A jury deliberated for a full day Wednesday without reaching a verdict in the murder trial of two men suspected of killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie at a banquet hall in 2012.

Carl Batie

The 12-member panel reviewed surveillance footage that captured some of the action outside of the Baldassari Regency banquet hall on Nov. 11, 2012, when Bailey was struck in the head by a bullet while he stood on a packed balcony.

The authorities said at the time they believed the shooting was gang-related and that Batie was an innocent bystander.

The jury began deliberating the fate of suspected killers Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker late Tuesday. They deliberated for less than 45 minutes before breaking for the day and returning to the courthouse Wednesday.

At 11 a.m., jurors passed Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson a note indicating that they wanted to review tape of Tucker’s interrogation with Trenton Police Detective Scott Peterson.

During the interrogation, which lasts more than 30 minutes, Tucker is told he is being charged with Batie’s murder. He denied any involvement and repeatedly told the detectives he did not open fire on the crowd at the banquet hall.

Maurice Skillman

Jurors also questioned why prosecutors bombarded them with evidence they said appears to be irrelevant.

Earlier in the trial, Smithson criticized prosecutors for putting before the jury evidence that did not link Skillman or Tucker to Batie’s murder.

The evidence included several items of clothing tested for the suspects’ DNA, but that yielded no results or matched an individual named Edward Acosta.

It is not clear who Acosta is, and he was never charged with Batie’s murder. He may be a revelers who was at the banquet hall attending a re-election party for President Barack Obama.

Smithson told jurors it was up to them to decide how, if at all, the evidence fits into the case. He told them to rely on their recollections from closing arguments.

Over four weeks of testimony, prosecutors called 17 witnesses to the stand, including Peterson, the lead detective who guided jurors through surveillance tapes depicting the interior, exterior and parking lot of the banquet hall.

Peterson told jurors he identified Skillman as the shooter and Tucker as his accomplice after reviewing more than 30 hours of footage downloaded from the banquet hall’s surveillance system.

Peterson referred to Skillman and Tucker, respectively, as “Tall Guy” and “Varsity Jacket” throughout the trial, referring to their height and clothing.

Defense attorneys contend that police misidentified their clients as the killers, and put on a third-party guilt defense blaming an alleged Bloods gang member, Shaquel Rock, or his associates, for killing Batie.

Hykeem Tucker

Rock threaten to shoot up the banquet hall after he was denied entrance the club earlier in the night.

Defense attorneys also pointed to a varsity jacket and gray and blue hooded sweatshirts that were found by investigators inside a champagne-colored vehicle belonging to Rock’s cousin, Edgar Williams.

Peterson testified he eliminated Rock as a suspect because he didn’t fit a physical description of the shooter. Rock was shorter and wore a white sweater whereas the shooter was described as taller and wearing a dark-colored sweater.

Before  breaking for the day, jurors asked to see video depicting two men getting in and out of a white conversion van.

Prosecutors said Skillman and Tucker used the conversion van as a getaway car following the shooting.

Prosecutors contend that Skillman used a TEC-9 stowed in a separate van that was parked near the banquet hall.

Two men are seen on tape getting in and out of that van shortly before the shooting, but it’s unclear if either of them have anything in their hands.

Defense attorneys called an expert in forensic engineering to the stand to testify about the poor quality of the video surveillance, which prosecutors hope jurors use as a tool to identify Batie’s killers.

The jury resumes deliberations Thursday morning.

“Making a Murderer,” anyone?

The hit Netflix series that spawned a legion of Internet sleuths may be encroaching upon the thinking of a Mercer County jury, which appears divided about whether two men are guilty of killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie in 2012.

Carl Batie

Judge Andrew Smithson met privately with one of the jurors Thursday afternoon, ramping up speculation outside the courtroom that there is animosity between two jurors about whether Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker are responsible for killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie outside of the Baldassari Regeny banquet hall on Nov. 11, 2012.

The 12-member panel enters its fourth day of deliberations Friday after pouring over the evidence most of Thursday. Smithson sent jurors home about 90 minutes early, fearful they were exhausted after protracted and rancorous discussions throughout the day.

Jurors have been sealed off from the public during deliberations, but have repeatedly emerged from the jury chambers with a whole host of questions. Some of them have been speculative and jarring, grabbing the attention of prosecutors and defense attorneys.

The biggest shocker came Thursday morning, when the jury foreman passed an odd note to Smithson, who admitted he was “thrown for a loop.”

The note said: “Can we consider alternative theories?”

Theories prosecutors and defense attorneys put in the case were apparently not enough for the curious dozen.

Maurice Skillman

Prosecutors case was pretty straight forward. Skillman used a TEC-9 to spray a crowd of party-goers who stood on a packed banquet hall while Tucker acted as a lookout. The defense pointed who they say was a more likely suspect, a man who had threatened a police officer earlier in the night after he was not allowed into the club.

Nicole Carlo, Skillman’s attorney, said she wondered if the question had anything to do with binge-worthy podcasts and television shows like “Serial” and “Making a Murder,” which traced the steps of convicted killers Adnan Syed in Baltimore and Steven Avery in Manitowoc County, Wisc.

She said she has faith that Mercer County jurors will not veer dangerously off course like some of the crazed Internet sleuths that have obsessed about Syed’s and Avery’s cases.

Jurors were sternly warned by Smithson to constrain their thoughts and deliberations to assessing the evidence presented over the four-week trial, which included testimony from 17 witnesses.

“Fanciful hypothecations play no role” Smithson told jurors of their deliberations. “Keep it real. This is the real world.”

Carlo said she believes the “alternative theories” note was telling.

“If you have an alternative theory, to me that means you don’t think the state proved its case,” she said.

Christopher Campbell, Tucker’s attorney, said he didn’t know what to make of the note — one of the “millions of questions jurors have had” over the last four days.

Hykeem Tucker

Some of the confusion may stem from the mountains of evidence prosecutors put before jurors.

The judge criticized assistant prosecutors James Scott and Heather Hadley for not putting on evidence that linked Skillman or Tucker to Batie’s murder.

Scott defended the practice, saying he needed to assure jurors police did a thorough investigation and to tactically guard against defense attorneys arguing the authorities rushed to judgement about their clients.

The case boils down to identity, and whether jurors buy the word of Trenton Police Detective Scott Peterson or want to assess independently whether they believe it is Skillman and Tucker on the tapes.

Peterson was unequivocal when he took the stand, telling jurors he identified Skillman as the shooter and Tucker as his accomplice after reviewing more than 30 hours of footage downloaded from the banquet hall’s surveillance system.

Peterson referred to Skillman and Tucker, respectively, as “Tall Guy” and “Varsity Jacket” throughout the trial, referring to their height and clothing.

Defense attorneys contend that police misidentified their clients as the killers, and put on a third-party guilt defense blaming an alleged Bloods gang member, Shaquel Rock, or his associates, for killing Batie.

Rock threatened to shoot up the banquet hall after he was denied entrance the club earlier in the night.

