By Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman

Three men accused of shooting and killing intellectually disabled city resident Rodney Burke during an attempted robbery last year have all been indicted this week on first-degree felony murder charges and related offenses, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday.

Rodney Burke

The indictment alleges Kenneth Hines, 35, Alexandria Gomez, 31, and Jaquan Dallas, 20, all conspired to commit an armed robbery, which led to the death of Burke, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Burke, 48, was found inside his apartment on the 1000 block of South Broad Street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds about 2 a.m. Nov. 4, 2014. Medics rushed Burke to Saint Francis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

Kenneth Hines (Mercer County Prosecutor's Office)

Burke, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 18, had been repeatedly robbed during the last three years of his life, according to The Trentonian’s award-winning reporting on his murder.
“Around the first of the month when he got his disability check, they would take his money from him,” his mother Gloria Burke told The Trentonian in an interview last November. “He never told me who was doing it; he was scared. They took his money all of the time.”
Burke was originally from New Brunswick but resided in Trenton during the last few years of his life, according to his family. He was often victimized at his former city residence on Hamilton Avenue, prompting him to seek safer housing in another part of Trenton. Greater Trenton Behavioral Healthcare, however, relocated Burke to a troubled South Broad Street apartment that was known to be a hotspot for illegal activity, and Burke was murdered several weeks later, according to his family.

Jaquan Dallas

Police found Burke inside his South Broad Street apartment suffering from the lethal gunshot wounds, but police said they believe he was shot elsewhere.
Indicted suspects Hines, Gomez and Dallas all remain incarcerated, but a fourth suspect remains unidentified and at large. Authorities urge anyone with information on the at-large murder suspect to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663.

A Trenton man suspected of killing of a city barber in 2013 has rejected prosecutors’ final plea offer and will head to trial.

Zaire Smith is the only remaining co-defendant in the murder of 20-year-old Rasheen Jones, who was shot in the head July 23, 2013, in the city’s West Ward, following a botched robbery, authorities have said.

Jones had worked for 15 years cutting hair at Mason’s barbershop before he was gunned down while walking home from a convenience store. He left behind two daughters, aged 5 and 7.

Smith was arrested alongside Knovell Desmond in connection with the murder. However, Desmond resolved murder charges by pleading guilty to two counts of robbery and a weapons count in exchange for a 10-year state prison sentence.

It remains to be seen whether Desmond will testify against Smith at trial as prosecutors did not reveal at his guilty plea whether cooperation was required as part of his deal.

That leaves Smith, who has “consistently maintained his innocence, said his attorney, Alan Bowman.

To the contrary, prosecutors have said Smith was the one who pulled the trigger. On Monday, Smith rejected prosecutors’ plea offer calling for a 25-year prison sentence for aggravated manslaughter.

Bowman said at the hearing he uncovered “substantial information” during his investigation of the murder that he contends will exonerate his client. He did elaborate in open court on the nature of the information, but shared it during a private off-the-record conversation with Assistant Prosecutor James Scott.

Smith is expected back in court for a pretrial conference in November.

He made a cameo in the murder trial of now-exonerated Keith Wells-Holmes, when he took the stand and invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

Isiah Greene’s name has consistently popped up in relation to murder allegations.

Though he was never charged, Greene was at the center of Wells-Holmes’ defense as a more likely suspect in the slaying of Andre Corbett after it was revealed that his DNA showed up on a can inside a gold van authorities linked with the murder.

Now, Greene is expected to go on trial for his own murder charge – the July 2013 shooting death of 24-year-old Quaadir “Ace” Gurley, a high-ranking Bloods member, at the Donnelly Housing Complex on the 100 block of Rossell Avenue.

He rejected prosecutors’ offer of 25 years for aggravated manslaughter, and a judge on Monday set Greene’s trial date for Sept. 29.

Greene also has two pending cases in which he is charged with attempted murder for a separate shooting and a drug case.

Despite the consistency with which his name is linked to a spate of homicides in Trenton, Greene has no prior felony convictions, Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said.

Prosecutors disclosed at a hearing last November that a key witness in Greene’s murder case was killed. The identity of the slain man has never been revealed and prosecutors are unaware of a link between Greene and the man’s murder, nor was he charged.

Zihqwan Clemens

Detectives who investigated the shooting death of Andre Corbett focused on a dispute, possibly over turf, he may have had with drug dealers working the blocks in and around the crime-ridden housing complex where he was gunned down in 2013, police records show.

While witnesses told the detective who worked on the homicide case that they believed Corbett’s death was somehow drug-related, prosecutors never suggested drugs as a possible motive during the murder trial of suspected killer Keith Wells-Holmes. Not short on innuendo, they lacked the evidence upon which to base such an assertion.

Wells-Holmes, who had jokingly referred to himself by a nickname given to a notorious cocaine kingpin, was ultimately cleared in Corbett’s murder.

One of the few references to drugs at his trial came when convicted felon and admitted drug dealer Michael “Murder Mike” Barnes memorably referred to Corbett as a “crackhead.”

The Trentonian had obtained a 25-page police report written by Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Bryan Cottrell shortly after the conclusion of Wells-Holmes’ murder trial.

The report, filed in January 2014, contains more than 50 references to drugs, in which witnesses described Corbett as a “crackhead,” said that he was known to “hustle” drugs and say they believed he had “maced” someone who had tried to steal one of his drug buyers days before he turned up dead. “Hustle” is a common street term used to describe selling narcotics.

The report also contains purported details of the murder investigation into Wells-Holmes, the half-brother of convicted killer and jailed Sex Money Murder leader Omar Aikens, and his co-defendant, alleged getaway driver Zihqwan Clemens, that did not come out at Wells-Holmes’ trial.

The newspaper is publishing those details now that prosecutors said at a bail reconsideration hearing earlier this week they intend to move forward with the murder case against Clemens, who is being tried separately.

The case against Clemens

“The proofs against [Clemens] are strong,” Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said. “In fact, they are as strong as they were when bail was set” when Clemens was arrested.

Clemens, who was granted immunity to testify against Wells-Holmes at trial, has rejected prosecutors’ plea offer of 30 years in state prison for murder.

A judge this week agreed to lower Clemens’ bail to $250,000 from $1 million in light of Wells-Holmes’ acquittal.

However, Clemens is still being held without bail on a probation violation stemming from a previous drug conviction.

Clemens, who has been held for more than two years on the murder charge, plans to plead guilty to the probation violation, hoping a judge will grant him a time-served sentence.

If Judge Robert Billmeier agrees to it, that would pave the way for Clemens to post bail on the murder charge and remain free until his case is resolved.

Clemens’ attorney, Andrew Duclair, has questioned Scott’s decision to move forward with the case against his client despite the acquittal of suspected killer. Duclair said the reasons are simple.

“He didn’t participate in the murder,” Duclair said. “[There’s] nothing of a conspiracy. Mr. Wells-Holmes is not guilty therefore my client is not guilty. By default, my client’s not the shooter. How on earth can we draw a logical conclusion that my client is charged with murder?”

Duclair also danced around the possibility prosecutors are moving forward with their case against Clemens because they were dissatisfied with his testimony during Wells-Holmes’ trial, when he got on the stand and exonerated Wells-Holmes of killing Corbett.

