworth Avenue, is charged with murder and weapons offenses in connection with Saddler’s death.

Saddler was one of two people who died on June 24. He was found in the first block of Ellsworth Avenue suffering from multiple stab wounds, and died several hours later at the hospital.

Prosecutors say Harris was treated at a hospital in Hopewell for a laceration on his hand around the same time that Saddler was being treated at a hospital in Trenton. The investigation revealed that Harris and Saddler were involved in a physical altercation, and that Harris stabbed Saddler numerous times.

Edwin Saddler

Harris was arrested at a relative’s house around 5 p.m. Tuesday by members of the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force. He is being held on $1 million cash or bond bail.

Saddler was a lifelong city resident and played football for Trenton Central High School, according to his obituary. He is survived by his mother, nine siblings and numerous cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.

By Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman

Edward Kevin Nock (contributed photo)

Police solved one of the city’s recent murder cases Thursday as county and federal officers tracked down and arrested the suspected killer who had stabbed Edward Kevin Nock to death earlier this week at Donnelly Homes, authorities announced.

Isaac J. Grey, 31, of Beakes Street, Trenton, was arrested in Philadelphia by Mercer County homicide investigators with the assistance of U.S. Marshals, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. Grey has been charged with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

Grey fled to the City of Brotherly Love after allegedly stabbing Nock about 9:45 p.m. Tuesday in Trenton. Police found Nock, 43, lying on the floor of a Donnelly Homes apartment in the first block of Beakes Street suffering from an apparent stab wound to the abdomen. Nock was rushed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries.

One of Nock’s cousins said Nock “was a very caring person and never did anything to hurt anyone.”

Police found Grey about 11 a.m. Thursday at a house on Newkirk Street in Philadelphia and arrested him on the spot, according to the prosecutor’s office. Bail information was not immediately available.

Harvey Sharp

A man was arrested in Virginia Thursday afternoon and charged in connection with the murder of 29-year-old Harvey Sharp.

Horace Gordon was arrested around 3:10 p.m. Thursday by members of the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) Regional Fugitive Task Force in Richmond, Va. The USMS issued a press release Thursday stating that they arrested a man in connection with a murder that occurred in Trenton. A spokesperson for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office confirmed the victim of that murder was Sharp, one of two men who died on June 24.

Sharp, whose birthday is also the date of his death, was shot while on the front porch of a home located in the first block of Cummings Avenue around 12:11 a.m. A woman who lives in that neighborhood said she heard two gunshots. When police arrived on-scene, they found Sharp suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest and he later died at the hospital.

U.S. Marshals in Richmond were notified of Gordon's whereabouts by investigators working in Trenton. Law enforcement believed Gordon was hiding in a home located in the 300 block of Hicksford Avenue in Emporia, Va. And that's exactly where they found him on Thursday.

The full USMS press release is below.

Trenton Murder Suspect Apprehended in Emporia

Richmond, VA – In the late afternoon hours of July 2nd, the United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Richmond arrested a man who is wanted for murder in Trenton, NJ. Horace Gordon shot and killed his victim then fled the state of New Jersey to avoid arrest.

After an extensive investigation by the NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force, Trenton Division, the team developed information that Gordon was likely hiding out in Emporia, Virginia. A request was sent to the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force in Richmond requesting help in locating Gordon. After days of investigation, task force members developed information that Gordon was likely hiding out at a home in the 300 block of Hicksford Avenue. At approximately 3:10 p.m. task force members converged on that residence and apprehended Gordon without incident.

“The apprehension of this fugitive is a direct result of the perseverance of our investigators and the interagency cooperation that exists on our fugitive task forces,” said U.S. Marshal Robert Mathieson.
The USMS Regional Fugitive Task Force in Richmond consists of investigators for the U.S. Marshals Service, Virginia State Police, Virginia Department of Corrections, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office and the Richmond, Chesterfield, and Hopewell Police Departments.

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals Service can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov.

This picture of a banner in memorial of Jah’vae Minney was shared on social media after his death.

After 16-year-old Jah’vae Minney was shot and killed, pictures of him fanning cash and flashing street signs were shared across several social media platforms.

A picture of a memorial banner in honor of Minney’s death was displayed on the front page of The Trentonian, and the banner included the phrase “#116 Gang.”

Minney was gunned down near the corner of Prospect Street and Bellevue Avenue around 11 p.m. on June 26. When the story about his death was published with the aforementioned photographs, readers concluded that Minney was a gangbanger. In the July 2 edition of the newspaper, contributors to Back Talk assumed that Minney was killed because he was in a gang, and even accused him of flashing “gang signs” in a separate picture that was published alongside the story about his death. But police say those assumptions may be false.

“We’re getting calls from people saying that there’s an issue with Vae Gang or Twizzy Gang, but that’s not the case,” Detective Luis Baez of the Trenton Police Gang Unit said last week. “This is nothing more than his friends representing him and mourning his death. Everyone thinks this is a gang, but it’s not.”

Police officials say young people will often use various hashtags across social media that include the word “gang” while mourning the death of a friend or family member. Police say their intelligence has so far found no existence of the terms Vae Gang, Twizzy Gang, or 116 Gang before Minney’s death, and that the group as a whole is not involved in criminal activity. Police also say they have so far found no information suggesting that Minney was involved in drug dealing or any other type of criminal activity normally associated with gang membership.

“Every time there’s a passing of someone who was well liked, we see this trend,” Baez said. “Friends will use that person’s nickname as a ‘gang,’ or they’ll use a house number or the block where they hung out most as the name of a ‘gang.’ Friends will also represent whatever color the deceased wore most. But we don’t jump to conclusions and classify anyone as a gang member unless the identifiers are there. We would classify these people mourning his death as more of a street crew. But it’ll phase out after a couple of weeks and maybe show up again next year on the anniversary of his death.”

Jah’vae Minney (contributed photo)

In regards to the picture of Minney flashing hand signs, police say it’s a typical pose that young people in urban cities use when taking pictures. In the picture, Minney is seen raising the pinky finger on his right hand, and his left hand forms the letter “L.” Police say the pinky pose means “I got money,” and the “L” means “I’ve got my gun nearby.” But Minney, police say, does not appear to have a reputation for carrying a gun or dealing drugs. Police believe that picture, and other pictures of Minney fanning cash, were merely the poses he used to fit in with peers.

“That’s a normal pose that boys make nowadays, but at this time I wouldn’t classify him as a gang member,” Baez said. “Maybe he’s trying to fit in with friends. We hear that he was a likable kid.”