Defense attorneys also pointed to a varsity jacket and gray and blue hooded sweatshirts that were found by investigators inside a champagne-colored vehicle belonging to Rock’s cousin, Edgar Williams.

Peterson testified he eliminated Rock as a suspect because he didn’t fit a physical description of the shooter. Rock was shorter and wore a white sweater whereas the shooter was described as taller and wearing a dark-colored sweater.

The jury resumes deliberations Friday.

Carl Batie’s family, friends and colleagues dutifully showed up to court day after day over four weeks as prosecutors laid out the case against two men suspected of killing the Mercer County corrections officer in 2012.

Carl Batie

They must do it all over again.

Prosecutors have tried three murder trials in the last four months. Less than a half hour into their fourth day of deliberations in the murder trial of suspected killers Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker, a jury announced it was deadlocked, and a judge was forced to declare a mistrial for the third time.

Judge Andrew Smithson, who presided over two of the three mistrials, polled jurors before releasing them from the courtroom. They said further deliberations would not be fruitful.

The judge lamented jurors’ indecision as an indication the criminal justice system in Mercer County is either “working better than ever or broken.”

James Scott, the assistant prosecutor who tried two of the three murder cases which ended in mistrials, said he believed this jury wanted “absolute certainty” Skillman and Tucker were responsible for Batie’s death outside the Baldassari Regency banquet hall on Nov. 11, 2012, in what the authorities said was a gang-related shooting.

Batie, an innocent bystander, was shot in the head while standing on the balcony. He and his brother, Karshawn, were at the banquet hall celebrating President Barack Obama’s re-election.

Maurice Skillman

Scott admitted his case against Skillman and Tucker was circumstantial and relied on grainy video surveillance tapes that made it hard for jurors to identify the assailants.

Scott lacked DNA evidence to prove the case, but the judge credited him for putting on what he described as a masterful closing argument, the best the judge heard in more than two decades sitting in a courtroom.

It still was not enough for prosecutors.

Just as is the case with Isiah Greene and former Newark gang member Shaheed Brown, whose cases also ended in mistrials within two weeks of each other in October, prosecutors must retry Skillman and Tucker.

Scott said he was prepared to retry the men as soon as possible but a date was not set.

It gives Scott time to reflect, but he left the courtroom Friday feeling secure in the way he presented the case to jurors.

Nicole Carlo, Skillman’s attorney, said she, like Scott, was left “reading the tea leaves” about why the jury didn’t reach a verdict.

Christopher Campbell, Tucker’s attorney, said: “I wouldn’t be taking it to trial unless I thought I had a good chance of convincing jurors he was not guilty.”

Rumors swirled around the courthouse that 11 of 12 jurors believed Skillman and Tucker were guilty, but a lone holdout was unswayed despite rancorous discussions that led the judge to dismiss jurors 90 minutes early Thursday for them to “recharge their batteries.”

Reporters were not given an opportunity to interview jurors after sheriff’s officers deliberately guided the hung jury away from reporters and the public, possibly on orders of Smithson, in an unprecedented maneuver that surprised legal experts who opined what happened was illegal.

Hykeem Tucker

“Whatever was done, I suspect, was done to deny you access to jurors, not to protect them from some perceived threat in the community,” said Jack Furlong, a criminal defense attorney who practices in Trenton.

He said sheriff’s officer erred when they forced a Trentonian reporter to conduct interviews outside of the courthouse, which is open to the public.

“That’s an outrage,” Furlong said. “The sheriffs have no lawful authority to order you out of courthouse. Less than zero.”

A spokesman for the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged in a statement reporters are allowed to conduct interviews inside the courthouse. But spokesman Ernie Cerino said sheriff’s officers can change the policy “on a case-by-case basis.”

“This is routine for high-profile cases and such was the case [Friday],” he said.

Jurors were led to an awaiting jury bus stationed in a restricted portion of the courthouse parking area where The Trentonian was not allowed.

Chief Mercer County Sheriff’s Officer Christopher Kenyon said the unprecedented measure was put in place because of “security concerns.”

Kenyon would not say whether threats were made against jurors, and Scott, the prosecutor, said he was unaware of any threats made against jurors.   

Kenyon conceded the bus is normally parked at the front of the courthouse on South Warren Street. This time the bus was parked around back, in a gated portion outside of the courthouse.

Kenyon said it “didn’t matter” when he was asked if jurors were steered away from the public at Smithson’s direction.

Smithson declined to comment.

“My friend, I can’t talk to you,” he said.

A judiciary spokesman also declined to comment.

The decision to intentionally segregate jurors from the public and not give them an opportunity to accept or decline interviews with The Trentonian was onerous because the public was left wondering what factored into their indecision. It also did little to quell rampant speculation that a single juror’s opinion held up a verdict.

The jury appeared deadlocked before it entered its fourth day of deliberations, passing an odd note to Smithson on Thursday morning asking if it could consider alternative theories.

The judge told jurors they should constrain deliberations to assessing the evidence presented at the four-week trial, which included testimony from 17 state witnesses and a single surveillance expert put on the stand by defense attorneys.

Smithson told jurors “hypothecations” shouldn’t play a role in their decision. He brought jurors into the courtroom Friday morning around 9:30 a.m. and told them they were “judges” of the facts not “partisans.”

Prosecutors’ case was straight forward. They said Skillman used a TEC-9 to spray a crowd of party-goers who stood on a packed banquet hall while Tucker acted as a lookout.

The defense pointed to who they say were more likely suspects, alleged Bloods gang member Shaquel Rock and his associates. Rock had threatened a police officer earlier in the night after he was not allowed into the club.

Trenton Police Detective Scott Peterson testified he identified Skillman as the shooter and Tucker as his accomplice after pouring over more than 30 hours of surveillance footage, which the jury asked to re-watch numerous times.

For prosecutors, in all three cases, it’s back to the drawing board. They will have to figure out how to present the cases better, without having the benefit of input from past panels.

Smithson is partly to blame for that since this appears to be the second time he has interfered with the press’ ability to interview jurors.

At Brown’s trial, which also ended in a hung jury, Smithson chastised The Trentonian as an “irresponsible tabloid” and implied a reporter violated a court order by obtaining a recording of a private conversation the judge had with a juror.

The recording was unsealed and obtained lawfully by The Trentonian. That didn’t stop Smithson from singling out a reporter in the courtroom and warning jurors, “Be careful what you say.”

Legal experts said the judge’s behavior was unethical and infringed on the press’ rights to act as a watchdog of government.

In the case of jurors in Skillman and Tucker’s trial, Furlong said the judge may have leeway to protect identities of jurors if they told them they did not want to be interviewed.

“Jurors are like a protected class,” he said. “The press is entitled to attempt to speak to them upon their discharge of service. What happened was not interest of the Fifth Estate and the First Amendment.”

A judge will decide in the coming months whether the Skillman twins’ brother who is charged with killing two Trenton residents within days of each other will be tried for both murders at a single trial.

