All day a Mercer County inmate will be dreaming about his lost sneaker.

Prosecutors said at a bail hearing Thursday for suspected killer Seth Bowers, 21, that a left-footed Adidas sneaker ties him to the murder of Zaire Gibbs, a 25-year-old man who was gunned down last week in the city streets.

Authorities found the shoe on the first block of Washington Street on June 1 and matched it to a right-footed Adidas sneaker discovered at Bowers’ Anderson Street home, not far from the scene of the deadly dustup.

Seth Z. Bowers

Bowers turned himself into Trenton Police headquarters on unrelated warrants a day after the shooting. He was charged a day later with Gibbs’ murder.

Prosecutors did not say whether the two men had prior interactions before the murder, in which Bowers is accused of chasing down Gibbs and shooting him in the back.

Assistant Prosecutor Kathleen Petrucci said the bullet entered Gibbs’ shoulder and traveled through his body to his lungs, a mortal blow from which he never recovered. He was pronounced dead at a hospital a day later.

In addition to the shoe, prosecutors said Bowers was identified by four witnesses as the shooter.

Petrucci was asked after the bail hearing whether the two men knew each other prior to the fatal encounter, and she responded the “easiest answer is no.”

Detectives who spoke on condition of anonymity said the men may have argued about drugs.

Bowers was out on $100,000 bail on a robbery charge at the time of the murder.

Bowers was supposed to show up June 2 at criminal court for a hearing in the robbery case. But he never turned up, and a warrant was issued for his arrest by Judge Pedro Jimenez.

Zaire Gibbs

A bail bondsman told the judge his company lost contact with Bowers after posting his bail in February. They tried contacting him and his co-signors by phone and letter but did not receive any response.

Jimenez ordered Bowers held without bail on the robbery charge and maintained bail at $1 million cash in the murder case.

Bowers was found delinquent as a minor of charges of burglary and obstruction, prosecutors said.

Last year, he was arrested after he claimed to be a cop, allegedly pistol-whipped a man with an airsoft gun and stole his wallet, necklace, cash and keys.

Bowers ditched the airsoft gun under a pickup truck during a foot chase with police. He was arrested at gunpoint.

His next court date is set for July 18.

Elaine Batie clutched her son’s former co-worker outside a Mercer County criminal courtroom.

They hugged for what seemed like minutes, swaying back and forth in unison.

Carl Batie

“It’s over,” the woman told Elaine.

Carl Batie, a former Mercer County corrections officer with an infectious personality and generous spirit, was killed in a hail of bullets Nov. 11, 2012 at the Baldassari Regency banquet hall, in what authorities believed  was a chilling and callous gang-related shooting that claimed an unintended victim.

Prosecutors stressed to jurors over two trials they may never know “the why” of the killing, but they could know “the who.”

It took 1,307 days since Batie's death, two trials and two different juries. But two city men were finally found guilty Thursday of killing the off-duty Mercer County corrections officer in 2012, nearly four months after their first trial ended in a hung jury.

Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker were convicted of counts of murder, aggravated assault and weapons offenses around 1:35 p.m. Thursday in Mercer County criminal court.

The verdict broke an inglorious streak for prosecutors of a spate of hung juries and acquittals in murder trials.

Skillman was convicted of opening fire on the packed balcony 22 times, possibly with a TEC-9 that was never recovered, while Tucker was held responsible for being an accomplice by acting as a lookout.

Maurice Skillman

Tucker, known on the streets as “Tex,” arrived with Skillman at the banquet hall.

Ten sheriff officers were brought into the courtroom for the verdict to ensure there were no outbursts.

Batie’s relatives embraced each other after the foreman read the verdict.

Skillman kept his eyes downcast, while Tucker stared straight forward in the court.

Skillman and Tucker face life imprisonment when they are sentenced. A tentative date was set for Aug. 1

Defense attorneys said they plan to ask Judge Andrew Smithson for a new trial and will appeal the convictions.

The guilty verdict paves the way for the start of a civil trial, which was put on hold until the criminal case was resolved.

The Batie family has sued the city, banquet hall and the two men convicted of his murder for Carl’s wrongful death.

“The Batie family continues to grieve the loss of Carl,” said attorney Robin Lord, who represents the family in the civil case. “If, in fact, the jury’s verdict reflects what actually occurred, the family is grateful to put this chapter behind them and move on. Regardless of the verdict, it’s not going to bring Carl back.”

Christopher Campbell, Tucker’s attorney, said he was “shocked” the jury returned so quickly with a verdict following grueling testimony over three weeks, including from Scott Peterson, the Trenton Police detective who testified he identified Tucker because of a distinctive varsity jacket he wore the night of the murder.

Defense attorneys said Peterson’s identification  of their clients as the killers based on grainy surveillance tapes was suspect and an open question.

But the jury felt so secure after deliberating for a maximum of 52 minutes, which didn't take into account the time jurors spent walking back and forth to court from picking up their meals after deciding to work through the lunch break, that it did not ask questions or review surveillance footage a second time.

They handed the judge a single note that relayed they arrived at a decision. Attorneys were informed of the jury’s note around 1:16 p.m., while on the lunch break.

For Elaine Batie, the family bedrock whose bright blouses, crisp pants and immaculately applied lipstick belied her grief during the two trials, it was a triumphant moment steeped in tragedy.

Her steely demeanor was tested through the trials, after a jury couldn’t reach a verdict in February following many hours of rancorous discussions.

This time, a jury of seven men and five women delivered their verdict, less than an hour after they were handed the case, inside a packed courtroom where about 40 people gathered.

It was a stunning turn of events that took defense attorneys by surprise following the hotly contested first trial, which centered on surveillance tapes that showed two men lurking in the parking lot of the banquet hall and later rummaging through a white conversion van minutes before the murder.