Police acknowledged that some of the people rumored to associate with Minney may have questionable pasts. But Minney himself was trying to live a straight life, according to several people who spoke to The Trentonian. In fact, government officials say Minney applied for a summer job with the City of Trenton about 10 days before his death. His father Eric Parks said Minney also applied for another job, but was murdered before he had a chance to interview for the position.

“They actually called me a couple of days ago because he hadn’t contacted them about the interview,” Parks said. “I had to tell them that he was deceased.”

Jah'vae Minney

Minney was also an active member of Shiloh Baptist Church, which he attended on a regular basis for at least a year and a half.

“Jah’vae was active in our Thursday night high school fellowship, where we feed hundreds of young people weekly and provide recreational opportunities and engagement about spirituality,” the Rev. Darrell Armstrong said. “He was bright, motivated and spiritually inclined. I am extremely saddened, frustrated and angered by Jah’vae’s murder.”

The state of gangs in Trenton

Police say the current state of gangs in the capital city is not as it used to be from 2000 to 2005 when law enforcement faced a legitimate “gang war.” Gangs today are largely disorganized, police say, and street hustlers mostly look out for themselves, as opposed to adopting a gang ideology as they did 10 to 15 years ago.

According to the bylaws of most gangs, if someone asks a member if he or she belongs to a gang, that person is required to admit it. But police say most of the suspects they arrest deny being in a gang, and are instead part of a disorganized street crew that may have members who are not at all involved in criminal activity. Police say they also encounter people who initially claim to be in a gang, but when asked to recite their gang oath or name the leader of the gang, they don’t know that information.

“A lot of times we catch them in a bluff,” Baez said. “We don’t see a lot of commitment to gangs today, and there’s no leadership out there per se.”

Officials admit that most of the well-known gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, Netas and MS-13 have members based in Trenton. But police say the violence occurring on the city’s streets today are mostly related to personal arguments as opposed to gang-related disputes.

“We don’t have gangs fighting other gangs just because they’re rival groups,” Baez said. “Instead, we’ll have a Blood from one street beefing with a Blood from another street for petty personal reasons. They usually beef over a girl, or over a drug sale that took place on someone else’s territory. The violence here today is more personal and not gang-related.”

Police say it’s very common for street crews in Trenton to consist of several people who attended the same school and grew up protecting each other. Some members of a street crew may be involved in criminal activity, while others are not. Often times, police say, legitimate gang members will notice a street crew member making a name for himself in the drug game, and they’ll try and recruit that person into their organization.

“It’s all about the power of selling drugs,” Baez said. “The person flexing the most muscle is usually the person who is selling the most heroin, which is cheap. Kids are selling heroin for $3 and up, but the average price is $5 to $7 for a single glassine packet.”

Police say it’s difficult to know how many street crews are in Trenton because they often quickly fade away, and many of the members are not involved in criminal activity. But police estimate that gangs and street crews in Trenton each have about 15 to 25 members who range between the ages of 16 and 25.

“Some of them walk away from the game in their late 20s, but a lot of them don’t make it to age 30,” Baez said. “It’s a shame.”

How to tell if a child is in a gang

Law enforcement officials don’t label individuals as gang members unless specific identifiers are present. For example, legitimate members will attend organizational meetings and admit to being in a gang when asked. They also draw gang symbols on notebooks or other property, and display gang tattoos on various parts of their body. Most gang members are also given a manifesto, police say, which outlines the bylaws of the organization and lists the names of other gang members and leaders. Police urge parents to look for those signs. Adults should also monitor whether kids are returning home with expensive clothing that wasn’t purchased by a parent or guardian. And to prevent young people from joining gangs, police advise parents and guardians to involve kids in other activities such as sports and after school programs.

“A lot of parents don’t know who their kids are hanging out with,” Baez said. “Parents should check their son’s and daughter’s body. It’s amazing how many times we arrest someone and the parents have no clue the child has tattoos.”

As of press time Sunday, police still had not developed any suspects for the murder of Jah’vae Minney. Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or contact the Trenton Police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663. Individuals may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

Louis Bryan Alvarez

A judge has said he is “inclined” to deny prosecutors’ request to try Masiyah Howard together on unrelated robbery and murder counts rather than at separate trials.

The teenage Howard is charged in numerous crimes in Chambersburg, chiefly the slaying of 25-year-old Louis Bryan Alvarez, who was gunned down at his city home on Feb. 26, 2013.

Howard was charged with counts of murder, robbery and weapons offenses.

Alvarez, a Guatemalan native who worked in Trenton, was shot shortly after he was confronted by Howard at his residence on the 200 block of Fulton Street.

Alvarez and Howard, who lived around the corner on Emory Avenue, exchanged words until Alvarez slammed the door and Howard allegedly pulled a handgun and shot through the glass door, prosecutors have said.

Howard is also charged in separate robberies that happened weeks before Alvarez was killed, at a city deli on Feb. 11, and of another Latino man about a week prior.

Assistant Prosecutor Lewis Korngut argued in court papers and at a hearing last week that the robberies and murder should be married together and Howard should be tried at one trial rather than separate ones because the crimes are related and explain Howard’s motive for the murder.

Howard used the same 9 mm handgun to commit crimes within blocks of each other, weeks apart, all involving Latinos, prosecutors said.

Korngut said authorities believe Howard targeted Latinos because they did not put up much resistance and they would “just walk away.” Those circumstances, Korngut said, “join the crimes together.”

The motive in the murder, however, is in dispute, and it has been suggested that Alvarez was killed because of a debt over video games.

Howard’s attorney, Steven Lember, said prosecutors would have difficulty trying the cases separately and that’s why they’re trying to “glue” them together.

But he said if they had enough evidence to do that, they would have presented the robberies and murder cases together at the grand jury phase.

He said it’s telling that they didn’t and suggested that’s because the crimes have different motives.

Lember said the robberies were about money, not the targeting of minorities. The murder he said centers on a “transaction that went bad.”

For those reasons, Lember told Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier that having the cases tried together would be inappropriate and could cause more legal headaches, in part because the unrelated robberies involve codefendants.

While noting he was hesitant to join the cases together, Billmeier said he was reserving decision and would issue a written opinion in the coming weeks.

Howard, 17 at the time Alvarez was killed, is being tried as an adult. He has been offered a plea deal by prosecutors calling for a 30-year sentence if he admits to robbery, aggravated manslaughter and weapons offenses.

The robbery and weapons counts carry 15-year and 7-year sentences, respectively, but they would run concurrently to the 30-year sentence for Alvarez’s death, prosecutors said.

Howard, who is jailed on a combined bail of $800,000, did not appear in court for the hearing because he refused to be transported from the county jail.

Akee Harris

The brother of a city man accused of fatally stabbing a former Trenton Central High School football player last month said Wednesday his brother is not a violent person and was defending himself against “three known criminals” who jumped him outside his home.