Alton Jones

Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez said at a hearing Tuesday he will issue a written opinion in April about whether prosecutors can try Alton Jones jointly for the murders of Rayshawn Ransom and Tierra Green.

In arguing the murders are connected, prosecutors in January asked to try the cases together before a single jury rather than separating them and having different panels decide whether Jones killed the city residents.

Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Katz has said the murder cases are tied together because Jones used the same handgun to mow down both Ransom and Green on Passaic Street in June 2013. Green was fatally shot in the stomach three days after Ransom was gunned down in a deadly, gang-related shootout that led to convictions of two other Trenton men.

Prosecutors and defense attorney Andrew Duclair, who represents Jones, were scheduled to make oral arguments on the joinder motion Katz filed. Duclair opposed his client being tried together. Both attorneys agreed to have the judge review court papers and have him decide the issue rather than arguing it.

Whatever Jimenez decides, Jones is expected to take his cases to trial.

Prosecutors have said they are at an impasse in negotiations with Jones, who rejected a plea offer of 40 years in state prison, 20 years each running consecutively for two counts of aggravated manslaughter.

Jones was initially charged along with Marquis Skillman, and Dyquise Leonard, following the shooting death of Ransom, 19, who was gunned down while he sat in a car with friends on Passaic Street.

Rayshawn Ransom

Investigators have said the fatal shot came from Jones’ automatic handgun, which witnesses said was tossed out of a getaway car that sped away from the scene.

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

Leonard pleaded guilty to attempted murder in Ransom’s death as part of a 12-year sentence.

Marquis Skillman, the twin brother of Maurice Skillman, said he was armed but did not admit to firing when he pleaded guilty to robbery last year.

He was expected to receive 11 years in state prison and was awaiting sentencing when he was arrested last week with another man. Police said Skillman and Justice Ford, 28, were found in possession of handguns and marijuana in a stolen vehicle during a traffic stop.

It is unclear how the new charges impact a plea deal for Marquis Skillman, who earlier this month refused to testify against his brother, Maurice, at his murder trial.

Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker must be retried for the 2012 murder of Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie after the first trial ended this month in a hung jury, forcing a judge to declare a mistrial for the third time in four months.

Jones is expected back in court April 4. Jimenez said, regardless of how he rules, Jones must decide that day whether he is still taking the murder cases to trial.

Prosecutors expect to extend another plea offer to Masiyah Howard next month which would package charges of robbery and murder if he accepts it.

Howard is charged with numerous crimes in Chambersburg, including the slaying of 25-year-old

Louis Bryan Alvarez

, who was gunned down at his city home on Feb. 26, 2013.

Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said at a status hearing Monday he plans to send a written offer to Howard’s attorney about two weeks before his next court appearance, on March 21.

Howard, who is jailed on a combined bail of $800,000, was previously offered a plea deal that called for him to serve 30 years in state prison if he admitted to robbery, aggravated manslaughter and weapons offenses.

Howard attorney, Steven Lember, told the court he plans to file a Miranda motion to get the statement his client gave to authorities thrown out.

Even if the statement is quashed, Judge Darlene Pereksta said that would not resolve Howard’s case.

Howard will have two weeks to consider prosecutors’ forthcoming plea offer, which Scott did not disclose at the hearing.

The judge told Howard to “think long and hard” about whether he wants to accept the offer as prosecutors said they will yank the offer off the table if Howard does not accept it by the time his next appearance rolls around.

Prosecutors have said Howard confronted and shot Alvarez, a Guatemalan native who worked in Trenton, on the 200 block of Fulton Street. They exchanged words prior to Howard allegedly pulling out a handgun and shooting through a glass door, prosecutors have said.

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

Prosecutors wanted to try the robbery and murder cases together because they contend Howard used the same 9 mm handgun to commit crimes blocks apart within weeks of each other. Howard targeted Latino victims each time, prosecutors said. A judge previously said he was not “inclined” to let prosecutors try the cases together.

Donte Jones

Supporters for a slain Philadelphia man wept openly in a courtroom Monday when prosecutors offered alleged killer Donte Jones a plea deal that calls for him to serve 33 years in state prison for aggravated manslaughter.

Jones, 24, of Trenton, is charged with fatally shooting 36-year-old Levonza Thompson with a 9mm handgun in the courtyard of the Oakland Park Apartments on the 200 block of Coolidge Avenue on Halloween night 2014.

Police have said Thompson was shot multiple times after he and Jones struggled. He was rushed to a hospital where he died a short time later.

Jones was found at a home on the first block of Laurel Place, hiding under a pile of clothes in a third-floor attic, prosecutors said.

Jones was out on bail on a weapons charge at the time of the murder, prosecutors have said, and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The plea deal calls for Jones to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter as well as a weapons charge. He would be required to serve 28 years in prison for Thompson's death and another five years on top of that for the weapons charge, Assistant Prosecutor Michael Grillo said.

Two of Thompson's supporters, presumably family members, did not take kindly to the offer.

A woman had tears streaming down her face as she said Jones should get "an eye for an eye. He deserves death."

She and another man met with prosecutors after the status hearing to express disapproval for the plea offer.

Jones is being held in lieu of $1 million cash-only and is expected back in court in May.

Horace Gordon (COURTESY OF SOUTHSIDE REGIONAL JAIL)

A city man was indicted last week in connection with the murder of 29-year-old Harvey Sharp.

Horace Gordon, 36, is charged with murder and related weapons offenses in connection with the June 2015 shooting that gunned down Sharp on the front porch of a Cummings Avenue home.

The shooting happened on Sharp’s birthday, and sources say it was the result of a “petty argument.”

Gordon was arrested in southern Virginia about a week after the shooting. He remains in jail on $1 million bail.

Charlotte Carman

During a rare appearance in Mercer County Superior Court, the state’s top public defender said a Trenton woman accused of fatally stabbing her former boyfriend in a jealous rage last year had suffered facial fractures after being abused by the victim prior to the stabbing.

At a bail reconsideration hearing Monday, Joseph Krakora revealed Charlotte Carman will claim she acted in self-defense when she stabbed Paris France Way to death in May 2015 after he struck her in the face with a 2-liter soda bottle.

Charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, criminal mischief and weapons offenses, Carman was extended a plea deal by prosecutors for the first time that would require her to spend 30 years in state prison if she pleads guilty.

Krakora’s self-defense announcement stirred Way’s family members who were in court Monday for a bail reconsideration hearing for Carman. One woman believed to be Way’s mother cursed at the suggestion of self-defense and had to be calmed down by Assistant Prosecutor Stacey Geurds.

Krakora excoriated prosecutors for not turning over discovery in the murder case, saying they disregarded Judge Pedro Jimenez’s court order to turn over police reports and other documents by late last month.

The hearing grew so acrimonious between prosecutors and Krakora that Jimenez took the parties into chambers for several minutes to discuss the issues privately.

While disputing that the woman acted in self-defense, Geurds released details about the stabbing not made public at Carman’s bail hearing in June. She also said she has not been provided with medical records to substantiate Carman’s alleged injuries.