The first trial ended in mistrial, when a lone holdout was  unconvinced the two men on the tapes were Skillman and Tucker.

Hykeem Tucker

Assistant Prosecutor James Scott, who tried the case with colleague Heather Hadley, said he was gratified to see the odyssey come to an end.

“The only thing I care about is that the family gets some closure,” Scott said. “I don’t get validation from jury verdicts. The people who matter are the people who are family of Carl Batie. He was a fantastic person. I never had the pleasure of meeting him. But from everything I’ve heard about … has been nothing but great.”

The hung jury in the first trial required both sides to do the case over, forcing Batie’s mother to reopen a wound that never healed.

The death of Carl Batie, a respected corrections officer whose brother followed in his footsteps, tugged at the heartstrings of the community.

Hundreds of corrections officers and supporters attended his funeral at Shiloh Baptist Church.

Batie, affectionately known as Kion, was remembered as a kindred spirit who shelled out his time, money and effort for family and friends.

Four years after graduating from Trenton Central High School in 2003, Batie landed a job as a corrections officer. When he wasn’t working, he traveled, partied, rode ATVs and spent time with his brothers.

He and his brother, Karshawn, were inseparable. Karshawn testified at both trials that they shopped, ate and even went to the bathroom together.

Carl paid the $50 cover charge for he and his brother to get into the banquet hall that night.

Karshawn was about 20 feet away, standing near the door of the deck as his brother made the final rounds at the banquet hall.

Carl noticed a familiar face in the crowd.

It was bouncer Alexis Feliciano, a convicted felon who he came into contact with at the Mercer County Correction Center in Hopewell.

Feliciano spent time there as an inmate but was turning his life around and landed a job working security at the banquet hall.

The men talked about Carl’s dog-breeding business before gunfire sent party-goers running for cover.

Chaos broke out on the streets, fights and people shouting, as an ambulance scrambled to get to Batie dying on the deck, his eye watering and covered in blood.

Maurice Skillman was caught up in the crowd and arrested for fighting that night. No gun was found on him, and defense attorneys suggested he wore different clothing than the left-handed shooter.

Defense attorneys pointed to two other individuals, alleged Bloods gang member Shaquel Rock and Edward Acosta, a city man whose DNA turned up on a hat on one of the surrounding streets, as the possible killers.

Rock threatened to shoot up the banquet hall and kill a Trenton cop who worked security that night. He was charged with making terroristic threats.

Rock was questioned, but never charged in connection with Batie’s slaying, despite failing a lie-detector test and providing law enforcement with a phony alibi.

Acosta was an easy target for defense attorneys. He is a notorious figure in Trenton who was convicted, and is serving six years, for shooting a city man in the face in 2013.

Nicole Carlo, Skillman’s attorney, said her client was an innocent man who was wrongfully accused by a police detective looking to close one of Trenton’s numerous murder cases.

Campbell, Tucker’s attorney, told jurors in closings they could not rely on the grainy surveillance tapes to convict the men.

In the end, jurors debated the case less than everyone connected to it in Mercer County.

Scott credited the work of Peterson, the lead detective in the case, with making jurors’ decision easier.

They shook hands and hugged after people filtered out of the courtroom.

“Every jury’s different,” Scott said. “We believed we had a very powerful case. The surveillance video was very clear. … I told the family I was going to stay with this case. I was there at the Baldassari the night Carl was killed. Scott Peterson did a fantastic job in this investigation. I was proud after the first trial and I’m proud after this trial.”

Better Call Saul.

The suspected gunman in the oldest Mercer County has attorney problems, as yet another one ducked out of his homicide case.

Danuweli Keller was dealt another blow Friday, when his new attorney, Thomas Verrastro, asked a judge to be let out of the case, which is scheduled for trial in September.

Judge Robert Billmeier reluctantly allowed Verrastro to withdraw.

“I consider this the eve of trial,” Billmeier said, even though the trial is about three months out.

He indicated he would not put the trial on hold.

”Some attorney is going to have to come up to speed very quickly,” Billmeier said.

He gave Keller a week to retain a private attorney or else he will be represented by a public defender in Mercer County.

Verrastro explained he was only partially paid by Keller’s family after they struck up a retainer agreement.

Verrastro took over the case for Keller’s old attorney, Richie Roberts, the famed “American Gangster” attorney who has been suspended from practicing law in New Jersey.

Verrastro made his first appearance in the case in March.

But he explained Friday he could no longer represent Keller, who is one of three men being tried together for the murder of Dardar Paye, an Army veteran and Liberian immigrant.

Paye was fatally shot inside the basement of a Monmouth Street home on Jan. 16, 2011 in Trenton.

His body was placed in garbage bags and stuffed in the trunk of a Buick, which one of the suspects drove while attempting to dispose of the body.

It has been five years since five men were arrested and charged for their alleged roles in the 2011 execution-style murder.

Phobus Sullivan, Mack Edwards and Danuweli Keller are being tried together, while Williams Brown and Abdutawab Kiazolu will be tried separately.

Police are investigating a murder at Prospect Village in Trenton Saturday afternoon. (Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman -- The Trentonian)

A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed Saturday afternoon at Prospect Village, police said.

Police responded to a report of a shooting in progress about 3:45 p.m.Saturday and located the teenager who had been struck at least once by gunfire, according to Trenton Police Lt. Stephen Varn.

The victim was rushed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries shortly thereafter, police said.

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force was investigating this latest slaying in Trenton. No arrests have been announced and the identity of the victim was not released as of Saturday evening.

Prospect Village is a Trenton Housing Authority project on the 100 block of Prospect Street.

Two men suspected of killing 23-year-old Daquan Dowling during a 2012 drive-by shooting that led to the closure of Route 29 are expected to go on trial later this year.

William Mitchell and Andre Romero are being tried together for the murder of Dowling, who was killed instantly after he was struck in the head by a bullet fired by the alleged shooters.