That is not how prosecutors said it happened at a bail hearing for Akee Harris, 26, of Ellsworth Avenue. Harris is charged with murder and weapons offenses for allegedly stabbing 22-year-old Edwin Saddler to death June 23.

Harris’ attorney, Jumba Mugwanya, said his client was unarmed and acted in self-defense when he was jumped by three men who were reportedly waiting for him when he pulled up with his girlfriend to his city residence on Ellsworth Avenue.

“The knife was introduced by the other party,” Mugwanya said.

Superior Court Judge Gerald Council heard both attorneys’ versions before reducing bail to $500,000 from $1 million.

The judge told Assistant Prosecutor Skylar Weissman the case against Harris “doesn’t appear to be a slam dunk.”

Harris has no prior criminal record, and his relationship to the victim is unclear, although prosecutors said the men knew each other.

Edwin Saddler

Saddler had apparently tried to intervene in a fight between Harris and another man who was not identified in court, Weissman said. Saddler was stabbed multiple times and died hours later at the hospital.

Harris was also injured in the fray.

His brother, Kareem Harris, told The Trentonian he suffered bruises, in addition to the cut prosecutors said he sustained on his hand. He was treated for his injuries at a hospital in Hopewell around the same time Saddler was hospitalized in Trenton. Akee Harris required 71 stitches to close his wound, his brother said.

Kareem Harris said he had spoken with his brother about 15 minutes before the fight, which broke out shortly after Akee Harris got home following his shift at a car-detailing shop.

Horace Gordon (COURTESY OF SOUTHSIDE REGIONAL JAIL)

The suspect accused of fatally shooting a Trenton man on his birthday had his bail hearing postponed for the second time in as many weeks.

Horace Gordon is accused of gunning down 29-year-old Harvey Sharp on June 24, on the first block of Cummings Avenue, then fleeing from New Jersey to southern Virginia, where he was later apprehended by members of the U.S. Marshals.

Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta adjourned the bail hearing for a second time because Gordon is not represented by an attorney on the murder charge.

Gordon told the court he was attempting to retain defense attorney Arun Levine.

“I’m working on it,” he said.

Gordon also filled out paperwork to be represented by the public defender’s officer. But Mercer County public defender Tom Belsky said his office had not received that paper work nor conducted an interview with Gordon at the county jail, where he is being held in lieu of $1 million.

Assistant Prosecutor Skylar Weissman noted that a large contingent of Sharp’s family showed up for Friday’s hearing as they had done the previous week, only to see the proceeding postponed.

“I don’t want them to come every week and we put this off,” Pereksta said.

The matter was rescheduled for July 31.

By Trentonian reporter Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman

A 28-year-old city man who had recently served time in prison for shooting a rival gang member died Saturday afternoon hours after someone had shot him, authorities said.

Trenton police found Leon McClendon inside his car on Sweets Avenue Friday night suffering from a gunshot wound, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. McClendon was rushed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The death has been ruled a homicide and is being investigated by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force.

The shooting, which occurred about 10:45 p.m. Friday, was detected by Trenton’s ShotSpotter gunshot detection system, according to Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office. She said the system detected several shots being fired.

DeBlasio did not have any more details as of Saturday afternoon, including information on suspects.

Leon McClendon (Contributed photo)

McClendon has been known to police. He was arrested last year on drug charges when police raided his Vine Street home and allegedly found 22 grams of crack cocaine and a digital scale. In 2008, McClendon was sentenced to six years in prison for shooting a Crips gang member inside a packed New Jersey Transit bus. A 12-year-old girl was also wounded in that incident.

Prosecutors in 2008 said McClendon was a member of the Bloods street gang.

Sweets Avenue is a small street that intersects with Calhoun Street on one end and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the other.

There were at least two other shootings that occurred in the city following McClendon’s homicide, according to police scanner reports. A man was reportedly shot on the first block of Jersey Street about 5:20 a.m. Saturday and another man was reportedly shot about 2:35 a.m. Saturday on the 300 block of Bellevue Avenue. DeBlasio had no information on any recent shootings other than the one that killed McClendon.

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

Ernier Pacheco

A city man has been indicted in connection with the 2014 stabbing death of Alberto Saquic, who was killed outside a city bar.

Ernier Pacheco, 19, is charged with murder, related weapons offenses and tampering with physical evidence in connection with Saquic’s death.

Saquic, 21, was stabbed outside of Chapala II Mexican Grill and Bar around 1:15 a.m. on November 30, 2014. When police arrived at the bar that morning, they found Saquic lying on the ground suffering from a stab wound to his chest. Saquic later died at the hospital.

Pacheco was arrested the same day as the stabbing, and at a bail hearing last year prosecutors said the incident was captured by surveillance video.

The exterior of the Chapala II Mexican Bar and Grill is seen on Sunday Nov. 30. (Scott Ketterer -- The Trentonian)

The video reportedly shows Pacheco striking Saquic, who had been escorted out of the bar by bouncers after he became unruly.

While Saquic was laying on a ramp outside the bar being restrained by bouncers, Pacheco lunged at him with a knife, striking him once in the chest, prosecutors said.

At that bail hearing, Pacheco’s attorney said her client claims the stabbing was self-defense.

Pacheco remains in jail on $750,000 bail.

Prosecutors say this surveillance photo shows Shaheed Brown (left) and Enrico Smalley Jr. minutes before Smalley was gunned down outside of La Guira Bar on July 12, 2014.

Did a dead man order the murder of Enrico Smalley Jr.?

The attorney for a Trenton man accused of gunning down Smalley outside a crime-riddled city bar in July 2014 believes he has cracked the case.

If true, his bombshell allegations would not only exonerate his client, 30-year-old Shaheed Brown, but implicate now-deceased Rodney Sutphin for ordering the murder of Smalley as retribution for another homicide Smalley allegedly committed. One of Smalley’s friends who was at the bar with him the night he was murdered slammed Brown’s attorney in an interview with The Trentonian, saying the suggestion Smalley was killed as payback for another murder is “bull---t.”

Defense attorney Edward Heyburn went public with his allegations Thursday, at a pretrial hearing ahead of his client’s upcoming murder trial, which is slated to start in the fall.

Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson, who has taken over the case for another judge, set the start of trial for October, despite Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley’s request to have it delayed until next year.

McCauley disclosed that a close family member has medical issues that require his attention.

Smithson discussed the issue with the attorneys inside his chambers for about 30 minutes before announcing the trial, which had been scheduled to start in September, would be postponed until Oct. 5.

The judge said it wasn’t prudent to have another prosecutor take over the case for McCauley.