Clemens’ testimony appeared to contradict a prior statement he gave police implicating Wells-Holmes in the murder.

Scott said his position is that Clemens was not truthful on the stand, though he did not say whether prosecutors will seek a perjury charge.

“The state would argue he lied on the stand,” Scott said.

The Trentonian had requested an interview with Wells-Holmes following his acquittal. He had agreed to an interview but rescinded when he realized he would not be paid for it.

‘Boston George’

Unlike Wells-Holmes, Clemens also faces a drug charge after authorities seized more than two bricks of heroin from inside his Parkside residence during the course of their murder investigation.

According to the police report obtained by The Trentonian, authorities also found two small baggies of marijuana on Wells-Holmes during a stop-and-frisk a day after the murder.

Keith Wells Holmes

Wells-Holmes was charged with marijuana possession under 50 grams, a disorderly persons offense, which was remanded to municipal court, according to a spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Caroline Turner, Wells-Holmes’ attorney, said the fact that police found marijuana on her client is irrelevant to the murder. She maintained that her client is innocent and that he is committed to bettering his life now that he’s free.

“I’d stake my life on it,” Turner said.

Detectives never established a connection between Corbett’s murder and two small baggies of marijuana found on Wells-Holmes, who was frisked Jan. 22, 2013, outside of a city deli on the 100 block of Oakland Street

The deli was located near the gritty Oakland Street housing complex where Corbett was murdered a day before.

Detectives approached Wells-Holmes after they noticed he appeared to be wearing similar garb as the suspect who fatally shot Corbett the day before.

Wells-Holmes was asked if he had anything on him and offered that he some marijuana in his pants pocket.

Detectives also found a cell phone and a bundle of more than $600 in cash, according to the report.

Wells-Holmes’ Metro PC cell phone came back as registered to “Boston George,” as in George Jacob Jung, the notorious drug kingpin depicted in the movie “Blow.” Wells-Holmes told detectives he liked the movie.

As for the marijuana, Wells-Holmes told detectives he had planned to go home and smoke it before he was stopped.

Wells-Holmes never quite made it home as prosecutors authorized warrants charging him and Clemens with Corbett’s murder.

‘Crackhead’

Prosecutors’ case against Wells-Holmes boiled down to surveillance footage that captured a black man, in dark clothing and gripping a handgun in his right hand, unload multiple rounds on Corbett from point-blank range.

Wells-Holmes is left-handed, a key discrepancy. Further, prosecutors lacked a clear motive in Corbett’s slaying, suggesting Well-Holmes killed Corbett following an exchange of words.

But according to the police report, witnesses were convinced Corbett, known as a “Dre Born,” had been killed over drugs. Marijuana was found next to his body, according to the police report. Money was found still in his pocket, ruling out a possible robbery gone awry.

The report quotes several witnesses. One described Corbett as a “crackhead” who was known to “hustle” around the area.

The witness “further related that he was from the area and was rumored to have stolen several drug dealers’ stash of narcotics,” the report said. “[The witness] states that ‘Dre Born’ is known to her to ‘hustle’ sometimes selling and using both marijuana and crack (crack cocaine).”

Detectives were also told that “Andre smokes coke, referring to crack cocaine, and that he often sells ‘ill,’ which [the witness] explained to me as being fake crack cocaine,” Cottrell wrote.

However, a close friend of Corbett’s whom he had stayed with the night before he was killed disputed that.

Corbett’s friend, however, was one of the witnesses who told police Corbett had “maced” someone days before his death.

The woman “did not know what the argument was over but that ‘Dre’ had stayed inside of her apartment the evening that it occurred and ‘Dre’ did not go outside and appeared worried,” Cottrell wrote in his report.

Another witness told police the same story, that “she heard that Andre had recently maced an unknown person who had tried to steal a sale from Andre.”

The witness explained “a ‘sale’ was a term used for another drug user who was buying crack cocaine,” according to the report.

Cottrell never reached a conclusion in the report about whether the alleged drug-related macing and Corbett’s death were connected.

But Turner used it as part of her third-party guilt defense implicating Isiah Greene as Corbett’s real killer.

The DNA of Greene, who is set to go on trial for the murder Quaadir “Ace” Gurley, was found on a can inside a gold van a witness identified as the getaway vehicle the killer climbed into.

Search warrants

Police believed Wells-Holmes and Clemens were dealing heroin after they executed search warrants on their phones and their residences. Investigators found two bricks of heroin inside Clemens’ home.

But they found no proof, beyond some text messages on Wells-Holmes’ phone, that he was a drug dealer, according to the report.

“A review of numerous text messages … indicate that Wells-Holmes distributes heroin and other narcotics including marijuana and crack cocaine in the Trenton area,” Cottrell wrote in the report. “At least one of these text message conversations with an unknown party on January 21, 2013 places the sale of a brick of heroin (fifty bags of heroin) in the Mellon Street area,” the report said.

Wells-Holmes lived on the first block of Mellon Street.

Investigators also found “several texts about trading heroin for .380 bullets,” on Clemens’ phone, the report says. A text from an unknown individual also asked Clemens if he had a gun for sale, the report says.

Retaliation for rape?

Among the lingering questions in Corbett’s murder, two are elusive: If not Wells-Holmes, who killed Corbett? And if his murder was not drug-related, why would someone want him dead?

Prosecutors’ purported motive that Wells-Holmes killed Corbett following an exchange of words did not hold much weight with the jury.

The murder seemed more personal as silent surveillance appeared to capture the killer jawing with Corbett as he paralleled him outside the gate of the Oakland Street housing complex.

Scott told jurors Wells-Holmes made a snap decision to kill Corbett.

“He decided at that minute he was going to kill Andre Corbett,” Scott said.

But the killer seemed deliberate, appearing to hide the handgun on his side and not opening fire until he was an arm’s length away. Corbett did not stand a chance.

The Trentonian reached out to Cottrell on Wednesday to see whether the detective had investigated any links between Corbett’s criminal past and his murder but did not receive a call back.

In 2008, Corbett was charged with rape, court records show.

A woman had complained to police about a sexual assault that occurred July 4, 2004 but Corbett was not charged until he was matched to a DNA sample, according to published reports.

Corbett had maintained the encounter was consensual, according to published reports, but ended up pleaded guilty to third-degree aggravated assault. He spent roughly nine months in jail and was eventually sentenced to four years of probation, according to online court records.

Previously, in 2007 he was sentenced to three years in prison on drug charges, according to court records.

The man accused of fatally stabbing 49-year-old Keisha Alexander last year has been offered a plea deal of 30 years in state prison for murder.
Jorge L. Rodriguez, 21, was indicted earlier this year on a dozen charges and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted of killing Alexander.

Jorge Rodriguez

His plea deal calls for the 30 years to be run consecutively to any time a judge sentences to him in two separate cases for a January 2014 burglary in Lawrence Township and possession of an imitation firearm from 2013 out of Hamilton, said Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the county prosecutor’s office.