“This was not self-defense,” Geurds said. “Her demeanor was not of a frightened person but someone who was ticked off.”

Prosecutors had said at a bail hearing last year Carman confessed to stabbing Way four times, piercing his heart and collapsing his lung, after she found him driving in a car with another woman.

She slashed the tires on Way’s Hyundai Sonata, took $180 from his wallet and spat on him while he lay dying on the street near the intersection of Sherman and St. Joes.

On Monday, Geurds revealed Carman stalked Way prior to the stabbing on May 31, 2015, sending Way’s brother a message over Facebook asking about his “stupid a** brother’s” whereabouts.

She was upset he did not pick her up, and took a cab to where he was, Geurds said.

As far as Way was concerned, his relationship with Carman was over, Geurds said. Carman felt differently and was infuriated when she saw Way in his car with another woman.

She confronted him, believing he was involved with the woman, slapped grocery bags from his hands and slapped him, Geurds said, prompting Way to defend himself by swinging the soda bottle.

The Trentonian had reported, based on information released at Carman’s bail hearing and a friend’s suggestion he liked women “to a fault,” that Way was involved with the woman.

Geurds said her office believes Way and the woman, who witnessed the stabbing, were not romantically linked and were neighbors who had lived next to each other for a few months.

The woman was inside eating dinner with her son after Way dropped her off. They had gone grocery shopping together, Geurds said.

Carman cursed Way out over the woman, prosecutors said, demanded money for her to get her hair done and for her to purchase marijuana. Then she allegedly stabbed him four times, took his cell phone, cigarettes and $180 from his wallet which she used the next day to pay for a memorial tattoo with Way’s date of death, prosecutors said.

Carman also spat on Way as he told her, “You hurt me. I need help,” according to prosecutors.

Geurds said the bloody knife used in the stabbing had traces of DNA belonging to Carman and the victim. Carman admitted getting rid of Way’s cell phone, the knife and her bloody clothes, Geurds said.

The prosecutor disputed Krakora’s suggestion that Carman is not a flight risk, saying that after she was arrested in New Brunswick, she tried to slip out of a backdoor where she was being held by marshals.

Touting a bail reform law that takes effect in New Jersey next year, Krakora asked for Carman, who has been held in lieu of $770,000, to be released from jail without bail while she awaits the outcome of her case.

He cited prosecutors’ refusal to turn over discovery as a change in circumstances for Carman and the reason he asked for a probable cause hearing to determine if prosecutors had enough evidence to move forward with the case against Carman.

He withdrew his request for the probable cause hearing, saying some documents that have been turned over show there is enough evidence for prosecutors to go ahead with the case.

Judge Jimenez, citing Carman’s prior convictions for resisting arrest and child abuse and the seriousness of the charges, refused to release Carman without bail. However, he reduced bail to $400,000 and required a source hearing to vet the money if the Carman posts it.

Tomarkus Whitfield

A Trenton man accused of fatally shooting 33-year-old Pinkey Priester appears headed for trial.

Tomarkus Whitfield, 37, has pleaded not guilty and so far rejected prosecutors’ offer to serve 25 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter. He is charged with counts of murder and weapons offenses after authorities said he pumped more than 10 rounds into Prieseter on June 16, 2014, on the 300 block of Centre Street.

Authorities said the men had a longstanding financial dispute.

Assistant Prosecutor Will Fisher asked a judge Monday at a status hearing to bring the case back for one more status hearing before scheduling the matter for plea cutoff. He said the case is being handed off to Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian in late spring.

Fisher has handled the case in Gasparian’s stead.

Defense attorney Ron Garzio asked a judge for time to review police reports and other documents handed over in discovery. He also needed to determine whether to conduct an investigation or file additional motions based off the materials handed over.

Whitfield was arrested by Mercer County Prosecutor’s Detective Gary Wasko and the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force on Division Street. He has an extensive criminal history and is jailed on a $750,000 cash-only bail.

Whitfield is expected back in court in April.

Joeryan Foreman

One of two men charged in connection with the shooting death of Chevin Burgess has until next month to decide whether he will accept prosecutors’ plea offer or head to trial.

Joeryan Foreman, 23, is accused of helped alleged triggerman Calier Samad, 28, dispose of Burgess’ badly burned body which was found January 4, 2014, inside an abandoned vehicle engulfed in flames.

Foreman, charged with counts of murder, arson, robbery and weapons offenses, has been offered a plea deal that would require him to spend 25 years in state prison for aggravated manslaughter. He would also receive nine years for aggravated arson, which would run concurrently to the manslaughter charge.

Samad has been offered a 30-year prison term for murder for allegedly shooting Burgess once in the head during a botched robbery, authorities said, before he and Foreman drove to the 100 block of Hart Avenue and torched the car.

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

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

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

Foreman is being held in jail in lieu of $600,000 bail and is expected back in court April 25. Samad remains jailed on $1 million bail. His next court appearance is in May.

“Making a Murderer,” anyone?

The hit Netflix series that spawned a legion of Internet sleuths may be encroaching upon the thinking of a Mercer County jury, which appears divided about whether two men are guilty of killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie in 2012.

Carl Batie

Judge Andrew Smithson met privately with one of the jurors Thursday afternoon, ramping up speculation outside the courtroom that there is animosity between two jurors about whether Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker are responsible for killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie outside of the Baldassari Regeny banquet hall on Nov. 11, 2012.

The 12-member panel enters its fourth day of deliberations Friday after pouring over the evidence most of Thursday. Smithson sent jurors home about 90 minutes early, fearful they were exhausted after protracted and rancorous discussions throughout the day.

Jurors have been sealed off from the public during deliberations, but have repeatedly emerged from the jury chambers with a whole host of questions. Some of them have been speculative and jarring, grabbing the attention of prosecutors and defense attorneys.

The biggest shocker came Thursday morning, when the jury foreman passed an odd note to Smithson, who admitted he was “thrown for a loop.”

The note said: “Can we consider alternative theories?”

Theories prosecutors and defense attorneys put in the case were apparently not enough for the curious dozen.

Maurice Skillman

Prosecutors case was pretty straight forward. Skillman used a TEC-9 to spray a crowd of party-goers who stood on a packed banquet hall while Tucker acted as a lookout. The defense pointed who they say was a more likely suspect, a man who had threatened a police officer earlier in the night after he was not allowed into the club.

Nicole Carlo, Skillman’s attorney, said she wondered if the question had anything to do with binge-worthy podcasts and television shows like “Serial” and “Making a Murder,” which traced the steps of convicted killers Adnan Syed in Baltimore and Steven Avery in Manitowoc County, Wisc.

She said she has faith that Mercer County jurors will not veer dangerously off course like some of the crazed Internet sleuths that have obsessed about Syed’s and Avery’s cases.

Jurors were sternly warned by Smithson to constrain their thoughts and deliberations to assessing the evidence presented over the four-week trial, which included testimony from 17 witnesses.

“Fanciful hypothecations play no role” Smithson told jurors of their deliberations. “Keep it real. This is the real world.”