Heyburn’s allegations hint at a possible third-party guilt defense. Heyburn had previously released to The Trentonian surveillance from outside La Guira Bar, where Smalley was shot.

The release of the video prompted Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier, who was previously assigned the case, to implement a gag order on the attorneys and seal Brown’s case file from the public purview.

Heyburn contends the video shows a man, known only as “King,” reaching for something tucked in his waistband seconds before Smalley was shot. King, who Heyburn contends is the real killer, was accompanied to the bar by two men, Raesean and Rodney Sutphin, the latter who allegedly ordered the hit as payback, Heyburn said.

Rodney Sutphin, 22, was fatally shot in October, three months after Smalley was killed. His murder remains unsolved, and his family has accused of police of not aggressively investigating because of the victim’s last name.

Raesean Sutphin is locked up in the county jail, charged with attempted murder for a shooting in October 2014 that injured two people.

McCauley said at this point there is no negotiated plea deal between prosecutors and Raesean Sutphin that would require him to testify against Brown.

The prosecutor, however, did say Raesean Sutphin is no stranger to the system.

“He’s a Sutphin,” he said. “Of course, he’s in the system.”

Heyburn said he has tried without success to obtain from prosecutors police records related to Rodney Sutphin’s murder as well as the attempted murder case against Raesean, hoping it would help piece together the circumstances he believes led to the Smalley slaying.

Billmeier previously ruled the police records would not be turned over because they were not relevant, but Heyburn has asked Smithson to reconsider the ruling in light of a statement Raesean Sutphin provided police.

His name appears on a five-page witness list, and he could be called to the stand to testify, Heyburn said.

Additionally, Heyburn told the court he had contacted one of Smalley’s friends, a man named John “Buck” Meyers.

Heyburn said during a two-minute phone call Meyers mentioned giving a statement to former Mercer County Detective Joseph Itri in which he told the detective he did not known anything about Smalley’s murder but had information allegedly implicating Smalley in another murder, the details of which remain scant.

Itri apparently stopped Meyers, turned off the recording and asked him to give a second statement about the murder Smalley allegedly committed. Heyburn has requested that prosecutors produce the statement.

“There’s a nexus between Enrico Smalley’s actions and the people who were within feet of him when he was murdered,” Heyburn said. “Essentially, it was a retaliatory action.”

The judge was taken aback by Heyburn’s allegation.

“What kind of world are we living in?” Smithson said. “My god.”

McCauley said he was unaware of any statement implicating Smalley in a murder, but said he would check with Itri, who has been transferred to Essex County. The prosecutor said that by contacting Meyers, Brown’s attorney has now made himself a witness in the case.

Meyers said Brown’s attorney is making up his allegations whole cloth, and he never provided police with a statement implicating Smalley in another murder. He said he considered Smalley “a little brother.”

“[Heyburn] is getting paid to represent his client,” Meyers said. “He’s going to say whatever he’s got to say to get his client free. It’s bull---t. That’s what I think. He’s saying, ‘Oh, well John Meyers is saying that Enrico got killed because of something he did.’ I never said that. I said, ‘Enrico was up there and [he] had a situation with these people. I never said Enrico murdered one of them peoples and they came back and they killed him. I said they had a disagreement in a bar which led to his killing.

“That (stuff) right there, it’s crazy. He’s putting me out there in the wrong type of way. The police know that. They’re fighting the case against him. I don’t know if his client is guilty or not guilty. But at the end of the day, by doing that, it makes his client look guilty by trying to put me on the bus.”

While shocking, Heyburn’s allegations come as no surprise. Brown’s case has been chock full of startling revelations and jousting between the attorneys.

Earlier this year, McCauley said the murder weapon used to kill Smalley, which has not been recovered, was linked with a separate murder in Essex County and two shootings in Trenton. McCauley did not outright accuse Brown of being involved in the Essex County murder but said it occurred around the same time Brown was believed to be in the county.

The weapon was linked to those crimes through a database of images of spent bullets and shell casings, known to New Jersey State Police as the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, or NIBIN.

That evidence, however, has been deemed unreliable because police cannot make a definitive ballistics comparison without the murder weapon and will not be allowed at trial.

Raheem Currie

One of two men charged with murder in the slaying of the son of a veteran city cop rejected prosecutors’ final plea offer of 10 years and will put his fate in the hands of a jury.

Raheem Currie, 22, who is free on $50,000 bail, rejected prosecutors’ final plea offer Monday calling for him to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in the shooting death of James Austin, the son of retired Trenton Police Sgt. Luddie Austin.

Currie faces a minimum of 30 years in prison for murder if he is convicted by a jury at trial.

Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier, who has not set a trial date, asked the defendant if he understood that now that he rejected the plea offer, it was off the table and he would have to plead open to first-degree murder, upping his maximum exposure time to 75 years, if he changes his mind about a jury trial.

He would have to serve roughly 64 years before he would be eligible for parole.

“Yes, your honor,” Currie said.

Robert Bartley

Currie made the decision knowing that his co-defendant, Robert Bartley, who confessed to fatally shooting Austin on Feb. 26, 2013, in the doorway of his home, has pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter for 25 years and is cooperating with prosecutors.

Bartley has not been sentenced because he is expected to take the stand and testify against Currie at trial, Assistant Prosecutor Lewis Korngut said.

The defendants planned to spray Austin’s East State Street home with bullets following an ongoing dispute between Austin and Currie which escalated when Austin broke Currie’s windshield, prosecutors have said. Bartley admitted shooting Austin in the chest.

Billmeier refused to dismiss charges against Currie after his attorney filed court papers asking the court to toss out the indictment. Currie is expected to return to court in October for a pretrial conference.

Edna White

A city woman accused of stabbing her ex-boyfriend to death in February 2014, in eerily similar fashion to a previous beau she killed decades ago, has reached a preliminary deal with prosecutors that would likely result in her pleading down to a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter, her attorney said.

Edna White, 57, is charged with murder in the Feb. 15 stabbing death of 55-year-old Dwelle Jerome Clark.

Witnesses said Clark was stabbed after he caught White rummaging through his mother’s purse and told her to “stay out” of her belongings.

White’s attorney, Patrick O’Hara, said he expects his client to plead guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter, which would be her second conviction for such a crime.

The attorney said he could not reveal terms of his client’s impending guilty plea until her Aug. 26 appearance, when she is expected to formally accept prosecutors’ offer.

However, O’Hara did say he expected the plea deal would result in his client serving considerably less than the maximum 30 years for aggravated manslaughter.

Prosecutors have apparently been willing to negotiate a plea deal with White because they lack a premeditated motive they would need to convict her of first-degree murder, her attorney said.