The burglary charge carries a maximum sentence of five years and the imitation gun charge carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in state prison. The sentences are stayed while the murder case is pending, court officials said.
Rodriguez’s attorney, Kathleen Redpath-Perez, said Thursday in court she intends to file court papers to try to suppress her client’s statement to police. She may also seek an expert to determine Rodriguez’s “mental state” when he spoke to police, although she said her client’s competency does not appear to be in question.

Several members of Rodriguez’s family were present for the proceeding. Rodriguez, his hands shackled and wearing orange prison garb and a skull cap, waived to them when he was brought into court by sheriff’s officers.
Rodriguez is accused of breaking into Alexander’s Edgewood Avenue apartment early June 21, 2014. He beat and sexually assaulted Alexander after she confronted him, prosecutors have said, then stabbed her with a knife and left her inside her apartment to die.

A neighbor heard the woman screaming and called police. Alexander died at the scene.
Rodriguez was arrested the same day as the murder remains in jail on $500,000 cash bail.

(Left to Right) Detectives William Miller, Edgar Rios and James Letts received the NJ State PBA's highest honor for their bravery during an August 2013 shootout in Trenton. (Contributed Photo)

On the morning that Eric McNeil was justifiably shot and killed by police, he presumably knew that his life would end that day.

According to the results of the investigation, which was released Wednesday by the county prosecutor’s office, McNeil sent a text message to a family member earlier that morning stating, “I might not be alive this whole day so ima tell you now dat I love you.”

On the morning of Aug. 15, 2013, McNeil allegedly broke into his ex-girlfriend’s house and brutally beat her; he also stabbed and killed her three-week-old puppy. Police found the victim bruised and beaten and took her to TPD headquarters. McNeil fled the scene before police arrived and was considered armed and dangerous. But unbeknownst to the victim, he later returned to the woman’s home.

Around 8:30 a.m. that day, now-retired Detective Edgar Rios and Detective Jimmy Letts were escorting the domestic violence victim back to her Hobart Avenue home to retrieve additional evidence related to the incident when they were ambushed by McNeil.

When Rios, Letts and the victim arrived at the residence, they paused to examine a box the woman had left outside with the trash. The box, at one point, contained the puppy’s remains, and the detectives examined it as evidence while waiting for Detective William Miller of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office to assist in taking pictures of the crime scene. Moments after the trio arrived at the house, McNeil walked out of the front door firing gunshots.

Eric McNeil

In Wednesday’s release, the county prosecutor did not name the detectives involved in the shooting. But The Trentonian has interviewed all three detectives numerous times over the past two years, and the following account is based on their statements as well as the prosecutor’s report.

After being shot, Rios scrambled to his vehicle and radioed for assistance. Letts fell after being shot, but he returned gunfire from the ground, striking McNeil as he stood on the sidewalk pointing his gun at him. The prosecutor’s report says McNeil fell after initially being shot, but then tried to stand and continued holding his gun, so Letts fired again, killing McNeil. Letts then stood and handcuffed McNeil, according to the report.

Letts was shot in his right shoulder and the right side of his abdomen. Rios was shot once in the side of his torso and once in his back. McNeil was killed in the shootout and pronounced dead at the scene. Miller, who was nearby collecting his camera gear when he heard the first shot, never fired his weapon and was not struck by gunfire.

Prosecutors say a Smith and Wesson .38 caliber revolver with five spent shell casings in the cylinder was found lying on the ground where McNeil fell. That gun, prosecutors say, was reported stolen during a 2012 burglary in Trenton. Detectives also recovered four .40 caliber shell casings that were from Letts’ service weapon: three were found in the street and one was found in the nearby grass.

Investigators concluded that Letts used an acceptable level of force in the incident, and Acting Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri determined the case did not require examination by a grand jury. The report released Wednesday says the Attorney General agreed the matter did not need to be presented to a grand jury based on undisputed facts of the shooting.

Anthony Concepcion

A city man who allegedly fled to Florida to avoid being arrested for the fatal shooting of 39-year-old Patrick Walker, which occurred outside of La Guira Bar, has been indicted in connection with the killing.

Anthony Concepcion, 23, was indicted Wednesday by a Mercer County grand jury that charged him with murder and related weapons offenses for allegedly killing Walker in December.

Walker was gunned down outside of La Guira Bar near the corner of North Clinton Avenue and Poplar Street around 2 a.m. on Dec. 13, and later died at the hospital.

At a bail hearing earlier this year, prosecutors said witnesses identified Concepcion as the gunman, but authorities are still trying to establish a motive for the murder.

About a month after the killing, Concepcion was found in a hotel in Altamont Springs, Florida, by the U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force, which was notified of his whereabouts by detectives working the case in Trenton.

Prosecutors believe Concepcion fled to Florida to avoid being arrested in connection with Walker’s death. But Concepcion’s attorney, Sam Goldberg, said his client traveled to the Sunshine State to visit family and was unaware police had issued a warrant for his arrest.

Concepcion served two state prison sentences for weapons convictions, according to state records. One conviction stemmed from a 2010 incident in which Concepcion was accused of shooting at the mother of his child while she held the couple’s baby in her arms.

Concepcion is being held in the Mercer County Correction Center on $750,000 bail.

Police investigate a homicide that occurred in an alley in the 100 block of Locust Street. September 13, 2015. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

City rapper Unkle Lord, who was a founding member of Section Family Entertainment, was shot and killed Sunday morning.

Lord, whose legal name is Davae Dickson, 21, was gunned down around 11 a.m. Sunday. Prosecutors investigating the case said ShotSpotter detected gunfire and then police received an emergency 911 call reporting that gunshots were heard in the city’s East Ward.

Prosecutors say the shooting happened in the rear of the 100 block of Walnut Avenue, which is also known as Morton Alley. When police arrived on-scene, they found Dickson suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, and he later died at the hospital.

Dickson’s friends and colleagues describe him as a “jokester who could make anyone laugh.” People who knew him said they were surprised to hear that Dickson was murdered because “he’s not the type to be involved in trouble.” A man who says he produced music with Dickson for about four years said Dickson knew several street hustlers, but was not involved in the gang lifestyle.

Davae Dickson (contributed photo)

“He was rapping so that he wouldn't be in the streets,” the man who asked to remain anonymous said. “Music is all he wanted to do.”

Other people said Dickson was talented and had the potential to be a positive role model for the youth of the city.

“He was a fun dude to be around,” another man who asked to remain anonymous said. “He had his head on his shoulders and he knew what he wanted to do. He always had something positive going on, and he was someone who could’ve been a role model for the young people out here. It's a sad loss.”

Dickson’s colleagues say he was in the process of producing a new album that was expected to be released soon.

“The album is still in the making, but Lord had a lot of songs that he could pick from,” one of his colleagues said.

Police have not disclosed a motive for the killing, nor have they released a suspect description. Personnel from the Mercer County Homicide Task Force were canvassing the area of the shooting Sunday afternoon questioning witnesses.

A Locust Street resident said she and her family returned home from church and found that police were guarding several entry points to Morton Alley, which can be accessed from Locust, Monmouth, Chambers and Walnut. She described Locust Street as a “good neighborhood compared to the neighboring streets,” and said they were surprised to hear that a shooting happened there in broad daylight.

Meanwhile, a Monmouth Street resident said he feels the neighborhood is “safe as long as you mind your business.”