Carlo said she believes the “alternative theories” note was telling.

“If you have an alternative theory, to me that means you don’t think the state proved its case,” she said.

Christopher Campbell, Tucker’s attorney, said he didn’t know what to make of the note — one of the “millions of questions jurors have had” over the last four days.

Hykeem Tucker

Some of the confusion may stem from the mountains of evidence prosecutors put before jurors.

The judge criticized assistant prosecutors James Scott and Heather Hadley for not putting on evidence that linked Skillman or Tucker to Batie’s murder.

Scott defended the practice, saying he needed to assure jurors police did a thorough investigation and to tactically guard against defense attorneys arguing the authorities rushed to judgement about their clients.

The case boils down to identity, and whether jurors buy the word of Trenton Police Detective Scott Peterson or want to assess independently whether they believe it is Skillman and Tucker on the tapes.

Peterson was unequivocal when he took the stand, telling jurors he identified Skillman as the shooter and Tucker as his accomplice after reviewing more than 30 hours of footage downloaded from the banquet hall’s surveillance system.

Peterson referred to Skillman and Tucker, respectively, as “Tall Guy” and “Varsity Jacket” throughout the trial, referring to their height and clothing.

Defense attorneys contend that police misidentified their clients as the killers, and put on a third-party guilt defense blaming an alleged Bloods gang member, Shaquel Rock, or his associates, for killing Batie.

Rock threatened to shoot up the banquet hall after he was denied entrance the club earlier in the night.

Defense attorneys also pointed to a varsity jacket and gray and blue hooded sweatshirts that were found by investigators inside a champagne-colored vehicle belonging to Rock’s cousin, Edgar Williams.

Peterson testified he eliminated Rock as a suspect because he didn’t fit a physical description of the shooter. Rock was shorter and wore a white sweater whereas the shooter was described as taller and wearing a dark-colored sweater.

The jury resumes deliberations Friday.

Edward Kevin Nock (contributed photo)

A city man has been indicted in connection with the stabbing death of 43-year-old Edward Nock.

Isaac Grey, 32, was indicted last week and charged with murder and weapons offenses in connection with the June 2015 incident that left Nock bleeding on the floor of a Beakes Street apartment.

When police were dispatched to that apartment on the night of June 30, they found Nock lying on the floor suffering from a stab wound to the abdomen. Nock later died at the hospital.

Grey was identified as a suspect in the murder shortly after the incident, and police arrested him in Philadelphia a couple of days later. He remains in jail on $750,000 bail.

A man was shot and killed near the intersection of North Hermitage Avenue and Boudinot Street. This is a view of the crime scene on Saturday morning after the murder. (Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman - Trentonian)

A city man was shot in the chest Friday night and later died at the hospital, ending a two-month period of no homicides in the capital city.

Police found Elliot Simon Jr. lying in the middle of the road in the 100 block of Boudinot Street a few minutes after 9 p.m.

Simon was shot at least twice in the chest, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. He was taken to the hospital and died from his injuries about an hour after the incident.

Simon celebrated his 52nd birthday the day before he was murdered.

Elliot Simon Jr. (contributed photo)

Police say ShotSpotter detected gunfire near 37 North Hermitage Avenue, and officials believe Simon tried to flee to his West Ward home on Boudinot after being shot, but collapsed in the street.

Several customers on Saturday patronized the Hermitage Deli and Grocery store at the corner of Boudinot and Hermitage and expressed frustration over the city’s latest homicide.

“I heard the gunshots last night. I heard ‘Boom! Boom!’ Two shots,” a woman said after exiting the deli. “This is a shame. It is very sad.”

Another woman who referred to herself as “the mayor of Hermitage” said Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson and West Ward Councilman Zachary Chester need to “come out of the closet and help us.”

“Can we get some help out here?” the woman asked.

Simon was married to the late Tia Green, whose 19-year-old daughter Tiara Green was shot and killed in a June 2013 West Ward shooting on the 600 block of West State Street, according to Trenton community activist Darren “Freedom” Green.

“The family has a vicious cycle of violence,” Green said Saturday afternoon, noting that Simon had to deal with the loss of Tiara Green and the loss of his wife who had “died of a broken heart,” although “a coroner’s report won’t show it.”

Green said Trenton suffers from a variety of issues that promote crime in the city — poverty, a struggling public education system and mental health challenges arising from people living in blighted and depressed neighborhoods — but he said the people of Trenton need to have “the moral character” to help police arrest the criminals who commit these acts of violence.

“Righteous people report crime,” Green said, “because they don’t want it in their community.”

The greatest way to honor Simon, Green said, is to report information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for killing him.

Green acknowledged that relations between community and police need to be improved to build trust, but he said building and strengthening those bridges between the community and police would make Trenton safer with lower rates of crime comparable to the surrounding suburbs.

“We see wrong, we need to say, ‘Not on our watch,’” Green said.

At the Hermitage Deli on Saturday, a man who declined to identify himself said he used to drink coffee every morning with Simon. He referred to Simon by the name “June,” and said Simon was “one of the coolest guys you could meet.”

Councilwoman Phyllis Holly-Ward said she knew Simon from “general acquaintance” and called Trenton’s latest incident of gun violence “upsetting.”

“It is time for us to stand up. It’s time for the mayor to stand up,” Holly-Ward said Saturday morning. “We got to get ready and walk the streets.”

Holly-Ward said Mayor Jackson should go into the city’s troubled neighborhoods and show the residents he cares.

“If he doesn’t want to do it, I have some colleagues and we are just going to do it ourselves,” Holly-Ward said. “It is unacceptable. Everything isn’t peaches and cream.”

Simon is Trenton’s fourth homicide victim of 2016. The city this year has had numerous shootings that left people wounded with critical or non-life-threatening injuries, including at least six that have occurred this month alone.

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force is investigating the case. Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call (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.

Trentonian staff writer Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman contributed to this report.

A jury deliberated for a full day Wednesday without reaching a verdict in the murder trial of two men suspected of killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie at a banquet hall in 2012.

Carl Batie

The 12-member panel reviewed surveillance footage that captured some of the action outside of the Baldassari Regency banquet hall on Nov. 11, 2012, when Bailey was struck in the head by a bullet while he stood on a packed balcony.

The authorities said at the time they believed the shooting was gang-related and that Batie was an innocent bystander.

The jury began deliberating the fate of suspected killers Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker late Tuesday. They deliberated for less than 45 minutes before breaking for the day and returning to the courthouse Wednesday.

At 11 a.m., jurors passed Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson a note indicating that they wanted to review tape of Tucker’s interrogation with Trenton Police Detective Scott Peterson.

During the interrogation, which lasts more than 30 minutes, Tucker is told he is being charged with Batie’s murder. He denied any involvement and repeatedly told the detectives he did not open fire on the crowd at the banquet hall.

Maurice Skillman

Jurors also questioned why prosecutors bombarded them with evidence they said appears to be irrelevant.

Earlier in the trial, Smithson criticized prosecutors for putting before the jury evidence that did not link Skillman or Tucker to Batie’s murder.