Two other men who were charged in the highway slaying, Anthony Marks and Jamar Square, accepted plea bargains to lesser charges.

They are still awaiting sentencing, according to court records, and likely won’t be sentenced until after Mitchell and Romero’s trial is over.

Square pleaded guilty for his role, which prosecutors say was supplying a .45-caliber handgun and a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver.

Marks pleaded guilty last year to two weapons counts and is expected to be sent to prison for a decade under terms of a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors. He admitted he was driving a stolen vehicle during the drive-by shooting.

Murder charges are being dismissed as part of the plea bargain.

It was not clear when Marks pleaded guilty whether his deal required him to testify at Mitchell and Romero’s trial.

Christopher Campbell, Mitchell’s attorney, said after Monday’s pretrial hearing that Marks is expected to participate in the trial. But it is unclear exactly what he will testify to and whether he will point the finger at the two men for opening fire on Dowling’s car shot Jan. 30, 2012, when gunfire erupted near the Statehouse resulting in the closure of Route 29 for several hours.

Jury selection is expected to start Sept. 30 before Judge Anthony Massi, who is presiding over the trial after it was transferred to him by Judge Robert Billmeier.

The judges are trying to fast-track some of Mercer County’s older murder trials in anticipation of bail reform, which kicks in the start of next year.

Officials are worried about how the new law, which will enable low-level offenders to be free rather than imprisoned while waiting for trial, will impact others charged with more serious crimes.

The law is intended to expedite trials for defendants charged Jan. 1, 2017, calling for them to be tried within six months after they are indicted.

But court officials are worried about how that will impact those who were incarcerated prior to the new law, which effectively will send those defendants to the back of the line as prosecutors worry about meeting deadlines for new defendants.

Carlos Leiva-Oviedo and his girlfriend Lesvia Liliana Caballero (submitted photo)

A man from Honduras who has lived in the capital city for about two years was stabbed to death Tuesday morning, becoming the city’s eleventh homicide victim this year.

Carlos Leiva-Oviedo, 27, was stabbed around 3 a.m. Tuesday near the intersection of Hudson and Genesee streets. When police arrived, they found him lying in the street near his car, which was parked on Hudson, suffering from several stab wounds.

Carlos was rushed to the hospital where he died about four hours later.

According to his friends, Carlos moved to Trenton about two years ago to earn money for his family, most of whom still live in Honduras. He was employed as a roofer and also found work repairing and installing aluminum siding.

Carlos was a first-born child and has six siblings and a four-year-old daughter, who all live in Honduras with his mother and father. He sent them money on a weekly basis, his friends said. And a woman who works at an international money transfer service at the corner of Hudson and Genesee confirmed that Carlos wired money to Honduras on a regular basis.

“He called his daughter every week,” his girlfriend Lesvia Liliana Caballero said. “He was a very responsible person. He worked a lot and he paid for his daughter’s life. He sent her money every week.”

His friends gathered outside Carlos’ Genesee Street home Tuesday afternoon and described him as a person who “never messed with anyone” and had a “good friendship with everyone.”

Friends of Carlos Leiva-Oviedo console his girlfriend after learning about his murder Tuesday. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

“I can’t believe it,” 21-year-old Greisy Lopez, who grew up with Carlos and often attended church with him in Honduras said. “He came here looking for a better life. How did this happen to my friend?”

His friends said no one in the neighborhood has any clue as to why Carlos was outside at 3 a.m. They described the neighborhood as a “quiet” place where violent encounters often occur.

Judy Platt, 52, who described Carlos as her best friend, said she last spoke with him around 3 p.m. Monday while they were cleaning the window of his car. She said he told her he’d “be right back,” but the two never spoke to each other again.

“He was very nice and a very quiet guy,” Platt said as she tried to suppress tears. “He loved watching and playing soccer.”

Carlos’ friends said they plan to send his body back to Honduras for burial, but they’re worried about not having money to do so. They plan to speak with churches and local organizations that may be able to provide funds to transfer his body.

After receiving word about the killing, Councilman George Muschal, who represents the South Ward where the fatal stabbing occurred, said "there's no way of preventing these murders."

Carlos Leiva-Oviedo

"The cops are doing the best they can," Muschal, a retired city police officer who served 40 years on the force, said. "There's no way of preventing a stabbing like that. Everybody hollers about guns. But this was a knife. You just can't stop all crime. If someone’s going to kill a person, they’ll find a way to do it.”

With summer weather upon us, Muschal warns residents to "be prepared."

"It's going to be a hot summer and it's going to be a long summer," the councilman said. "The police are doing the best they can with the manpower they have."

No arrests have been made in connection with Carlos’ death. As of press time, police have not released a suspect description, nor have they released a motive for the murder.

Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-989-6406, or contact the Trenton Police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663. Individuals may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

— Trentonian staff writer David Foster contributed to this report

A Jamaican man suspected of gunning a 47-year-old city man in 2013 has rejected prosecutors’ plea offers and is expected to be tried later this year.

Judge Pedro Jimenez set Robert Byers’ murder trial down for Oct. 3 of this year. He is accused of fatally shooting construction worker and DJ Devon Hewitt in 2013, then fleeing to Florida where he was arrested by U.S. Marshals.

Byers, of Mott Street, was nabbed in Miami and brought back to New Jersey, where he was indicted on first-degree murder and weapons charges.

He is being tried by Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Kimm Lacken.

The judge will hear pretrial evidentiary motions Sept. 16, less than a month before the start of trial.

Byers is accused of going to a house on Phillips Avenue where Hewitt, a 47-year-old Jamaican and popular disc jockey, partied with a friend the afternoon of Nov. 21, 2013.

Cops responded to shots fired and found the father of two dead. According to published reports, the men argued over a game of cards or dominoes.