Anyone with information about Dickson’s murder 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 labeledTCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

A makeshift memorial for Tina Anderson, who was killed in a motor vehicle crash, is seen on Walnut Avenue in Trenton. Sept. 24, 2015. (JACKIE SCHEAR— TRENTONIAN)

Sharelle and Tina Anderson may have been returning home from Sharelle's birthday celebration when the SUV they occupied flipped several times as it crossed the Southard Street bridge, ejecting Tina from the vehicle.

"There's a video posted on Facebook, and based on what I saw, it looked like they were on their way back home," one of the sisters' relatives who asked to remain anonymous said.

Tina Anderson (contributed photo)

Tina, 34, succumbed to her injuries around 1:20 a.m. Thursday at Capital Health Regional Medical Center. Police say the accident occurred just before midnight when Sharelle, who turned 37 on Wednesday, lost control of a Mercury Mountaineer. Police say she was driving northbound on Southard Street when she tried to pass a vehicle near the crest of the Southard Street bridge. Police say she lost control of the SUV, which then hit the curb and rolled several times. Tina was ejected from the vehicle; no other passengers besides her were in the car.

"At this point in the investigation, speed and impairment appear to be contributing factors to the accident," Lt. Stephen Varn said.

Sharelle suffered contusions and lacerations to her hand and received treatment at the hospital. She is charged with death by auto, driving while intoxicated and other motor vehicle offenses. Her bail was set at $500,000.

Sharelle and Tina are sisters. One of their relatives said the family is in a state of shock and overwhelmed with emotion as they mourn the death of Tina, while also showing support for Sharelle who has been charged in connection with her sister's death.

Sharelle Anderson

"We're affected in every which way by this," a relative said. "Sharelle lost her sister and now she's in jail. I don't know which is worst for her. We need to make sure we give Sharelle a lot of love and support because she's not going to get it in jail."

According to a family member, Tina is survived by several children who are at a loss for words about their mother's death.

"All they had to depend on was their mom," a relative said.

According to the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit, “death by auto” is considered a manslaughter and is therefore not reported as a homicide statistic. The Trentonian, however, includes deaths by auto, as well as justified fatal police-involved shootings, in its yearly homicide count.

So far this year, there have been 16 killings within the city, two of which have been vehicular homicides. In January, 44-year-old John Covington was struck by a vehicle as he walked across the street pushing a shopping cart; Robert McFadden was later charged with death by auto in connection with Covington's death.

Tina Anderson was one of several adults who were arrested and charged earlier this year in connection with a fight at Greg Grant Park that injured two teenaged sisters.

Thursday's fatal crash is being investigated by Trenton Detective Craig Kirk and Detective Don Santora from the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office. Anyone with information about the accident is asked to call 609-989-4155.

Police said that a 72-year-old man who was assaulted on Sept. 13, has died.

According to police James Wells was assaulted in the 100 block of East Hanover Street. Trenton Police Lt. Stephen Varn police were detailed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center around 8:56 p.m. on September 13.

Upon arrival, the officers spoke with Wells, whom police said was unable to provide much information as to what had occurred. Wells died at the hospital, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Trenton Police Lt.Stephen Varn said that Wells was admitted to the hospital with numerous injuries to his head and face. Varn said that despite limited information, police were able to locate a scene in the 100 block of East Hanover Street.

Varn further stated that the 72-year-old had passed away Thursday night.

The Prosecutor’s Office said that their Homicide Task Force was notified of Wells’ death on Friday. According to Kathleen Petrucci of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s office, the death was ruled a homicide as of Friday afternoon. No arrests have been made, authorities said.

Wells’ death remains under investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task force, anyone with information is asked to call (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton Police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663.

Quaadir Gurley

A Trenton man whose name has been linked to numerous murders in Trenton goes on trial this week.

Isiah Greene is charged in the slaying of 24-year-old Quaadir “Ace” Gurley, a high-ranking Bloods gang member who was gunned down at the Donnelly Housing complex in July 2013.

Jury selection in Greene’s murder trial begins Tuesday and is expected to last a couple days. Opening arguments from Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor James Scott and defense attorney Mark Fury are expected to come later this week before Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier.

Greene rejected prosecutors’ offer of 25 years for aggravated manslaughter. He also has two pending cases where he is charged with attempted murder in a separate shooting and drug charges in another case.

Greene is a notorious figure in Mercer County who was at the center of Keith Wells-Holmes’ murder trial this year. Green was the scapegoat in a third-party guilt defense put on by Wells-Holmes’ defense attorney, Caroline Turner.

She said he was a more likely suspect in the slaying of Andre Corbett, relying on forensic evidence that showed Greene’s DNA had showed up on a can inside a gold van authorities linked with Corbett’s murder. Greene, who was never charged, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Well-Holmes was acquitted.

Greene has no prior felony convictions, prosecutors have said.

The murder case against him remains a mystery, although prosecutors disclosed at a hearing last year a key witness in his murder case was killed.

The identity of the slain man has never been revealed, and prosecutors are unaware of a link between Greene and the man’s murder, nor was he charged with the witness’ death. It is unclear how critical the slain witness’ testimony was to prosecutors’ case against Greene.

Antonio Sloan

Trenton police Wednesday morning arrested the suspect who allegedly murdered 72-year-old James Wells.

U.S. Marshals from the New York/New Jersey Regional Task Force about 8 a.m. Wednesday arrested Antonio “Riot” Sloan, 25, at his Trenton residence on Second Street, authorities said. He was being held in custody on $1 million bail.

Sloan is accused of punching and kicking Wells in the body and head in the area of East Hanover and Broad streets about 8 p.m. Sept. 13. Sloan fled the scene after allegedly reaching into Wells’ pocket and removing personal property, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

James Wells

Wells died Sept. 24 from his critical injuries.

The felony murder and robbery charges against Sloan are the result of an investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force. Video footage was obtained by detectives, and Sloan was identified as a suspect through video analysis and witness statements, prosecutors said.

Stay with The Trentonian as this breaking news develops.

Sharelle Anderson

Sharelle Anderson was allowed to see her deceased sister Thursday morning before being transported to court where a judge reduced her bail, stating that it was excessive considering the facts surrounding the case.

“I think $500,000 bail is excessive; it doesn't represent what this case is about,” Mercer County Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez said at a bail hearing Thursday. “But this is a very serious offense and she has to be held accountable.”

Anderson, 37, is charged with death by auto, driving while intoxicated and other motor vehicle offenses in connection with the death of her 34-year-old sister, Tina Anderson, who died September 24 after the SUV they occupied flipped several times as it crossed the Southard Street bridge.

Tina’s funeral was scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday, according to her obituary, and prosecutors allowed Sharelle to see her sister hours before the burial. Sharelle appeared for the bail hearing via video and wiped tears from her eyes as attorneys sparred about whether to release her from jail.

Prosecutors said Sharelle told police that she and her sister had been drinking alcohol in front of her house prior to the crash, and that the two of them were about to “go out for the night.”

Sharelle’s birthday is September 23; the fatal crash happened around 11:59 p.m. that night.

Prosecutors say police who spoke with Sharelle after the crash documented that her “eyes were bloodshot and droopy,” that her “movements were slow,” and that “alcohol was on her breath.”