The evidence included several items of clothing tested for the suspects’ DNA, but that yielded no results or matched an individual named Edward Acosta.

It is not clear who Acosta is, and he was never charged with Batie’s murder. He may be a revelers who was at the banquet hall attending a re-election party for President Barack Obama.

Smithson told jurors it was up to them to decide how, if at all, the evidence fits into the case. He told them to rely on their recollections from closing arguments.

Over four weeks of testimony, prosecutors called 17 witnesses to the stand, including Peterson, the lead detective who guided jurors through surveillance tapes depicting the interior, exterior and parking lot of the banquet hall.

Peterson told jurors he identified Skillman as the shooter and Tucker as his accomplice after reviewing more than 30 hours of footage downloaded from the banquet hall’s surveillance system.

Peterson referred to Skillman and Tucker, respectively, as “Tall Guy” and “Varsity Jacket” throughout the trial, referring to their height and clothing.

Defense attorneys contend that police misidentified their clients as the killers, and put on a third-party guilt defense blaming an alleged Bloods gang member, Shaquel Rock, or his associates, for killing Batie.

Hykeem Tucker

Rock threaten to shoot up the banquet hall after he was denied entrance the club earlier in the night.

Defense attorneys also pointed to a varsity jacket and gray and blue hooded sweatshirts that were found by investigators inside a champagne-colored vehicle belonging to Rock’s cousin, Edgar Williams.

Peterson testified he eliminated Rock as a suspect because he didn’t fit a physical description of the shooter. Rock was shorter and wore a white sweater whereas the shooter was described as taller and wearing a dark-colored sweater.

Before  breaking for the day, jurors asked to see video depicting two men getting in and out of a white conversion van.

Prosecutors said Skillman and Tucker used the conversion van as a getaway car following the shooting.

Prosecutors contend that Skillman used a TEC-9 stowed in a separate van that was parked near the banquet hall.

Two men are seen on tape getting in and out of that van shortly before the shooting, but it’s unclear if either of them have anything in their hands.

Defense attorneys called an expert in forensic engineering to the stand to testify about the poor quality of the video surveillance, which prosecutors hope jurors use as a tool to identify Batie’s killers.

The jury resumes deliberations Thursday morning.

“Making a Murderer,” anyone?

The hit Netflix series that spawned a legion of Internet sleuths may be encroaching upon the thinking of a Mercer County jury, which appears divided about whether two men are guilty of killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie in 2012.

Carl Batie

Judge Andrew Smithson met privately with one of the jurors Thursday afternoon, ramping up speculation outside the courtroom that there is animosity between two jurors about whether Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker are responsible for killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie outside of the Baldassari Regeny banquet hall on Nov. 11, 2012.

The 12-member panel enters its fourth day of deliberations Friday after pouring over the evidence most of Thursday. Smithson sent jurors home about 90 minutes early, fearful they were exhausted after protracted and rancorous discussions throughout the day.

Jurors have been sealed off from the public during deliberations, but have repeatedly emerged from the jury chambers with a whole host of questions. Some of them have been speculative and jarring, grabbing the attention of prosecutors and defense attorneys.

The biggest shocker came Thursday morning, when the jury foreman passed an odd note to Smithson, who admitted he was “thrown for a loop.”

The note said: “Can we consider alternative theories?”

Theories prosecutors and defense attorneys put in the case were apparently not enough for the curious dozen.

Maurice Skillman

Prosecutors case was pretty straight forward. Skillman used a TEC-9 to spray a crowd of party-goers who stood on a packed banquet hall while Tucker acted as a lookout. The defense pointed who they say was a more likely suspect, a man who had threatened a police officer earlier in the night after he was not allowed into the club.

Nicole Carlo, Skillman’s attorney, said she wondered if the question had anything to do with binge-worthy podcasts and television shows like “Serial” and “Making a Murder,” which traced the steps of convicted killers Adnan Syed in Baltimore and Steven Avery in Manitowoc County, Wisc.

She said she has faith that Mercer County jurors will not veer dangerously off course like some of the crazed Internet sleuths that have obsessed about Syed’s and Avery’s cases.

Jurors were sternly warned by Smithson to constrain their thoughts and deliberations to assessing the evidence presented over the four-week trial, which included testimony from 17 witnesses.

“Fanciful hypothecations play no role” Smithson told jurors of their deliberations. “Keep it real. This is the real world.”

Carlo said she believes the “alternative theories” note was telling.

“If you have an alternative theory, to me that means you don’t think the state proved its case,” she said.

Christopher Campbell, Tucker’s attorney, said he didn’t know what to make of the note — one of the “millions of questions jurors have had” over the last four days.

Hykeem Tucker

Some of the confusion may stem from the mountains of evidence prosecutors put before jurors.

The judge criticized assistant prosecutors James Scott and Heather Hadley for not putting on evidence that linked Skillman or Tucker to Batie’s murder.

Scott defended the practice, saying he needed to assure jurors police did a thorough investigation and to tactically guard against defense attorneys arguing the authorities rushed to judgement about their clients.

The case boils down to identity, and whether jurors buy the word of Trenton Police Detective Scott Peterson or want to assess independently whether they believe it is Skillman and Tucker on the tapes.

Peterson was unequivocal when he took the stand, telling jurors he identified Skillman as the shooter and Tucker as his accomplice after reviewing more than 30 hours of footage downloaded from the banquet hall’s surveillance system.

Peterson referred to Skillman and Tucker, respectively, as “Tall Guy” and “Varsity Jacket” throughout the trial, referring to their height and clothing.

Defense attorneys contend that police misidentified their clients as the killers, and put on a third-party guilt defense blaming an alleged Bloods gang member, Shaquel Rock, or his associates, for killing Batie.

Rock threatened to shoot up the banquet hall after he was denied entrance the club earlier in the night.

Defense attorneys also pointed to a varsity jacket and gray and blue hooded sweatshirts that were found by investigators inside a champagne-colored vehicle belonging to Rock’s cousin, Edgar Williams.

Peterson testified he eliminated Rock as a suspect because he didn’t fit a physical description of the shooter. Rock was shorter and wore a white sweater whereas the shooter was described as taller and wearing a dark-colored sweater.

The jury resumes deliberations Friday.

Virgil Howard

A Willingboro man released from jail three months ago was arrested Monday and charged in connection with the shooting death of 52-year-old Elliot Simon Jr.

Virgil Howard, 26, was arrested in a motel room in Bristol, Pa., by members of the U.S. Marshals Service. He is charged with murder, felony murder, robbery and related weapons offenses in connection with Simon’s death.

Simon was shot twice in the chest April 8, during what investigators believe to be a robbery gone awry. Police found Simon lying in the middle of the road in the 100 block of Boudinot Street, and he later died at the hospital.

Elliot Simon Jr. (contributed photo)

Simon was married to the late Tia Green, whose 19-year-old daughter Tiara Green was killed in a June 2013 shooting on West State Street.

State records show that Howard was released from the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility in January this year after serving time for drug offenses.