Last year, prosecutors floated Byers an offer that would have required him to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter and spend 25 years in prison, according to published reports.

Byers has been held at the Mercer jail on $1 million bail.

Byers is a native of Jamaica and is in America on an expired work visa.

Akee Harris

A city man has been indicted in connection with the fatal stabbing of 22-year-old Edwin Saddler.

Akee Harris, 27, was indicted on murder and related weapons charges in connection with Saddler’s death, which happened on June 23, 2015, in the first block of Ellsworth Avenue.

Prosecutors believe Harris and Saddler were involved in a physical altercation, during which Harris stabbed Saddler numerous times. Prosecutors say Harris was treated at a hospital in Hopewell after suffering a laceration to his hand during the altercation with Saddler.

Harris was arrested at a relative’s house in the capital city a few days after the stabbing. He is free on $250,000 bail.

At a bail hearing last year, Harris’ attorney said his client was unarmed and acted in self-defense when he was jumped by three men who were reportedly waiting for him when he pulled up with his girlfriend to his city residence on Ellsworth Avenue. The attorney said the knife used to fatally stab Saddler was “introduced by the other party.”

Authorities are searching for two men they say are connected to the murder of a Honduran man who was stabbed to death this month.

Authorities are seeking two men connected to a stabbing death in Trenton.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office released a grainy photo Wednesday of two men walking near the area where 27-year-old Carlos Leiva-Oviedo was stabbed to death in the early-morning hours of June 14.

Police responded to the intersection of Hudson and Genesee streets and found Leiva-Oviedo sprawled out on the in the street near his car, which was parked on Hudson. He suffered multiple stab wounds and was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he died four hours later.

Authorities did not elaborate about whether the two men are considered suspects or persons of interest. No arrests have been made and no one has been charged with the slaying of Oviedo, who became the 11th murder victim of the year.

The men, both slim, appear with each other on the sidewalk. Authorities did not reveal where the surveillance still was taken.

One of the men has a medium complexion, dark bushy hair and scraggly facial hair. He wore a blue and black jacket, camouflage pants and appeared to be wear gloves or had his hands tucked into the jacket.

The second male, possibly white or Hispanic, wore a gray sweatshirt, sleeves rolled up at the elbows, dark shorts and a bandana on his head. He appeared to carry something in his right arm.

It is unclear how the men are connected to the death of Leiva-Oviedo, who moved to Trenton about two years ago to earn money for his family, most of whom still live in Honduras. Leiva-Oviedo worked as a roofer and installed aluminum siding.

He left behind a 4-year-old daughter, whom he sent money to in Honduras, his friends said.

“He called his daughter every week,” his girlfriend Lesvia Liliana Caballero said. “He was a very responsible person. He worked a lot and he paid for his daughter’s life. He sent her money every week.”

Councilman George Muschal, who represents the South Ward, said after the stabbing that he didn’t expect the tide of violence to stem in the summer months.

“It’s going to be a hot summer, and it’s going to be a long summer,” he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-989-6406, the Trenton police confidential tip line at 609-989-3663 or Detective Roberto Reyes at 609-256-0997. The Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line is 609-278-8477 or text a tips labeled TCSTIPS can be sent to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

The two men who beat Julio Cesar Cruz Cruz to death in February 2014 during a robbery wore a green jacket and a black jacket, witnesses told police.

A detective said the witnesses were partially right.

The clothing was a critical point of contention at a pretrial hearing Wednesday for Michael Holman, one of the men who was arrested and charged with Cruz’s murder.

Dante Martin is also charged for his role in the fatal beating. The men have rejected plea offers from prosecutors and may go to trial.

Michael Holman

Holman’s attorney, Jack Furlong, has challenged on several constitutional grounds whether a statement his client gave police is admissible at trial.

Prosecutors said Holman’s own words, admitting he was in the area of the murder, are incriminating and they want jurors to hear that at trial.

A judge listened to testimony most of Wednesday but has not ruled on the matter and will issue a written decision in the future.

Carhartt jacket

Jason Snyder, a detective with the Mercer County Homicide Task Force, testified that the face of a man who resembled Holman was captured “pretty good” on surveillance purchasing Newport cigarettes at Fernandez Supermarket on Whittaker Avenue about 30 minutes before the murder on Rusling Street, which is blocks away from the grocery mart.

He said the man depicted in the tape is Holman, wearing a tan Carhartt jacket, blue jeans with distinctive stitching on the back left pocket and tan Timberland boots.

That is the man the detective identified and traced using a patchwork of surveillance tapes as the individual who ran away from Rusling Street after the murder.

“We have a face but we don’t have a name,” Snyder said.

Snyder said he saw a man wearing the same clothing walking through Chambersburg about two weeks later.

The detective’s testimony contradicted the description Cruz’s housemates gave of the suspects.

The housemates said they saw the men beat Cruz, and chased them through the city streets.

The suspects broke off in opposite direction while fleeing.

The four witnesses were interviewed by police and each said the suspects wore green and black jackets.

“If wearing a Carhartt jacket is a crime there’s an awful lot of felons walking around Trenton,” Furlong said.

Snyder grew frustrated under cross examination and didn’t explain the discrepancy or himself well at certain points.

He had Furlong bearing down on him about whether he had probable cause to arrest Holman and charge him with murder.

Initial suspects

Cruz returned home around 6:40 p.m. Feb. 15, 2014, when he was jumped, beaten and robbed, prosecutors said, in a murder that outraged the Latino community in Trenton.

Snyder received a call from an anonymous woman who passed along information about someone nicknamed B.I. – Borne Intelligence – who robbed crackheads, prostitutes and Guatemalans in Chambersburg.

Police gathered surveillance from nearby businesses and used the footage to try to identify suspects and track people who were in the neighborhood at the time of the murder.

Before arresting and charging two men, police identified suspects other than Holman and Martin early in the investigation.