Tina Anderson (contributed photo)

Police say Sharelle was driving northbound on Southard Street when she tried to pass a vehicle near the crest of the Southard Street bridge and lost control of the SUV, which then hit the curb and rolled several times. Tina was ejected from the vehicle; she was pronounced dead at the hospital about an hour and a half after the crash.

Sharelle’s defense attorney Anthony Cowell asked the judge to grant her an “own recognizance” bail, citing that she has no criminal record, steady employment and children to support.

“This young woman is not a flight risk and she has lifelong ties to the city,” Cowell said. “I think the humane thing to do is to release her. It's almost too much to bear that she lost her sister and now is facing vehicular homicide charges. When she was interviewed (by police), she was distraught to the point of almost being comatose. In a very large way, she has paid and is paying for what happened.”

Prosecutors, though, argued that releasing her “would not send any kind of message.”

“We have to separate ourselves from the sympathetic aspects of the case,” Assistant Prosecutor Skylar Weissman said. “Hypothetically, what if the decedent was not her sister and was a neighbor? The bottom line is that you're responsible for your actions. This woman drank, then made a conscious decision to get behind the wheel. Her actions were reckless; she could’ve killed someone who wasn't her sister.”

A memorial for Tina Anderson, who was killed in a motor vehicle crash, is seen on Walnut Avenue. Thursday Sept. 24, 2015. (JACKIE SCHEAR—THE TRENTONIAN)

Judge Jimenez responded, “I don't want to set bail to send a message. We have to account for the nature of the offense.”

Weissman then asked for a sidebar conference to further discuss the matter, and after a nine-minute off-the-record conversation that included Cowell, Jimenez decided to reduce Sharelle’s bail to $50,000 cash or bond.

“Every time she touches a drink now, she’s going to think about her sister,” Jimenez said. “I can't imagine that she will ever touch alcohol again.”

At the time of the crash, prosecutors say, Sharelle’s driver’s license was suspended. Jimenez said her bail could be revoked and significantly increased if she posts bail and is found driving without a license.

TRENTON >> In 1994, Time Magazine faced an onslaught of criticism and accusations of racism when it published a darkened image of O.J. Simpson’s mugshot from the Los Angeles Police Department on its front cover.

The doctored image was accompanied by the headline, “An American Tragedy,”

Quaadir Gurley

describing the circumstances that led to the once-beloved NFL running back being charged with the heinous murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and Ronald Goldman. 

Unlike the Simpson image, the image of a black man on trial for murder in Mercer County did not appear to be doctored. And while it is unlikely to attract the same level of outrage, it has some legal observers drawing parallels between this murder case and the racially divisive “Trial of the Century” involving the famous former football star who is now serving time in Nevada for robbery.

The attorney for suspected killer Isiah Greene, who is on trial for the murder of high-ranking Bloods gang member Quaadir “Ace” Gurley, said the decision by Assistant Prosecutor James Scott to introduce the photograph of his client at trial could turn out to be “A Mercer County Tragedy” for prosecutors.

The photo, which The Trentonian was unable to obtain despite it being shown to jurors in court, depicts Greene asleep in a hospital bed. Greene is light-skinned but he appears darker in the photograph.

It is an important piece of evidence because a state witness said she saw a black man with a dark complexion running away after Gurley was shot in the courtyard of a Trenton housing complex in July 2013.

“In the African-American community, skin color and complexion is as an important factor in identification as hair color and eye color is in the general population,” said defense attorney Mark Fury. “[The witness] was unequivocal in her rejecting the proposition that Mr. Greene was as dark as the person she saw.”

Isiah Greene

Legal experts were split about whether there was anything unethical or wrong with Scott’s decision to introduce the photograph of Greene, which was taken in 2013 by a crime scene detective at a local hospital. Greene had been admitted to the hospital after he suffered an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, prosecutors said.

One unintended effect the photo could have is to introduce race in a case where it did not exist before.

The issue of the photograph could also come up at appeal if Greene is found guilty of Gurley’s murder by a jury.

“Extremely poor judgement on the part of the prosecutor,” said Bennett Gershman, a Pace University law professor who is an expert on prosecutor ethics. “It could mislead the jury. I also fault the judge who has to guard against evidence that I think it’s confusing and misleading. The prosecutor behaved foolishly to get in this photograph of the defendant.”

Judge Robert Billmeier allowed the hospital photograph of Greene into evidence and for it to be published to the jury over objections from Fury, who said it was misleading.

Fury said it was impossible to determine the reliability of the photograph, which could be impacted by lighting conditions and the fact police did not use flash when they took Greene’s portrait in a dimly lit hospital.

The photograph was shown to the panel to rebut testimony from one of the state’s witnesses, a 28-year-old woman who lived near Gurley in 2013.

She testified Wednesday that she saw a dark complected black man dressed in a white tank top, white shorts and white sneakers fleeing from the housing complex within seconds of shots ringing out outside of her door.

Fury asked the woman on cross examination to describe someone she considered dark complected. She said she considered her skin tone dark and Fury’s skin tone dark.

When Fury’s question turned to his client, the woman said she did not consider Greene to have a dark complexion.

It was a major coup for the defense. Scott looked to address the complexion issue in his cross examination of Greene Thursday morning.

The prosecutor asked questions about whether Greene, who was known to frequent a stretch of Sanhican Drive, spent significant time outside during summer 2013. Greene acknowledged the area was where he would “regulate.”

Scott then asked questions about whether Greene had gotten a tan while he was outside before showing a photograph of Greene laying in a hospital bed. He was recuperating from a gunshot wound to the shin that prosecutors believed was self-inflicted when Greene accidentally shot himself while shooting Gurley.

The prosecutor said Greene appeared “snuggled up” in the hospital bed, asked Greene if he knew he was being photographed and why he had his eyes closed.

Greene said he was not asleep when the photo was taken and that he kept his eyes closed because he didn’t like having a camera in his face.

Gerhman said if the prosecutor was trying to suggest Greene’s skin tone was darker, he “engaged in deceptive and misleading conduct” that the judge must remedy before the jury begins deliberations. The law professor said comparisons to the Simpson case were fair because of the opposing attorneys’ interjection of race into the trial.

“In both cases, you’re using race in a way that could produce a wrongful verdict,” Gershman said. “There might really be a case of mistaken identification. The skin color may be a key factor in the jury’s decision.”

Another legal expert said he did not find anything problematic with Scott’s tactics and said the onus was on Fury to convince the judge the photo of his client was unfair and should have been excluded from evidence.

“I don’t see a problem with it, and it is probably a good strategy by the prosecutor,” said J.C. Lore, a law professor at Rutgers who is an expert in criminal procedure. “If you have evidence of that, you would certainly want to put that in. You would have to have some good faith basis for believing he had a darker complexion at the time. If the prosecutor knew he didn’t have a darker complexion and was intentionally trying to mislead the jury that would be wrong.”

Lore said Fury could have presented another photo of Greene from the same time period showing he was, in fact, lighter complected if he wanted the judge to bar the photograph.

It remains to be seen how much of a factor the photograph – and its racial implications – have in closing arguments, which are slated for Friday morning. Fury did not want to tip his hand and say whether he plans to touch on race.