Howard’s bail was set at $1 million cash only.

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.

Defense attorney Edward Heyburn sounded like famed attorney Johnnie Cochran, interjecting race into the retrial of former Newark gang member Shaheed Brown.

By the end of the first day of jury selection Monday, Heyburn had already pulled out the race card, lamenting that too few African Americans are in the jury pool.

Heyburn has not hidden his desire for the jury to be representative of his client, who is black.

Of the roughly 100 people who showed up for jury selection, 52 were told to return Tuesday. Only a handful are black, Heyburn said.

Some prospective jurors were dismissed because of financial and medical hardships. Some said they were reluctant to sit on a murder trial, Heyburn said. And others “thought my client was guilty even though all they heard was a brief statement from the judge about the case and saw he was black,” Heyburn said.

The defense attorney also took aim at Joseph Itri, the lead state police detective who testified at the last trial. He said he hopes the judge does not allow Itri to testify that sagging pants Brown wore signified he was armed with a handgun when he was outside of crime-ridden La Guira Bar in the early-morning hours of July 12, 2014.

That’s the night, prosecutors said, Brown gunned down Enrico Smalley Jr.

Heyburn called Itri’s testimony at the last trial a “racist argument because a significant amount of young African American males wear a hip hop style. It’s a backdoor way of targeting black people as suspects for having guns.”

Besides the outcome, that is one way Heyburn hopes his client’s second trial is different.

Opening arguments could be as early as Wednesday, and Brown is confident a jury will find him not guilty of murder after the last panel remained deadlocked in October.

“He feels better about the second trial,” Heyburn said. “There are a lot of things the prosecutor snuck in that we are prepared for now.”

Prosecutors argued at the first trial that Brown was out for revenge after he got into an earlier dustup with some of Smalley’s friends.

Brown maintained his innocence. Heyburn put on a third-party guilty defense implicating another man, Alvie “King” Vereen, for Smalley’s murder

The jury was unable to come to a verdict, vexing Smalley’s family members and Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley, who barely hid his disgust.

“They didn’t see the same trial I did because if they did he would be convicted right now,” he said at the time. “I cannot understand how they reached any other conclusion.”

That was one of several tense moments in an emotionally taut trial.

One of Brown’s relatives got into a tiff with Heyburn in the restrooms. Judge Andrew Smithson also blasted a newspaper reporter for printing a story about a juror who had overheard Heyburn discussing a possible “conspiracy” with Brown’s family.

The juror’s name became public after the judge did not seal the recording of the conversation, which was held behind closed doors.

Juror selection reconvenes Tuesday morning.

Ciony Kirkman (contributed photo)

The teenage girl who was shot in the head over the weekend while in a minivan on Jersey Street was declared legally dead Tuesday night.

Ciony Kirkman, 16, was declared legally dead at Capital Health Regional Medical Center around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Kirkman was inside a stolen minivan with a group of other kids when the vehicle was ambushed by gunfire on Jersey Street around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

Several sources told The Trentonian that residents of Jersey Street were warned the street was “going to be lit up like a firecracker” minutes prior to the shooting.

Police say Kirkman was in a Ford Windstar with five or six other juveniles when someone fired gunshots at the vehicle. At least one bullet traveled through the minivan’s rear windshield. After it was hit, the vehicle traveled to the intersection of Beatty Street and South Clinton Avenue and police were dispatched to the area.

Several of Kirkman's friends and family members visited the hospital after the incident, hopeful that she would recover from her injuries. Many of them also posted messages to social media wishing Kirkman a speedy recovery. Those messages of optimism turned to sorrow after the news of her death spread throughout the community.

"Ciony didn't deserve this," Jessica Torres wrote in a message to The Trentonian. "She was like a sister to me. We've known each other since kindergarten. She loved to dance; she was always dancing and smiling."

Ciony Kirkman's friends posted get well soon messages on social media after hearing she was shot. (Facebook photo)

Her classmates said Kirkman was a student at Daylight/Twilight Alternative High School, and that she was involved in dance and cheerleading. They described her as "a good person."

By all accounts, Kirkman was an innocent bystander caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sources believe the target of the shooting was in the minivan with Kirkman and several other kids.

The shooting sparked an outcry from community leaders who held a stop-the-violence rally in Trenton's South Ward Tuesday night to begin a movement aimed at preventing gun violence in the capital city.

Kirkman is the fifth person to be killed in Trenton this year.

Police have not released a suspect description, nor a motive for the shooting.

At a Stop the Violence rally in Trenton, several people spoke about the need for parents to teach kids respect for themselves and others. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Anyone with information about the incident 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.

"Your honor, please thank and excuse juror …”

No. 10 was the “hot seat” on the third day of jury selection in former Newark gang member Shaheed Brown’s second murder trial. Virtually anyone who sat in it Wednesday was a goner.

Defendent Shaheed Brown listens to trial testimony. (Gregg Slaboda - Trentonian)

There was the AMC movie theater manager who said there was “nothing special about me.” The attorney for pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Meyers Squibb with the ex-husband who is a law professor at Howard. She was sent packing by Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley.

Another gunshy man couldn’t keep his voice up. It was a telltale sign for Judge Andrew Smithson that he was nervous and wasn’t a fit for a jury tasked with deciding whether former Brown gunned down Enrico Smalley Jr. outside of crime-ridden La Guira Bar in July 2014.

A young black woman, a student at Temple University in Philadelphia, was asked if she felt she would make a good juror. She candidly shook her head. The judge asked why.

She said she believed she would have trouble paying attention to evidence presented at trial.

One prospective juror, sitting in the gallery, remarked in a scornful tone, “She goes to Temple?”

It was the judicial version of Facebook, gossipy and high school-esque in all of its protracted glory as each prospective juror poured out their heart and beliefs for the attorneys and others to judge during an exhaustive – and exhausting – day of whittling down the field.

Jurors were asked about their tastes in books, music and television to questions about their personal lives and what bumper stickers are on their cars.

“I’d like you more if you were a dog,” one prospective female juror said about one plastered on the refrigerator in her kitchen.

Some answers were comical and piercing, particularly one from the ex-wife of a Ewing cop who didn’t hide her disdain for her former lover.

Smithson asked the woman about her views on law enforcement officials and if being married to one made her partial to cops.

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.

“Are we talking about him or his views,” the woman responded, drawing laughs from those packed into the courtroom for the cattle call that is jury selection.

Despite the sensitive inquisitions, the mood inside the courtroom remained jocular due to chatter-box Smithson.

He cracked jokes, waxed poetic about his legal career and talked auto shop with one prospective juror, wanting to know more about how the man came to own a classic 1957 Chevy Bel Air.

Polarizing as he is to attorneys and reporters, prospective jurors connected with the old retired judge, who just a day before was drawing heat from the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey for his decision to shut the press and public out of his courtroom for a private discussion with attorneys.

The closed-door meeting was prompted after defense attorney Edward Heyburn accused state police detective Joseph Itri of offering racist testimony at Brown’s first trial.