O’Hara said he believes his infirmed client, who needed a wheelchair to get around her court appearance, will not die behind bars. He said “emotions were very high” for both parties at the time of the stabbing and his client regrets her actions.

“I don’t think she was thinking of the results,” O’Hara said.

This isn’t the first time White has killed a boyfriend.

O’Hara confirmed his client served time in the past for aggravated manslaughter for stabbing a previous boyfriend to death in 1980.

According to published reports, White was sentenced to 15 years in prison after she admitted using a steak knife to fatally stab the 39-year-old man in a situation mirroring Clark’s death.

If his client had taken her case to trial, O’Hara said part of his legal strategy revolved around a self-defense claim.

The ex-lovers, although they had not dated in 25 years, had rekindled a relationship and White had moved in with Clark’s family while she searched for a place to live, family members have said.

During an argument, witnesses said, Clark, the victim, took away White’s cane and walked into his bedroom. White allegedly armed herself with a butcher knife, followed Clark into the bedroom and stabbed him in the chest, penetrating his lung, witnesses said.

Cynthia White, the couple’s only child, previously told The Trentonian she believed her mother “snapped” when Clark took the cane from her.

Clark was rushed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries three days later.

White remains jailed in lieu of $75,000 bail.

Rodney Sutphin

The grandmother of now-deceased Rodney Sutphin has a message for a defense attorney who has accused her grandson of ordering the murder of Enrico Smalley Jr.

“A dead man can’t speak,” Deborah Ellis, who raised brothers Rodney and Raesean Supthin at her home on Grand Street, said from inside a cavernous conference room at The Trentonian’s office. “But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let [Edward Heyburn] or the prosecutor rip my grandkids who I love very much with my heart. It’s bull---t. And they can stop it right now. Please, leave Rodney alone. Let him rest. If you find Enrico’s killer, then you’ll find Rodney’s killer.”

Ellis spoke out Tuesday in order to address statements Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley and defense attorney Heyburn made about her grandsons.

Shaheed Brown, 30, has been arrested and charged with killing Smalley outside of crime-riddled La Guira Bar in July 2014.

Heyburn’s theory that Rodney Sutphin orchestrated Smalley’s murder is part of a third-party guilt defense he plans to raise at his client’s trial in October. Ellis said the theory is implausible for numerous reasons.

For starters, she said, her grandchildren did not know Smalley and were never sought out as suspects by police.

“It’s impossible,” she said. “When that boy ’Rico got killed, [the police] came to my house. The police have a tape. They have Raesean on the tape. They have Rodney on the tape. They asked for Raesean. They didn’t question my grandson, Rodney. And they get paid for that. Why would you walk past somebody who put out a hit?”

Like everyone, Ellis said her grandsons had a right to be at the bar the night Smalley was gunned down. Raesean Sutphin, 20, was not of legal drinking age at the time of Smalley’s murder.

“They were there, but they wasn’t together,” Ellis said. “It’s a public bar. They weren’t the only ones at the bar. A lot of people was at the bar.”

Ellis does not pretend to know whether Rodney Sutphin’s murder is related to the slaying of Smalley.

“That’s up for the police to find out,” she said.

The 22-year-old Sutphin was found dead in October, three months after Smalley’s death. No arrests have been made and the murder remains unsolved.

Meanwhile, Brown’s trial is set for Oct. 5, and the Sutphins figure to be a part of the proceedings, as witnesses or as people implicated by Heyburn.

Heyburn has alleged Smalley was gunned down by a man known only as “King,” still at large, on orders of Rodney Sutphin, claiming it was payback for a murder Smalley allegedly committed.

In surveillance footage obtained by The Trentonian, Rodney Sutphin is seen fading back as King appears to reach for something tucked in his waistband seconds before Smalley was shot. The footage is silent but people are seen scattering in all directions as shots ring out. Rodney Sutphin takes off running away from the shots.

“He was scared to death,” Ellis said.

Heyburn went public with the allegations at a pretrial hearing last week, basing his assertion on a statement he contends one of Smalley’s friends made to former Mercer County Detective Joseph Itri, implicating Smalley in a separate homicide.

The man, John “Buck” Meyers, denied in an interview with The Trentonian accusing Smalley of murder and said Heyburn is motivated by getting his client off a murder rap.

“[Heyburn] is getting paid to represent his client,” Meyers said last week. “He’s going to say whatever he’s got to say to get his client free. It’s bull---t. That’s what I think.”

Ellis said her grandsons are easy targets.

Surveillance showed they were at the bar that night; their uncle is the oft-arrested Lawrence Sutphin, who is incarcerated on attempted murder charges; Raesean Sutphin also faces attempted murder charges stemming from a shooting that injured two people last October; and Rodney Sutphin is dead and can’t defend himself against the accusations.

“I’m taking it very hard for somebody to keep slandering his name,” Ellis said. “Don’t slander my grandkids name. Point blank. Don’t do that. Go for someone else. As far as their last name, if they had a right to choose someone else’s last name, they could have did that. What the other Sutphin family did, do not take it to hold my grandkids responsible.”

Ellis said her grandson was not a leader and did not have the capacity to order a murder. Rodney Sutphin had difficulty living by himself and performing chores.

“How can he order a murder and I was washing his clothes,” she said. “His IQ was not that strong. I did everything for him. And I buried him. I buried my grandson, but I’m not gonna allow this attorney to try to drag him in the dirt. Heyburn needs to piss somewhere else.”

Rodney Sutphin’s grandmother believes he suffered from an untreated case of obsessive-compulsive disorder as he often showered for hours, scrubbing every inch of his body, including behind his earlobes, repeatedly.

“I knew I would have to use the bathroom before he goes in,” Ellis said. “We had to respect that. There’s nothing you can do for him. It was like a disease. Now he can’t take a shower because he’s dead.”

Raesean Sutphin is a potential witness in Brown’s murder trial, although McCauley said there is no negotiated plea deal that would require him to testify against Brown.

Ellis also took issue with McCauley’s jab at Raesean Sutphin, when he claimed he is no stranger to the system.

“He’s a Sutphin,” McCauley said, according to a recording of last week’s hearing. “Of course, he’s in the system.”

Ellis said she regularly speaks to Raesean Sutphin, who is still behind bars awaiting the resolution of his attempted murder case.

“He’s innocent until proven guilty,” she said. “The case he’s held on has nothing to do with what they’re trying to put him into. He’s in a whole different thing. We’re not going to talk about his case. I’m here to clear my grandson’s name. Because a dead man can’t talk to you.”

Courtney Levine

The mental state of a key witness in David Noncent’s upcoming murder trial remains up in the air despite a report from the woman’s psychiatrist declaring her competent to testify.