So far, Fury has built his defense of Greene on the premise of mistaken identity – that someone other than his client shot and killed Gurley on July 21, 2013, in the courtyard of the Donnelly Homes housing complex.

The state has countered with blood spots containing Greene’s DNA which prosecutors say link him to the murder scene.

Greene got on the stand and told jurors he was at the Donnelly Homes housing complex to try to convince a friend to take him and his friends to a Philadelphia nightclub after they had been drinking.

Prosecutors showed jurors surveillance footage from a Sanhican grocery mart that captured Greene wearing a white tank top, white cargo shorts and white sneakers the day before the shooting.

Greene has testified he put on a white T-shirt above the tank top sometime later in the day.

Gershman, the law professor, said he believed prosecutors had enough evidence without the hospital photograph to convict Greene. Now they have jeopardized that.

“The photograph is totally irrelevant,” Gershman said. “The photograph, to me, is lacking in reliability. And therefore, to me, it’s irrelevant. We don’t know what the true lighting conditions were. It might have portrayed him in a way that is totally inaccurate.”

A convicted felon released from state prison just four months ago was caught by surveillance cameras brutally beating a 72-year-old Trenton man, prosecutors said.
In response, the suspected killer has claimed he was high and drunk and has no recollection of the assault which has left the community reeling.

“He didn’t know what occurred,” said Kathleen Redpath-Perez, the attorney for suspected killer Antonio Sloan.
Redpath-Perez said it was appropriate to hold judgement until all the facts come out before deciding whether Sloan is a “cold-blooded murderer.”

Sloan, known on the streets as “Riot,” is charged with counts of murder, felony murder and robbery after prosecutors said he beat, stomped and robbed well-known city resident James Wells so severely he eventually succumbed to his injuries. He has denied he had any reason to rob Wells.

Antonio Sloan

“If nothing cries out for a heinous crime, this does,” said Skylar Weissman, assistant prosecutor and chief of the homicide unit.

Sloan had his bail maintained at $1 million at his bail appearance before Superior Court Judge Timothy Lydon in Mercer County criminal court.

Sloan was caught on camera during three separate sequences beating Wells around 8 p.m. Sept. 13 in the area of East Hanover and North Broad streets.

The 72-year-old man appeared unconscious at one point, sprawled out on the ground, when Sloan stomped him in the head three times, Weissman said.

After he finished beating him, Sloan rifled through Wells’ pockets looking for belongings, prosecutors said. Sloan fled from the scene and was later arrested at his home on Second Street by the U.S. Marshals Regional Task Force, along with officers from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office.

Wells sustained facial fractures and lost a tooth in the assault which led to the “eventual demise” of Wells, Weissman said. He died Sept. 24 as family members stood beside him at Capital Health Regional Medical Center.

Prosecutors provided no sweeping motive for the crime, which has shocked city residents and family, friends and supporters of Wells, a well-known city activist who also owned and operated Wellsy’s Deli on North Montgomery Street.

Known as “Wellsy” or “Jimmy,” Wells was an outspoken Trenton activist who ran unsuccessfully for Trenton City Council in 2002. He graduated from Ewing High School and served in the U.S. Army.

As for Sloan, he has an extensive checkered past which includes a “propensity for violence,” Weissman said.
Sloan had accidentally shooting himself in the genitals on the 400 block of North Montgomery Street in 2012. He had been running away from the scene of a car fire when his gun went off as he was scaling a wall.

Sloan was indicted on counts of arson and weapons offenses, but Superior Court Judge Gerald Council sentenced him to between one and three years for weapons, saying that “shooting himself in the groin should be lesson enough that guns are dangerous.
Sloan spent about a year in prison and was released from the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility on May 2015.

He has also been convicted of receiving stolen property and spent 14 months in prison before he was paroled. State records show he was sent back to state prison for violating the conditions of his early release.

Sloan was found delinquent as a juvenile of a charge of aggravated assault, prosecutors said.

Shaheed Brown’s murder trial is expected to be full of head-spinning moments as his attorney plans to put on a third-party guilt defense implicating a dead man in Enrico Smalley Jr.’s murder.

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.

Opening statements in the trial, which could last as many as six weeks, were supposed to be delivered last week. But they were hamstrung by housekeeping matters.

Brown is accused of killing Smalley outside of crimed-ridden La Guira Bar in July 2014.

Openings should begin this week after they were delayed by jury selection and hearings to determine evidence allowed at trial.

Court officials were also consumed with prescreening prospective jurors to weed out ones whose personal schedules would not accommodate such a significant time commitment.

Attorneys need a panel of at least 14 people – including a minimum of two alternates – before forging ahead.

Brown, who has a significant, and violent, criminal history, has been locked up in the county jail for more than a year while awaiting the start of his murder trial. His case could have taken longer to get to this stage if his attorney, Edward Heyburn, had not insisted on it being transferred to another judge so it could be tried sooner.

The case was assigned to Judge Robert Billmeier but was transferred to retired Judge Andrew Smithson.

A number of last-minute hearings last week put a wrinkle in the schedule as Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley made a last-ditch effort to convince Smithson to allow evidence the prosecutor he had previously conceded he would not try to put before the jury.

Shaheed Brown

McCauley wanted to introduce evidence linking an unrecovered weapon used in Smalley’s murder to a separate murder in Essex County and two shootings in Trenton.

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.

The prosecutor did not accuse Brown of committing the murder in Essex County but it could have been a suggestive – and to Brown’s attorney, misleading – piece of evidence because of Brown’s ties to Newark. He grew up in the streets of Newark and was arrested there when he was charged with Smalley’s murder.

Smithson did not allow the evidence since it could be unreliable because police could not make a definitive ballistics comparison without the murder weapon.

Heyburn, Brown’s defense attorney, has been just as busy. He has pretty much unveiled his defense strategy ahead of the trial. It involves allegations that another man, Rodney Sutphin, ordered Smalley killed as payback for a separate homicide Smalley allegedly committed.

Sutphin was at the bar the night of the murder but was never charged for having any hand in Smalley’s murder. Sutphin was himself murdered three months after Smalley was gunned down. No arrests have been made in Sutphin’s slaying.

In an interview with The Trentonian this year, Sutphin’s grandmother, Deborah Ellis, slammed Heyburn for accusing her grandson of having anything to do with Smalley’s death.

“A dead man can’t speak,” she said in August. “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.”

Heyburn’s tactics in Brown’s case have attracted headlines and resulted in a gag order stymieing the flow of information in the pretrial phases.

The gag order was put in place after Heyburn released surveillance footage from outside La Guira Bar showing a man, known only as “King,” reaching for something tucked in his waistband seconds before Smalley was shot.

Heyburn contends King is the real killer and was accompanied to the bar by Rodney Sutphin and Rasean Sutphin.

Rasean Sutphin has been in trouble of his own. He was charged with attempted murder for in connection with a shooting in October 2014 that injured two people.

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.

Shaheed Brown was raised on the hardscrabble streets of Newark. In and out of the gang life and in and out of prison, he spent time in solitary confinement in the now-shuttered, high-risk gang unit of Northern State Prison in Newark.