The cop testified that sagging pants on the streets were a pretty good indication if someone was armed with a handgun.

Prospective jurors were queried about how likely they were to believe the testimony of a police officer over a lay person.

Shaheed Brown

Most people – even those with family members and friends in law enforcement – were unanimous the badge would not have any undue influence over them.

One woman said she viewed law enforcement officers as unimpeachable beacons of morality whom she respects.

She tried saving herself from getting the boot by adding, “if it was my child on trial, I would want him to get a fair trial.”

But it was of little use.

Heyburn asked the judge to excuse her, guaranteeing at least one more day of this tedious process.

Former Newark gang member Shaheed Brown poured his attorney a cup of water.

Defendant Shaheed Brown listens to trial testimony. (Gregg Slaboda - Trentonian)

Harried defense attorney Edward Heyburn needed it after giving a long-winded and disjointed opening statement Thursday, in his client’s second trial for allegedly gunning down Enrico Smalley Jr. outside of La Guira Bar on July 12, 2014.

Both attorneys’ opening remarks to jurors were restrained, devoid of some of the more explosive material highlighted at the first trial and later in the day when a judge cited a reporter’s social media rumblings to deny allowing Brown to be freed on bail while his trial plays out.

This happened after Brown complained about how his case has been handled by Judge Andrew Smithson. There was never a dull moment in the highest-profile trial in Mercer County, which opened on a day when prosecutors secured convictions in an aggravated assault and robbery cases.

Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley’s opening in the murder trial was pointed, though not poignant, as he laid out the last minutes of Smalley’s life, when he was captured by video surveillance walking down the sidewalk with the man accused of pulling the trigger.

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.

“There was no struggle,” McCauley said. “There was only death, only murder.”
One of the two witnesses called to the stand discussed the gruesome scene outside the bar.

Sgt. Steve Wilson, a 22-year veteran of Trenton Police known to city residents by the nickname “Indian” for his mocha complexion, said he was pulling out of the parking lot at police headquarters two blocks away when the call went out for shots fired.

He raced to the scene as “pandemonium” unfolded. People scurried from the streets. A group of people, including some of Smalley’s friends, had circled around him.

Smalley was shot several times and was on his back on the blood-splattered sidewalk.

Wilson said the Ewing man’s friends begged him for assistance.

“‘Indian,’ they s said, “save him. He’s my friend. Save him.”

Wilson checked Smalley for a pulse, noticed he was still breathing and talked to him. He attempted to call for an ambulance but the dispatcher initially couldn’t hear over the piercing screams. Smalley’s friends quieted the frenzied crowd.

Smalley died at the hospital, his clothes collected by a crime scene detective who also testified.
She photographed and collected evidence from outside the bar, which included bullet fragments and 9 mm shell casings.

No fingerprints were found on the shell casings. A murder weapon was never recovered.

Heyburn’s task was as difficult as investigators who arrived outside the chaotic bar.

Shaheed Brown

He tried to reconstruct the murder scene using a stodgy diagram, hoping to give the jury “a road map” of where witnesses and others were at the time of the shooting.

He hoped to show jurors Brown not only “wasn’t the shooter, but couldn’t have been the shooter.”

Heyburn’s road map was littered with distracting detours and roadblocks.

Heyburn mentioned a random man on the street known as “Juice” whose apparent role in the case is he was part of “an escort or block” that included Rasean Sutphin.

Surveillance video that will be played at trial will show the men walked in front of Brown and Smalley moments before the shooting.

The defense attorney kept getting interrupted by Smithson and McCauley.

The judge told Heyburn he veered off course in what was supposed to be a recitation of facts that will come out at trial.

“This is sounding very much like final arguments,” Smithson said.

McCauley objected several times to Heyburn’s statements.

Heyburn appeared flustered, thanking jurors for remaining attentive throughout his opening.

It was unclear if the 14 jurors – six of whom are African-American – stayed tuned in to the defense attorney.

Heyburn criticized the lead detective in the case and complained prior to trial that too few blacks were in the jury pool, leading the judge to hold a closed-door hearing and issue a gag order barring the attorneys from speaking with the media.

The judge sealed the transcript of the contentious private hearing he had with the attorneys this week.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey criticized Smithson’s decision to lock out the public and the press from the courtroom without holding a hearing.

Heyburn filed an emergency motion Wednesday morning asking the court to use a recording system, rather than a court reporter, for the remainder of trial. The court reporter was absent from Thursday’s proceedings.

Heyburn was concerned the judge used the court reporter so The Trentonian couldn’t access recordings. His concerns were grounded in a spat between Smithson and the newspaper at Brown’s first trial.

Smithson blasted The Trentonian for publishing a story about a juror who overheard Heyburn talking with Brown’s family about a possible “conspiracy.”

The issue was raised at a closed-door hearing in which Smithson also barred the public from the courtroom.

The Trentonian lawfully obtained a recording of the discussion and published the juror’s name, drawing Smithson’s ire. He slammed the newspaper in front of jurors at the end of the first trial, which ended in a hung jury.

Prior to the start of his second trial, Brown turned to the back of the courtroom and said, “I can’t get a fair shake with this judge.”

Brown’s comment haunted him later in the day.

Smithson cited a Trentonian reporter’s tweet about the comment in refusing to change Brown’s bail from $1 million cash.

“If that’s his feeling,” Smithson said, “that’s all the reason more for him to flee this courtroom and this court’s possible justice.”

Brown was upset by Smithson’s ruling over an issue raised about the past testimony of former corrections officer Kenneth Crawford, who made an anonymous call to authorities within a half-hour of the shooting outside of the bar.
Crawford is also expected to testify in this trial.

He gave a suspect description to the dispatcher and relayed what he believed he saw after being startled by the sound of gunshots while he sat inside his vehicle in the early-morning hours

Crawford testified at the first trial last year that he misidentified Enrico Smalley Jr. as the man he believed was shooting outside the bar. He described seeing a dreadlocked man reacting to shots, though he did not see a gun in his hand because his view was obscured by a vehicle parked in front of the bar.

After reading news coverage of the murder, he realized Smalley was the victim not the shooter. Crawford read the statement he gave state police detective Joseph Itri at the first trial.
Prosecutors played a 911 tape of the anonymous phone call Crawford made to police.

On the tape, Crawford said he saw the shooter, describing him as a black man with dreadlocks, standing about 6 feet tall and weighing 180 pounds, and wearing a white T-shirt. He said the shooter and another man fled from the bar toward North Olden Avenue.

The former prison guard’s testimony appeared to contradict what he told the emergency dispatcher. He testified he did not see the shooter’s face.

Heyburn said parts of Crawford’s 911 phone call were “inaccurate” and the jury should be barred from hearing it in at the second trial.

McCauley said the former corrections officer’s phone call was allowed as an “excited utterance,” and exception to hearsay, because he was in a “state of nervousness” when he made the call.

The judge agreed. Heyburn said the judge was “setting up [the trial] for a reversal.”

The trial resumes Monday at 9 a.m.