A judge said at a hearing Wednesday he would ultimately decide at trial the fitness of the woman to testify. Prosecutors want to tape her testimony at an upcoming hearing outside of the jury’s presence while she is still competent and play it for a jury at trial if she is deemed incompetent in the future.

Attorneys for Noncent, a convicted sex offender who is accused of fatally stabbing 26-year-old Courtney Levine on Dec. 4, 2012, began probing the woman’s mental state after they learned she was committed to a state psychiatric facility.

The woman, the victim’s sister, was previously dating Noncent and had accused him of sexually assaulting her shortly after she was released from the hospital where she gave birth to her dead baby, prosecutors have said.

Levine confronted Noncent after he learned of the alleged rape of his sister, who was still traumatized after her child died as doctors tried to deliver her baby through a cesarean section.

Levine bled out after he was stabbed once in the chest, piercing his lung.

The circumstances surrounding the commitment of Levine’s sister remain cloudy. The only explanation offered in court was that she had been involuntarily committed to Ancora Psychiatric Hospital in Hammonton following a “crisis situation.”

The woman was hospitalized at St. Francis Medical Center before that, said Nicole Carlo, an attorney for Noncent.

Carlo said she has obtained the woman’s medical records and plans to have an expert review them so he or she can determine whether the witness is competent.

Carlo said she was unsure whether her expert would need to evaluate the woman in order to make that determination.

Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Kimm Lacken objected to having a defense-appointed expert evaluate the witness on the grounds that her competency is no longer in question. She said the woman’s psychiatrist deemed her fit, although she conceded the woman’s mental state is constantly in flux depending on whether she takes her medication.

Billmeier warned the prosecutor he would be left with no choice but to rule the witness incompetent if she is not well enough to go forward on the day of trial. He said he was also leery of the idea of allowing prosecutors to tape the woman’s testimony at a pretrial hearing and use it at trial if she is ruled mentally unavailable going forward.

Billmeier said it was only fair to the defendant that a jury be allowed to hear from the witness in person so it could assess her credibility.

Anthony Marks

A man who was driving a stolen vehicle during a 2012 drive-by shooting on Route 29 that killed a city man had murder charges against him dismissed Friday when pleaded guilty to a pair of lesser counts.

Anthony Marks, 27, was charged with murder along with William Mitchell and Andre Romero in the slaying of 23-year-old Daquan Dowling, who was killed instantly after he was struck in the head by a bullet fired by alleged shooters Mitchell and Romero.

Under terms of a plea deal with prosecutors, Marks is expected to be sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to two lesser counts of handgun possession. His sentence for firearm possession would run concurrently with time Marks is currently serving in an unrelated drug case.

Marks must serve at least six years in prison on the handgun charges before he is eligible for parole, according to terms of the deal put on the record by Assistant Prosecutor James Scott.

Scott did not say during the proceeding whether Marks is required to testify against his codefendants as part of the plea deal.

Marks agreed to the terms in pleading guilty before Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier.

Marks did not admit to firing a shot Jan. 30, 2012, when gunfire erupted near the Statehouse resulting in the closure of Route 29 for several hours. But he admitted a .45-caliber handgun and a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver, which he said were supplied by a fourth man, Jamar Square, were in the car he was driving and that he had access to them on the night in question.

Neither Marks’ attorney, Andrew Ferencevych, nor the prosecutor, Scott, asked questions about Dowling’s murder during the plea.

Mitchell and Romero are expected to be tried for Dowling’s murder, Ferencevych said. It was not immediately clear if a trial date has been set. Marks’ sentencing is set for Oct. 29.

A Trenton teenager accused of fatally shooting another teen during a botched drug deal has been ordered transferred to the Mercer County jail after he recently turned 18.

Alberto Lopez was 16 when he allegedly shot 17-year-old Shamere Melvin in the head during a botched robbery in December 2013 on the 300 block of North Clinton Avenue.

Being tried on charges of murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon, Lopez is being held on $750,000 bail at a juvenile detention center in Burlington.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier remanded Lopez to the county jail where he will be housed with other adult defendants.

Lopez has pleaded not guilty to the charges and was offered a 30-year state prison sentence if he pleads guilty to murder.

Prosecutors said they have a strong case against him, which includes phone records and Facebook messages that show Lopez and his cousin arranged through a mutual female friend to meet with
Melvin near Clinton Avenue the night of the murder.

Lopez backed out of a drug deal but returned a second time and the parties met in the same spot. The murder happened while Lopez and his cousin walked with Melvin down the street for about a block while the drivers waited in the car.

Lopez was arrested by authorities a few days after the murder near the corner of Walnut and Chestnut avenues.

When authorities questioned Lopez about the murder, he told authorities he never met up with Melvin, prosecutors have said. He later acknowledged being in Trenton but implicated a distant cousin for the murder.

Prosecutors hoping to secure forensics tying a Trenton man charged with the 2011 murder of a North Trenton pharmacist to the robbery of a Hamilton convenience store that occurred days later were dealt a roadblock Tuesday when the defendant refused to provide a DNA swab.

Assistant Prosecutor Lewis Korngut must now make a formal application to the court in order to compel Jamar Myers to submit a DNA swab, known as a buccal swab, taken from the inner cheek.

One of Myers’ attorneys called the request a “fishing expedition.”

“It’s all a fishing expedition because if they had this proof going in, they would not have hesitated to try and get the DNA,” said Edward Hesketh, who represents Myers in the murder case where he is accused of fatally shooting Trenton pharmacist Arjun Reddy Dyapa.

Ron Garzio, one of Myers’ attorneys, met with his client in a conference room at the courthouse and relayed prosecutors’ request for a DNA sample but Myers refused to provide one.

Prosecutors are hopeful small traces of genetic material unique to each individual can be matched to a DNA profile found on an item in evidence. Biological material can be recovered from hair, saliva, blood, skin as well as other bodily fluids.

Prosecutors did not disclose the item they plan to compare Myers’ DNA sample with at a hearing Tuesday, which was scheduled for a judge to hear oral argument on a separate evidentiary issue.

Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier adjourned the hearing due to a scheduling conflict that prevented Hesketh from attending.

Attorneys were supposed to address a matter related to the murder of Dyapa, who was shot and killed April 29, 2011, when he allegdly refused Myers’ demand for prescription pills during a botched armed heist of the Brunswick Avenue pharmacy.

Myers is also charged along with two men in the May 2011 robbery of a 7-Eleven in Hamilton days after Dyapa’s murder.

One of the codefendants, 24-year-old Peter Nyema, was recently arrested on new charges for attempting to hit a police cruiser during a car pursuit last month in Trenton.