Brown’s parents struggled with drug addiction, leaving him to fend for himself.

He has been in the system since he was a teenager, spending time at a juvenile detention center, according to an article in the Philadelphia Enquirer.

As an adult, he has numerous criminal convictions, including for aggravated assault and aggravated arson, making his attorney, Edward Heyburn, leery of putting him on the stand during his murder trial.

Opening statements are set for Wednesday after opposing attorneys finished selecting a jury Tuesday. Brown is being tried for the July 2014 shooting death of Enrico Smalley Jr., who was gunned down outside of La Guira Bar in Trenton.

For all his flaws, two prisoners’ rights advocates paint a different portrait of Brown, a man they believe is incapable of committing murder.

“He doesn’t lie to me,” said attorney Jean Ross, who along with her husband, housed Brown at their residence when he arrived in the capital city through a coming-home initiative sponsored by Greater Trenton Behavioral. He had been released from state prison in 2010. “He hasn’t told me everything in his life that he has done. But I experience him as a person who is straight with me, who is honest.”

Ross and another prisoners’ rights advocate, Bonnie Kerness, got to know Brown while working with him when he was incarcerated in Newark to help improve conditions for inmates in the gang unit.

Ross said she remembers an occasion when she had asked Brown to show up at the Hughes Justice Complex for a news conference hosted by the Juvenile Justice Commission. He came and spoke. His young son showed up afterward, running from one side of the complex into Brown’s outstretched arms.

It was an image that stuck with Ross.

“You don’t get that unless you have been present and a good father,” she said.

For sure, those are not the images conjured by murder allegations hanging over Brown’s head. He has maintained his innocence, rejecting a 45-year plea offer from prosecutors.

Ross said she has no reason to doubt Brown when he says he did not kill Smalley.

“I don’t think, frankly, that he killed this person,” she said. “There is a core in him that we want to support.”

She said she believes police may have targeted Brown because of his prior criminal record and pinned the crime on him once they discovered he was with Smalley and had walked out of the bar with him seconds before the murder.

“When something really bad happens, [the police are] under pressure,” Ross said. “Once they have a theory, they’re gonna stick with it. With that strategy, if they get it wrong, the killer is still out on the street, and I think that’s the case here.”

Kerness recently spoke to Brown on the phone from jail as he prepares for his murder trial.

She has known him about five years and interviewed him extensively about his experiences inside the gang unit of Northern State Prison for the American Friends Service Committee, a social justice group focused on ending solitary confinement in New Jersey.

Brown detailed the rampant abuse in the gang unit.

“That takes bravery even after you get out,” Kerness said. “For me, he is someone special.”

The prison abuse was also depicted in a documentary, “An Omar Broadway Film,” when an inmate smuggled in a video camera with help from a guard in order to capture footage of corrections officers’ brutality. That led to the unit being closed in 2010.

Brown was nothing short of helpful in Kerness’ quest to expose the issues at the prison.

“My knowledge of him is not one of violence,” she said. “The contact that I have with him is that he has been a mediator. He helped mediate truces. What he was charged with is not in my knowledge of him or my experience with him.”

Brown recently reconnected with Kerness, looking for someone he could depend on to intervene in a situation involving inmates in his unit at the Mercer County jail.

Kerness said inmates were involved in an altercation which resulted in negative consequences for all those housed at the corrections facility in Hopewell Township.

Kerness said she reached out to the county jail’s warden, Charles Ellis, after she spoke to Brown.

Kerness said one of her staff members also plans to be present throughout the murder trial to support Brown. She said she was shocked to find out he had been accused of murder. She believes the charges could point to institutional racism more than Brown’s guilt.

“Advocates like me depend on people like Shaheed,” Kerness said. “Any time the police can sweep the streets of young people, they do. These aren’t nice, middle-class white people with ties and suits. Life is a struggle for young African American men.”

Isiah Greene

Jurors deliberated for their first full day without arriving at a verdict in the case of a Trenton man accused of killing a high-ranking Bloods gang member in 2013.

Isiah Greene sat with his attorney, Mark Fury, in a Mercer County courtroom as jurors asked for playback of various camera angles captured by surveillance cameras at the Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early-morning hours of July 21, 2013.

That’s when Bloods gang member Quaadir “Ace” Gurley was shot and killed, allegedly by Greene, as he went to open the door of his apartment. Prosecutors believe it was an ambush-style killing but have not supplied a motive as to why Greene would have wanted Gurley dead.

Jurors also asked to re-hear Greene’s testimony from earlier in the trial. They will return to court Wednesday to finish hearing Assistant Prosecutor James Scott’s cross examination of Greene before returning to the deliberation room.

Gurley, a notorious gang member and drug crew leader, had been shot on at least two separate occasions before the fatal encounter, according to published reports. He was hit eight times and later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

Greene’s defense attorney has proposed the shooting was done at close range, relying on testimony that there was gunpowder residue on Gurley’s body.

Greene has raised a third-party guilt defense, pegging an unidentified black man dressed in all white with a dark complexion as the real shooter. Greene had also been captured by surveillance cameras from a grocery mart on Sanhican Drive wearing a white tank top, white shorts and whie shoes the day before the murder. But he claimed on the stand his clothing was slightly different than the shooter.

He accounted for investigators finding his blood at the housing complex by saying he had been struck by a wayward bullet, possibly one that had ricocheted off buildings when the gunman opened fire on Gurley.

Greene said he had been the housing complex to convince a friend to take him and some friends to a nightclub in Philadelphia after they had been drinking at an all-white affair on Highland Avenue. He said they didn’t want to drive to Philly for fear of getting caught by the cops, but they still drove over to the housing complex.

TRENTON >> The opening phase of the Shaheed Brown murder trial played out as if attorneys were filming a sequel to the popular film “My Cousin Vinny.”

The movie traced the evolution of a bombastically incompetent attorney, Vinnie Gambini, played by actor Joe Pesci. Gambinni’s goal was to get his cousin and a friend off a murder rap in rural Alabama.

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.

Some of the scenes in which the judge chastised Gambini for ineptitude looked like they were filmed in Mercer County. But in Gambini’s place stood Edward Heyburn, the defense attorney for suspected killer Shaheed Brown, who is being tried for the July 12, 2014 murder of Enrico Smalley Jr. outside of a crime-ridden bar in Trenton.

Judge Andrew Smithson waited until he was out of the presence of the jury before ripping into Heyburn on Wednesday.

“Your opening statement was horrendous,” the retired judge told Heyburn. “I don’t know how many cases you’ve tried in your lifetime, but there’s a lot to learn.”

The harsh criticism came at the end of a day marked by clashes between Heyburn and the judge. Smithson twice interrupted Heyburn during his opening argument for making what the judge said were improper statements to jurors.

Shaheed Brown

Heyburn’s opening argument was expected to take on an accusatorial tone as he is expected to put on a third-party guilt defense implicating a dead man for ordering Smalley’s murder.

But it was subdued, especially after the judge instructed the defense attorney to pipe down.

Heyburn pointed to “inconvenient facts” he said investigators ignored while looking into Smalley’s murder. He said the crime was pinned on Brown because the state “intentionally avoided facts, intentionally avoided witnesses … so they could come to a conclusion” about the convicted felon.