The initial suspects’ names were mentioned in court, but The Trentonian is withholding them because they were never charged with Cruz’s murder.

Witnesses identified the men after scouring through mug shot books containing 2,000 photos.

Snyder wrote in his report that one of the men “bore a striking resemblance” to the man on the supermarket video.

The man who was picked out was not Holman.

“You recognize identification is a chancy business,” Furlong said.

The detective agreed.

Dante Martin

Snyder said he went looking for one of the initial suspects at a warehouse in Piscataway, where the man worked.

While there, he noticed employees in Carthartt jackets and tan work boots.

Snyder frisked, handcuffed, transported the man to a police station. He had the man’s truck towed for safe-keeping, he said, to preserve evidence. Snyder later interrogated the man.

He didn’t stop interrogating him after the suspect told him he was tired of talking.

Snyder also interrogated a second man who was a suspect.

The suspect was represented by Arun Levine and asked to have her present for the interrogation.

Coincidentally, that turned out to be the same defense attorney who would represent Martin.

Snyder admitted he started the interview before Levine arrived.

“Why are you interviewing him without his lawyer?” Furlong asked.

The detective said the suspect waived his Miranda rights before Levine got there.

“He didn’t mind talking to us, but he didn’t want to be fingerprinted,” Snyder said.

The men were cleared.

“We were back to square one,” Snyder said.

‘I was 100 percent’

Snyner and another detective went to delis in Chambersburg with suspect photos.

About two weeks after the murder, Snyder and a partner patrolled Chambersburg and spotted Holman wearing the exact same clothes as the man in the grocery mart.

Snyder said the face and clothing of the man from the supermarket was burned into his memory after watching the surveillance about 200 to 300 times over two weeks. He said he immediately recognized him as Holman on the street.

“I saw his face, and he looked exactly like who I had been looking at,” Snyder said. “I was 100 percent positive.”

If that was the case, Furlong wanted to know why the detective originally thought the initial suspect he interrogated was the man from the grocery mart.

“We don’t just arrest people based off looks,” Snyder said.

“Isn’t that what you did with Michael Holman?” Furlong said.

Interrogations

Holman was interrogated twice on Feb. 26, 2014, the first time around 9:30 p.m. after he waived his Miranda rights.

Snyder told Holman he had information that he was involved with an “accident” in Chambersburg.

Furlong told the detective he lied to his client because he knew what happened to Cruz wasn’t an accident.

“I didn’t lie to him,” Snyder said. “He may have been able to provide an explanation. Maybe it wasn’t murder. I don’t want to be like, ‘You murdered him.’ It could have been accident. It could have been murder. It could have been something fell outside of the sky and [Holman] was standing there.”

Julio Cesar-Cruz

The interview ended when Holman told detectives he was on juvenile probation, had an ankle bracelet that monitored his whereabouts and asked police to verify that with his probation officer and attorney.

“My curfew is 7,” Holman said. “I’m usually home or with my daughter. I don’t really get into nothing.”

After the first interview ended, Snyder met with supervisors to decide whether to charge Holman.

A crime scene detective was called in to collect Holman’s clothes.

What happened next is in question.

Detective Sgt. Christopher Doyle emerged from the interview room and told Snyder that Holman asked to speak a second time.

The exchange between Doyle and Holman was not caught on tape, which is why Furlong has challenged whether the second statement was voluntary.

During the second interview, Holman admitted being near the murder scene, prosecutors said.

The hearing resumes in August.

TRENTON >> Following the release of a photograph last week, authorities are still searching for two men they say are connected to the murder of a Honduran man who was stabbed to death last month.

Authorities are seeking two men connected to a stabbing death in Trenton.

In another attempt to identify the men, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office released an 8-second video Friday of two men walking near the area where 27-year-old Carlos Leiva-Oviedo was stabbed to death in the early-morning hours of June 14. Last week, prosecutors released a grainy still photo of the men.

Police responded to the intersection of Hudson and Genesee streets and found Leiva-Oviedo sprawled out on the in the street near his car, which was parked on Hudson. He suffered multiple stab wounds and was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he died four hours later.

Authorities did not elaborate about whether the two men are considered suspects or persons of interest. No arrests have been made and no one has been charged with the slaying of Oviedo, who became the 11th murder victim of the year.

The men, both slim, appear with each other as they walk on the sidewalk. Authorities did not reveal where the surveillance still was taken.

One of the men has a medium complexion, dark bushy hair and scraggly facial hair. He wore a blue and black jacket, camouflage pants and appeared to be wear gloves or had his hands tucked into the jacket.

The second male, possibly white or Hispanic, wore a gray sweatshirt, sleeves rolled up at the elbows, dark shorts and a bandana on his head. He appeared to carry something in his right arm.

It is unclear how the men are connected to the death of Leiva-Oviedo, who moved to Trenton about two years ago to earn money for his family, most of whom still live in Honduras. Leiva-Oviedo worked as a roofer and installed aluminum siding.

He left behind a 4-year-old daughter, whom he sent money to in Honduras, his friends said.

“He called his daughter every week,” his girlfriend Lesvia Liliana Caballero said. “He was a very responsible person. He worked a lot and he paid for his daughter’s life. He sent her money every week.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-989-6406, the Trenton police confidential tip line at 609-989-3663 or Detective Roberto Reyes at 609-256-0997. The Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line is 609-278-8477 or text a tips labeled TCSTIPS can be sent to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

Carlos Leiva-Oviedo

The public helped identify a suspect wanted for murder, prosecutors announced Friday.

A 15-year-old from Newark was arrested Thursday night for the stabbing death of 27-year-old Carlos Leiva-Oviedo last month.

The last two weeks, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office released a still image and video of two men wanted in connection with the murder. Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said Friday in a statement that the duo was identified by the public.