Prosecutors wanted to try the murder and robbery cases together because they believed they are related. But Billmeier said he would deny prosecutors’ request to try the matters together.

Nyema, who is in being held in lieu of $100,000, was not implicated in the robbery of the pharmacy but prosecutors could potentially use him as a witness. Korngut said he could not say whether that’s the case.

Keith Massey, Nyema’s attorney, said he believed his client does not have any information about the pharmacy heist.

Four men plan to point the finger at Zaire Jackson for the 2012 murder of Irvin “Swirv” Jackson, prosecutors disclosed at a pretrial hearing Wednesday.

Their names are Casey Corker, Tiemear Lewis, Robert Patterson and Seption Diggs.

Some witnesses knew and grew up with Zaire Jackson in the same neighborhood in Trenton. Many have checkered pasts.

One contends he was with Jackson inside a city residence that was sprayed up by bullets, allegedly by a group of men that included Swirv, the night before he was gunned down April 9, 2011, in broad daylight in Moses Alley near North Hermitage Avenue.

Another claims Jackson, who is not related to Swirv, threatened him in a phone conversation some time after the murder.

This all came out at a preliminary hearing, held before Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier, to determine whether a Wade hearing should be held for Jackson, 17 at the time he allegedly killed Swirv. He was known on the streets by the nicknames “Philly” and “Cory,” a detective said.

Members of Swirv’s family packed inside the courtroom for the hearing, which stretched into the late afternoon.

After watching video-taped recordings of statements witnesses gave to detectives and hearing testimony from a lead detective in the murder case, Billmeier decided police had not led witnesses to implicate Jackson and there was no need for a Wade hearing, which are held to flesh out potential issues regarding witness identification of a suspect.

Veteran Trenton Police Detective Scott Peterson, who was assigned to the homicide unit at the time of Swirv’s murder, spent much of the day on the stand testifying about statements he took from the four men.

In almost all cases, the men were hesitant to tell police about what they saw the day Swirv was killed and did not come forward until later.

Jackson’s attorney, Steven Lember, questioned the witnesses’ motives and evolving recollections of the day, especially Corker, who was one of the people who identified Jackson as the shooer. Earlier this year, he struck a plea agreement with prosecutors to resolve attempted murder charges.

In January, Corker, one of two people implicated in a botched robbery April 12, 2013 that led to the shooting of two men who were sitting in a vehicle on Oakland Street, pleading guilty to two counts of robbery and a weapons offense count for a 15-year state prison sentence. As part of the agreement, he agreed to testify against Jackson.

However, Corker’s commitment to testifying waffled in the past, Lember said.

Last year, Corker sent letters to Jackson as well as Lember indicating he planned on recanting his identification of Jackson as the shooter.

“This is a witness who vacillated depending on who he was communicating with,” Lember said.

In a taped statement with detectives, Corker picked Jackson out of an eight-person photo lineup, Peterson testified.

Corker had initially told police he did not see anything when he was questioned about the murder on scene, where a large crowd had gathered by the time Peterson arrived.

By that time, paramedics were loading Swirv, who had been shot in the head, onto a gurney and were preparing to transport him to the hospital.

Swirv was found feet from a running Jeep where collapsed after he was shot. A baseball cap he wore was discovered on the blood-spattered ground in the alley way, near bullet fragments. Police, however, found no spent shell casings, Peterson said.

Peterson said Corker told him he had tended to Swirv after he got shot. While Corker said he heard gunshots, he did not see Jackson get shot, Peterson said.

Corker’s story changed about a month later, when he found himself in lockup at Trenton Police headquarters for minor charges, Peterson said.

Peterson recalled a superior called him May 14, 2012 to tell him Corker was in custody.

Peterson headed to the station. Corker told the detective he would provide information about Swirv’s murder, but in exchange he didn’t want to go to the county jail.

Peterson said he could not make any promises but told him to tell him what he knew.

Corker said he saw an individual he knew from the block chasing Swirv down the street. He didn’t know his name but he had been with him at an Easter Sunday cookout at a park on Edgewood Avenue across from Cadwalader Elementary School the day before the murder.

Jackson fought with another individual Corker identified as “Kev,” Peterson said. Swirv was also at the cookout. Corker told the detective he was familiar with the shooter’s face and could pick him out of a lineup.

Peterson prepared an eight-person photo array and handed it off to another detective to show Corker. Corker selected No. 6, Peterson said, which was a mugshot of Jackson.

Corker was asked why he had picked out that picture, Peterson said, and responded, “’Cause I seen him when he did it.” Corker said he was “100 percent” sure the individual he picked out of the lineup was the shooter.

Lember questioned the detective about Corker changing his story.

“That’s not uncommon for people in the streets to say, ‘I didn’t see anything’ and they did,” Peterson said.

Lember said he was concerned about Corker’s “flip-flop nature.”

Like Corker, Lewis, who is also known as Timear according to online court records, had also found himself locked up at Trenton Police headquarters some time after Swirv’s murder.

He told Peterson during a video-recorded statement played in court he was also at a cookout when a fight broke out between “Cory” and Lewis’ cousin, “Kev.”

While the two tussled, a silver revolver fell out of Jackson’s pants. Police believe it is the same gun Zaire Jackson used to kill Swirv.

Later that night, Lewis said, as payback for the fight earlier in the day, a group of men including Swirv shot up a Murray Street residence where Zaire Jackson had been staying. Lewis wasn’t with the group but claims he had heard as many as 20 gunshots in the neighborhood that night.

A couple hours after Swirv was killed, Lewis said one of the men who shot up the Murray Street home was saddled with regret.

“If we would have never went up there, this wouldn’t have happened,” he told Lewis.

Patterson told police he was inside the Murray Street home with Jackson when Swirv and his posse arrived, Peterson said. Patterson claimed a shot whizzed past Jackson, nearly striking him in the head.

Diggs told detectives he was with Swirv the day he was murdered. He saw Jackson charge at him and Swirv with a gun. Diggs turned around and ran. Jackson let off a round.

Diggs said he found out Swirv had been killed after he got a phone call from his mom.

Diggs also claimed that some time after the murder, he spoke to Jackson on the phone. Jackson warned him to keep his mouth shut or he would be next.

Diggs told detectives he did not want to step forward with information about Swirv’s killer because he feared being labeled a “snitch.”

“I don’t like to be called no snitch,” he said. “I don’t want that to be my name out there.”

A judge delayed the murder trial for three men suspected in the fatal shooting death of 34-year-old Emilio Lopez, in part so prosecutors can seek a superseding indictment that would charge the defendants with robbery and felony murder.