“They filed the charges then they did the investigation,” Heyburn said.

Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley admitted the case against Brown is circumstantial.

“There is no smoking gun,” he said. “There’s no gun at all.”

Investigators did not recover the 9 mm luger used to kill Smalley. They did, however, find several spent shell casings outside the bar. Five had the manufacturer’s head stamp Tulammo. Another was from Winchester, leading Brown’s grandmother, Dorothy Williams, to conclude there must have been two shooters.

She said she believes her grandson was not involved.

“I know my grandson didn’t kill nobody,” she told The Trentonian. “My grandson was just getting ready to go to the Golden Gloves. Shaheed had just begun to get his success, his future in life. He loved boxing. I really don’t think he would have messed his career. He would have used his hands. His hands were weapons.

Williams said she lost a daughter and feels the pain of Smalley’s family, offering her condolences.

But McCauley said in his opening statement that doesn’t change the facts.

“The person [Smalley] was walking with is the person who murdered him,” said McCauley, alluding to surveillance footage that captures the two men together outside La Guira Bar, on the corner of Poplar Street and North Clinton Avenue.

Few people have not seen the video after it was released to The Trentonian by Heyburn, who held it out as proof of his client’s innocence. He said it depicted another man, identified only as “King,” reaching for something tucked in his waistband shortly before shot ring out.

King was finally identified in court as a man named Alvie Vereen. Not much is known about him, and it remains to be seen how much of a presence he will have in the trial.

Most of the opening-day action centered on testimony from two witnesses, city resident Melissa Brown and Kenneth Crawford, a retired corrections officer at Trenton state prison.

They said they were outside the bar when Smalley was shot but neither got a good look at the shooter.

Brown said she was parked in her green Mazda outside of Ann’s Place, a bar across the street from where Smalley gunned down, waiting for friends.

By a stroke of bad luck, Brown found out later the man who was gunned down was her relative.

Still, she didn’t cooperate with investigators and was tracked down by detectives months later for prosecutors to secure a statement. She said she was scared.

“They was standing right in front of each other,” she said of the gunman and Smalley. “I saw fire come out of the gun.”

Heyburn tried introducing footage on cross examination he said would show Melissa Brown is lying. He claimed the video shows she was inside Ann’s Place at the time of the shooting and peeked out of a window when she heard gunfire.

The judge did not allow Brown to view the video, saying she could not authenticate it, leading to another confrontation between the attorney and judge.

Crawford was the last of five witnesses called to the stand Wednesday. He was parked in his Ford SUV across from La Guira when gunfire erupted, prompting him to get the hell outta of dodge.

He described seeing the body jerk of a man dressed in light clothing and dreadlocks. McCauley pointed out in his opening Brown was dressed in light clothing and had dreadlocks.

Crawford thought the individual was reacting to the gun but couldn’t say whether the person was being hit by bullets or doing the shooting.

“I could see the body do a jump motion, a little jerk motion,” he said. “I assume they were reacting to the gunshots.”

Crawford said he saw two individuals he believed were involved jogging away from the bar.

Crawford left the area and went to a 7-Eleven, where he smoked a cigarette to calm his nerves. He anonymously phoned emergency dispatchers from a payphone and relayed what he knew. 

Investigators later tracked him down.

“I felt obligated to do something,” Crawford said.

TRENTON >> “Looking for a hung jury? Call Mark Fury” is probably not a catchphrase the defense attorney would use to attract clients.

But it has been Fury’s propensity in gang-related cases in Mercer County that look unwinnable on their face.

It was that way in the infamous first trial of Latin Kings gang leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, who was finally convicted this year after a fourth trial. (Fury was no longer Negrete’s defense attorney at that point.)

Isiah Greene

And it could go that direction again in the murder trial of Isiah Greene, who is accused of gunning down Bloods gang member Quaadir “Ace Gurley” in the courtyard of the Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early-morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Gurley, a notorious gang member and drug crew leader, was hit eight times and later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

Jurors in the Greene trial deliberated for a second full day Wednesday without arriving at a verdict. They have deliberated close to 12 hours over a span of three days, starting last week.

A deadline of Friday has been set for a verdict as Judge Robert Billmeier said jurors informed him it would be a “hardship” on them if the case continues past this week and many would be unavailable to continue deliberating.

Quaadir Gurley

If the panel cannot decide the case by then, the judge would declare a mistrial, and it would be up to Assistant Prosecutor James Scott to decide whether to retry the case. If the “Boom Bat” case is any indication, prosecutors would retry Greene.

Either way, Fury isn’t holding his breath.

“I never want to prejudge what a jury might do,” he said. “But in my mind, there are grounds for reasonable doubt.”

What Fury thinks of the case doesn’t matter. But what does matters is how he puts on a case.

And in the “Boom Bat” case, earned a stalemate when former Latin King gang members were practically lining up to testify against their former leader in hopes of a reduced sentence.

In Greene’s case, bloods spots link him to the murder scene. Prosecutors believe he shot himself while shooting Gurley. The math on the match that it was Greene’s DNA is astronomical, a scientist testified.

But so far the evidence has not been enough to convince this jury to return a verdict one way or another.

“You flatter me,” Fury said. “I’m not gonna say it’s something that I do. I wanna say the state didn’t make its case. I wouldn’t be so bold as to say it’s me. The process has to run its course. I’ve had plenty of cases that are straight guilty and plenty of cases that are straight not guilty. The hung juries are rare.”

Greene accounted for investigators finding his blood at the housing complex by saying he had been struck by a wayward bullet, possibly one that had ricocheted off buildings when the gunman opened fire on Gurley.

Greene said he had been the housing complex to convince a friend to take him and some friends to a nightclub in Philadelphia after they had been drinking at an all-white affair on Highland Avenue. He said they didn’t want to drive to Philly for fear of getting caught by the cops, but they still drove over to the housing complex.

One legal observer said DNA evidence is hit or miss with juries, especially when considering the element of human error in deciphering and analyzing results.

“There’s no such thing as conclusive DNA evidence,” said Jack Furlong, a veteran criminal defense attorney who is not connected to Greene’s case. “What is largely understood or misunderstood is that the science of DNA is compelling, but the human application of the science and the testing is a whole different kettle of fish.”

Furlong said human error when it comes to DNA results happens “way more frequently than people realize.” That’s part of the reason DNA cases like Greene’s are not slam dunks for prosecutors.

“Mark Fury is a very effective advocate, and he is a very likable,” Furlong said. “He is living proof that if you have the right skillset, you can persuade at least one juror. On any given day, you can get a guilty verdict or on any given day you can get a not guilty verdict. I’ve seen utterly incompetent prosecutors and utterly incompetent defense lawyers win in spite of themselves. The biggest problem I have with what I do is the level of chance is much higher than people assume.”

Furlong said a courtroom is similar to a roulette table at a casino.

“With a casino, you know your odds are just short of 50-50 because half the numbers are red or black and there are a couple that are green,” he said. “Criminal trials are similar to that. There is a house edge, and in this case, by a house edge I mean a state’s edge. Defendants are overwhelmingly presumed guilty. The lawyer who can extract a hung jury is certainly worth his weight.”