“This is a case that would not have been solved without all of the pieces: methodical, perseverant police work, help from the media, and the public doing their part by contacting the authorities with information,” Onofri said. “When we work together, justice is served.”

At approximately 3 a.m. on June 14, police responded to the intersection of Hudson and Genesee streets and found Leiva-Oviedo sprawled out on the in the street near his car, which was parked on Hudson. He suffered multiple stab wounds and was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he died four hours later.

Police arrested the 15-year-old, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, Thursday night at a relative’s house in Newark by members of the Mercer County Homicide Task Force, prosecutors said. He is charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon. The juvenile was sent to the Middlesex County Youth Detention Center.

the investigation was led by Detective Roberto Reyes and the Mercer County Homicide Task Force.

Leiva-Oviedo, a Honduran, moved to Trenton about two years ago to earn money for his family, most of whom still live in Honduras. Leiva-Oviedo, who became the city’s eleventh murder victim, worked as a roofer and installed aluminum siding.

He left behind a 4-year-old daughter, whom he sent money to in Honduras, his friends previously said.

“He called his daughter every week,” his girlfriend Lesvia Liliana Caballero previously told The Trentonian. “He was a very responsible person. He worked a lot and he paid for his daughter’s life. He sent her money every week.”

The Mercer County Narcotics Task Force, the Newark Police Department and the Essex County Homicide Task Force assisted in the arrest, Onofri said.

Alton Jones, the half-brother of the notorious Skillman twins, admitted fatally shooting two teenagers three days apart in accepting a plea that calls for him to spend 38 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Jones must serve 19 years each for the deaths of Rayshawn Ransom and Tierra Green, for a total of 38 years, Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Katz said.

Ransom was gunned down during a deadly, gang-related shootout that led to convictions of two other Trenton men. Green was shot and killed June 15.

Alton Jones

In pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated manslaughter, Jones had a stunning change of heart after he had rejected a previous offer of 40 years.

Andrew Duclair, Jones’ attorney, did not return a phone call Monday afternoon requesting comment about the deal.

Jones appeared intent to take the murder cases to trial, and a judge earlier this year ruled that prosecutors could try him together for both slayings.

The trial was set to start in September.

Jones' guilty plea comes about a month after his half-brother, Maurice Skillman, and a second man, Hykeem Tucker, were convicted at a second trial of killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie.

Jones was initially charged along with half-brother Marquis Skillman, and Dyquise Leonard, following Ransom's death.

The other two men pleaded guilty for their roles.

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, 19,  was struck and killed while his friends were  wounded in the shootout.

Investigators 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 fled to New Haven, Conn., where he was arrested following a police standoff.

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

Marquis Skillman was expected to receive 11 years  for robbery and was awaiting sentencing when he was arrested again this year, possibly jeopardizing his plea agreement.

The parents of murder victim James Austin share the same birthday – July 13.

They will be in a courtroom that day, when a city man goes on trial for his role in the February 2013 death of their 18-year-old son.

“It’s like an early birthday present,” said Luddie Austin, James’ father and a retired Trenton cop.

Luddie, who turns 47 on Wednesday, and Austin’s mother, Yvonne, have waited more than three years for Raheem Currie to have his day in court.

Raheem Currie

Jury selection begins Tuesday, after Currie rejected prosecutors’ final plea offer of 10 years for acting as an accomplice to Robert Bartley.

Bartley admitted fatally shooting James Austin following a dispute between Currie and Austin. It escalated after the men smashed each other’s windshields, prosecutors said.

Bartley has accepted a 25-year plea offer for aggravated manslaughter and will testify against Currie.

Currie is accused of calling Bartley and driving him over to James Austin’s home to settle the “ongoing beef.”

Luddie Austin, who is known for his appearances on the A&E reality show "Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force," was present in court for a final hearing Monday before Judge Pedro Jimenez, prior to the start of trial.

While the former Trenton cop expects the trial will be emotionally taxing, he and other family members will attend it for the duration.

“We have to relive this tragic event that had a negative effect on our family,” he said. “We’re looking at it as a blessing in disguise because we have been asking for justice for our son since this happened.”

After a life of public service , Luddie Austin has said his faith in the judicial system waivered as he came to grips with his son’s death. He remained resolute because of the support from the community and family members.

“Things like that have helped keep my head above water,” he said.

Still nothing can bring back James Austin, who was gunned down shortly after his 18th birthday. He left behind twin daughters.

James Austin with his twin daughters.

“Each day that goes by, I still hurt,” Luddie Austin said. “Since that day, there has been a void. I don’t think that void can ever be filled. There’s a part of me that is gone forever.”

The former Trenton cop said he has faith in Assistant Prosecutor James Scott, who took over the case from retired prosecutor Lewis Korngut.

Luddie Austin said he has blocked out media coverage of his son’s case and other Trenton murder trials that ended with hung juries. But he admitted the thought of Currie being acquitted is hard to ignore.

“I’m a little nervous,” he said. “We don’t know what to expect, but we’re praying for the best.”

Danuweli Keller didn’t call Saul.

He called Mark “Hung Jury” Fury – a man who has represented convicted killer and former Latin Kings leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete as well as Isiah Greene, who is accused of gunning down high-ranking Bloods leader Quaadir “Ace" Gurley.

Sporting Kanye West-like aviator shades inside the building, Fury walked through the courthouse to an interview room to speak with Keller prior to a pretrial hearing Tuesday ahead of the September murder trial.

Fury was appointed by the public defender’s office to represent the suspected gunman following a series of lawyer blunders – including the suspension of former attorney Richie Roberts – that left Keller attorney-less.

A second attorney last month withdrew from the case after he told a judge he could no longer represent Keller because his family reneged on fully paying a retainer fee.