Despite an objection from one defense attorney, Assistant Prosecutor James Scott on Thursday was granted an adjournment in the murder trial of Roberto Cruz, Kenneth Rivera and Jose Rivera, all of whom are cousins and all of whom were set to be tried in late September on counts of murder and weapons offenses.

Judge Robert Billmeier agreed to delay the trial in order to give prosecutors a chance to test evidence for possible DNA matches to the defendants and for additional undisclosed discovery to be turned over to defense attorneys.

In the meantime, Scott, who took over the case for Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian, told the court that after reviewing the evidence in the case, he plans to go back before the grand jury to seek the additional charges of felony murder and first-degree robbery against each defendant.

Previously, prosecutors had not disclosed a motive in the slaying of Lopez, who was fatally shot in the back after he was allegedly approached by the men from different angles and boxed in near Kent Street.

If a grand jury returns a subsequent indictment charging the men with robbery and felony murder, prosecutors would have their motive for the murder.

The felony murder charge would mean prosecutors do not have to prove the men intended to kill Lopez, just that he was killed during an attempted robbery.

Prosecutors would also not be required to prove the defendants took Lopez’s property by force, only that they intended to.

Scott revealed for the first time Thursday he has evidence – in the form of text messages Jose Rivera allegedly exchanged with an unknown party – that shows a conversation in which the defendant talked about committing robberies.

Scott said Jose Rivera allegedly responds to an unknown party by saying, “It’s too hot out here” to commit robberies.

Scott said the text message, possibly sent from an Internet website, could not be traced.

The case against the defendants is largely circumstantial.

A murder weapon was never recovered, although investigators believe each man was armed. However, it has never been determined who fired the fatal shot, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say they have cell phone tower evidence that puts at least two of the defendants in the area of the murder on the night in question.

But prosecutors are hoping to bolster their case by securing irrefutable forensics. Scott said he plans to have some of the clothing the men wore the night of the murder tested at the State Police crime lab for traces of the victim’s DNA.

It had not been previously tested, even though the victim bled and vomited, Scott said. Some of those bodily fluids could have been absorbed by the defendants’ clothes if they were in close proximity.

The defendants agreed to turn over DNA swabs, known as buccal swabs, to prosecutors. None of their attorneys objected to their clients providing DNA samples, hoping it could lead to their clients being exonerated.

However, Andrew Duclair, the attorney for Kenneth Rivera, asked the court that defense attorneys be allowed the opportunity to renegotiate plea deals with prosecutors on behalf of their clients once the results of the DNA tests are turned over in discovery. All three men were offered 30-year state prison sentences for murder.

After the hearing, they were taken downstairs where officials obtained a swab from the inside of each of the three men’s cheeks.

Scott believes the DNA swabs could just as well help him link the defendants to a vehicle allegedly driven by Jose Rivera the night of the murder. Inside, authorities found drink containers that could contain small traces of biological material unique to each of the defendants.

Beyond that, prosecutors have a formal statement from Jose Rivera’s mother, Maria Torres, in which she told police she lent her son her minivan around 8 p.m. the night of the murder.

Further, Scott said, she told police that when Jose Rivera picked her up from work around 11 p.m., several people were in the vehicle with him, including Roberto Cruz, putting at least two of the defendants together within an hour of the murder.

She said she was dropped off at home at 11:30 p.m., about 15 minutes before Lopez was killed, Scott said. Scott plans to call Torres as a witness but is worried she could recant her prior statement to police. If that happens, prosecutors would want to have Torres’ prior statement to police admitted into evidence. The issue will likely be hashed out at trial.

The defendants, all of whom remain incarcerated on high bails, are scheduled to have bail reconsideration hearings in the coming weeks. After that, they are next set to appear in court in November for a status hearing.

Undeterred following the acquittal of the accused killer, prosecutors are forging ahead with their murder case against Zihqwan Clemens.
But in light of the acquittal of former co-defendant and accused killer Keith Wells-Holmes, a judge next week will consider lowering the $1 million bail for Clemens.
Clemens, known as “Woodiey,” is accused of driving the getaway vehicle, a gold minivan registered to his girlfriend, in the January 2013 slaying of Trenton graffiti artist Andre Corbett. Prosecutors believe he drove Wells-Holmes to and from the murder scene.

Zihqwan Clemens

In May, Wells-Holmes was found not guilty of gunning down Corbett in broad daylight outside of an apartment complex on the corner of Hoffman Avenue and Oakland Street.
Wells-Holmes’ attorney, Caroline Turner, convinced jurors another man was responsible for killing Corbett and that her client was innocent.
Following his acquittal, Wells-Holmes agreed do an interview with The Trentonian but backed out when he realized he would not be paid for it.
Clemens, who has been offered a plea deal of 30 years for murder, appeared Friday before Judge Robert Billmeier for a status hearing. The judge said he would entertain lowering Clemens’ bail at a hearing set for Monday.
However, the judge said even if he agrees to release Clemens on his own recognizance, it might be irrelevant since Clemens is also being held for violating probation on a drug charge and is not constitutionally entitled to bail on the VOP. Clemens has been jailed since he was arrested following the Jan. 21, 2013 murder.
Clemens had invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in choosing not testify at Well-Holmes’ murder trial. He changed his mind when a judge granted him immunity, protecting him from having his testimony used against him at his trial.
Though he had previously implicated his co-defendant as the shooter in a taped interview with authorities, Clemens testified at trial that Wells-Holmes did not kill Corbett.
He contended he had been paid $5 to drive Wells-Holmes over to “his people’s house” on Oakland Street sometime on the morning of Jan. 21, 2013. Wells-Holmes went into the house, returning after about 10 minutes. Then Clemens drove him to another part of the city and dropped him off.
On the day Corbett was killed, Clemens acknowledged driving around a gold Ford Windstar authorities linked to the murder. But he denied he nor Wells-Holmes were near the murder scene when Corbett was shot.
Clemens previously told authorities he heard gunshots and saw Wells-Holmes run back toward his gold van, prosecutors said.
A detective testified surveillance footage captured the gold van parked up the street from where Corbett was shot. The van was seized when Clemens was arrested on an outstanding warrant.
Clemens had lied to authorities, claiming he did not know the owner of the van, which was registered to his girlfriend, according to testimony.
Authorities have said Clemens called Wells-Holmes while he was in police custody, but Clemens disputed that under oath, saying he never called to Wells-Holmes. Cell records showed otherwise.
Clemens said the prospect of not seeing his son again influenced his decision to cooperate with authorities and give them information he believed they wanted in order to charge Wells-Holmes for the murder.
Despite the jury’s verdict, Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said he was confident Well-Holmes killed Corbett, adding the acquittal would not affect his case against Clemens.