Keller is being tried alongside Phobus Sullivan and Mack Edwards for the execution-style slaying of Dardar Paye, a Liberian immigrant and U.S. veteran who was kidnapped, robbed and shot inside the basement of a Monmouth Street home on Jan. 16, 2011 in Trenton.

Paye’s body was placed in garbage bags and stuffed in the trunk of a Buick, which one of the suspects drove while attempting to dispose of the body.

The three men are also accused of carjacking, kidnapping and robbing another city man months before the murder.

The trial for the three suspects starts in late September, while defendants Williams Brown and Abdutawab Kiazolu are being tried separately.

A sixth man named in an indictment has admitted his role in Paye's fatal shooting and struck a deal with prosecutors to testify against the men at trial.

The men were apprehended following a high-speed car chase involving three vehicles – one carrying Paye’s body – that began in Trenton and ended in Pennsylvania, where police used spike streets to stop some of the fleeing suspects, prosecutors said.

Outlining the case against the men, prosecutors said they also plan to call Alfonso Slaughter to the stand to testify about being taken into the basement of the same home, strapped to a chair and robbed at gunpoint of jewelry and cash on Halloween night 2010.

He freed himself, escaped and gave authorities a detailed statement about the terrifying ordeal, prosecutors said.

If the trial resembles the pretrial hearing, attorneys are expected to argue for argument’s sake.

No one was more prone to that than Fury, who has earned his nickname by gridlocking jurors in Negrete’s first trial and again at Greene’s trial last year.

Fury raised hackles Tuesday about whether prospective jurors should be informed in a synopsis about the case at jury selection that Keller resided in Trenton.

“That fact that someone lives in Trenton is prejudicial,” Fury said, invoking a catchall phrase defense attorneys fondly use.

He said the capital city invokes images of the “gang wars from five years ago," and that he did not want prospective jurors to think, “‘Oh, four or five black guys who live in Trenton. Where else would they live?’”

Fury proposed changing the synopsis to include the words “do or did reside in Trenton.”

Michael Grillo, an assistant prosecutor who is trying the case alongside assistant prosecutor Michelle Gasparian, turned to the back of the courtroom and smirked at Fury’s suggestion.

Fury joked that he hoped the prosecutor is as jovial when raising objections at trial.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors also quibbled about the crafting of two questions regarding witness rap sheets that are intended to weed out biased jurors from the panel.

The mundanity of the hearing was broken up briefly when it was revealed that Edwards was transferred to a detention center in Essex County because he was one of 12 inmates involved in a scuffle at the Mercer County Correction Center.

Edwards is not facing charges over the fight, his attorney Mark Davis said.

Judge Robert Billmeier plans to reach out to the county jail warden about relocating Edwards to Mercer County prior to the start of trial.

Davis said he needs his client closer so they can prepare.

A dispute between a slain Trenton cop’s son and a city man began over shattered car windows.

By the end of it, lives had been shattered.

Raheem Currie

James Austin, 18, was shot once in the chest in his East State Street home on the afternoon of Feb. 26, 2013, as his girlfriend looked on helplessly while clutching one of Austin’s twin daughters, prosecutors said in opening statements Tuesday.

Robert Bartley admitted fatally shooting Austin and accepted a plea that calls for him to serve 25 years in prison. He must also testify at the trial of his cousin, Raheem Currie, who faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted of conspiracy.

Currie has maintained his innocence, and opposing attorneys delivered sharply different accounts of what happened that day.

Luddie Austin, James father, and his mother, Yvonne, along with about a dozen relatives, were in the court for the start of Currie’s trial, which began more than three years after the tragic encounter.

Luddie and Yvonne sobbed during parts of Assistant Prosecutor James Scott’s opening statement.

Scott said Currie planned and took steps to retaliate against Austin, and is just as responsible as Bartley for his death.

“Even if you don’t pull the trigger, you can be held accountable, and that’s what this trial is about,” Scott said.

The jury briefly heard testimony from retired Trenton Police detective Gary Britton, who is back on the stand Wednesday. They will also hear from witnesses who were inside Currie’s car as well as from Bartley, Scott said.

In an even, matter-of-fact tone that belied the nerves of delivering his second-ever opening statement, defense attorney Andrew Ferencevych said the cousins did not conspire to kill Austin.

Bartley, who was 18 months older, bigger, stronger and always looked out for his little cousin, admitted to cops that he acted alone, the defense attorney said.

He gave police a statement 28 hours after the murder, admitting he had a gun in his pocket at the time of the shooting. Bartley told cops Currie didn’t know about the gun.

Afraid that Austin was armed with a gun in his right hand, Bartley told police he shot Austin when the cop’s son cussed him out and lunged toward him.

Bartley changed his story when he realized he faced life in prison if he was convicted of murder and began cooperating with prosecutors.

“This is not a whodunit, an alibi type case,” Ferencevych said. “We know who killed Mr. Austin. Mr. Currie did not kill Mr. Austin. Mr. Bartley consistently stated no one else was responsible. He consistently said that it wasn’t’ planned, consistently said that he didn’t intend to shoot anybody. He explained there was no conspiracy and they shouldn’t charge anybody with conspiracy. But here we are.”

The prosecutor told jurors that Currie and James Austin lost their tempers and busted out each other’s car windows. One of the damaged vehicles belonged to Currie’s aunt.

Currie, who was with his girlfriend and another man at the time, decided to get even, Scott said. He got into a blue Honda Civil, driven by a man named Brandon Hill, and headed toward the home of a relative.

Currie used his girlfriend’s cell phone to call his cousin, Bartley, who had a “secret gun” stashed upstairs at his residence on the 600 block of Greenwood Avenue in Trenton, prosecutors said.

James Austin with his twin daughters.

Prosecutors said only Bartley and Currie knew about the firearm, a .32-caliber handgun.

Scott recounted the alleged conversation between Currie and Bartley for jurors.

“Robert, you got the gun?” Scott said, allegedly quoting the defendant.

Bartley retrieved the gun, got into the car, and the group headed back toward James Austin’s East State Street home.

On the way over, Currie asked Bartley to hand over the gun, Scott said, but he didn’t.

Instead, Bartley took matters into his own hands.

Bartley told Currie he was going to “spray up the house,” Scott said. He got out of the car, knocked on Austin’s door and demanded that the cop’s son pay for the broken windshield.

Austin was incredulous, Scott said.

“What are you kidding me?” the prosecutor said, channeling Austin. “He broke my window, too. We’re even.”

Austin went to shut the door, but Bartley put his foot in the doorway and forced it open, Scott said. While Austin’s frightened girlfriend looked on with his infant daughter in her hands, Bartley fired a single shot, striking Austin in the chest.

Austin fell to the floor, while Bartley fled. Austin’s girlfriend called for help, and cops arrived within two minutes, Scott said.

Bartley, Currie and others went to a residence at 119 Hanford Place, where Bartley asked his friend, Ryan Smalls, to hide the gun, prosecutors said.

The city man who shot a Trenton cop’s son to death in 2013 tried to get a feel for what police knew about his involvement in the crime when he was first interrogated, a retired police detective testified Wednesday.

But by the end of the interrogation, retired Trenton Police detective Gary Britton said, the suspect, Robert Bartley, had confessed to killing James Austin, the son of well-known retired Trenton police officer Luddie Austin.

Robert Bartley

“He was not sure what we were able to find out about what happened,” at the Feb. 26, 2013 murder, said Britton, who spent 24 years with Trenton Police until his retirement. “He seemed to be curious about a fight that took place a day before with his cousin. By the end of that, he was completely broken down, sobbing, apologetic, angry that he made the decision that he made.”

Britton also testified about a handgun that investigators recovered, stashed inside a city residence belonging to Bartley’s friend. Britton spent most of the morning being questioned in the murder conspiracy trial of Raheem Currie, Bartley’s cousin.

Currie was initially charged with weapons possession, but  charges were later upgraded.

Currie is accused of conspiring with Bartley to kill Austin, following an argument at James Austin's East State Street home that escalated when the men smashed each other’s car windshields.

Prosecutors contend that Currie and two others drove to pick up Bartley after the dispute. Then they returned to Austin’s home, and Bartley shot Austin once in the chest after the cop’s son refused to pay for the damaged windshield.

Bartley has already pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and is expected to testify against his cousin at the trial, which began with opening statements

Raheem Currie

Tuesday.

Britton said the .32-caliber handgun Bartley used to shoot the city cop’s son was inside a crawlspace of a home on the 100 block of Hanford Place.

After the fatal shooting, Bartley asked a friend to hide the gun, which had a mahogany grip. A picture of the handgun was shown to jurors on an overhead projector, while Britton answered questions from Assistant Prosecutor James Scott.

Britton detailed for jurors on the stand the steps he took during his investigation of the murder.

Britton took statements from people inside the vehicle as well as the city man, Ryan Small, whose home is where the gun was found. Police got Small’s permission to search the residence, Britton said.

Britton interviewed Currie’s girlfriend, and took two statements from the driver, Brandon Hill, who was never charged for any role in Austin's murder.

Hill drove Currie and Bartley away from the murder scene.

Britton said Hill was a witness to the crime.

The retired detective acknowledged under cross examination from defense attorney Jack Furlong that Hill “lied” to him during an initial interview.

Hill claimed that he was present for the dispute between Currie and Austin but walked away. He eventually "came clean" about driving the car carrying Bartley and Currie.

Furlong asked why Hill was not charged for lying to police.

Britton responded, "If that were the case, everyone in the city who has been interviewed about a homicide would be arrested."

"He actually obstructed justice,” Furlong said.

"He delayed [it],” Britton said.

Britton also testified about conducting two interviews with Bartley, the latter in September 2014.

Britton said  he needed to re-interview Bartley because he didn't "feel like Mr. Bartley was being 100 percent truthful for doing what he did. we tried to come to an accurate conclusion about why that happened.”

The Trentonian will update this story.

As she sat in the back seat of a Honda Civic parked outside the home of a retired city cop’s son in February 2013, Endia Kaver admitted to police that she was nervous.

Her boyfriend, Raheem Currie, and James Austin, had been involved in a fight earlier that day. And now they had returned with Currie’s cousin, Robert Bartley, to settle the score.

Kaver, Currie’s longtime girlfriend, remembered thinking to herself, as Bartley stepped out of Honda Civic and informed the group he planned to spray up Austin’s East State Street home, “Lord, don’t let this get out of hand.”

Raheem Currie

Testifying Wednesday at Currie’s murder conspiracy trial, Kaver told jurors she had no idea what Bartley meant about spraying up the home of Austin, the slain 18-year-old son of retired Trenton cop Luddie Austin.

“I don’t know what he meant necessarily at the time,” said Kaver, a short, African American woman with long, braided hair that had streaks of red. “I didn’t know [Bartley] had a gun.”

She found out after hearing a single gunshot that struck Austin in his chest, and ended his life Feb. 26, 2013, following an earlier fist fight between the men that ended with Currie and Austin breaking each other’s car windows.

After the initial dispute, Currie, Kaver and another man, Brandon Hill, picked up Bartley and returned to Austin’s home.

Bartley, who the defense has said acted as a lone wolf to protect his younger cousin Currie, got out of the car and planned to settle the beef with deadly force, prosecutors said.

Assistant Prosecutor James Scott was practically beside himself as Kaver feigned ignorance about Bartley’s intentions.

“So you knew that when he said he was going to spray up the house, he wasn’t going to go spray it with water?” Scott asked cynically.

His question drew muffled approval from Austin’s family members who watched from the back of the courtroom.

Kaver did not cave, offering a short, terse “no” in response.

“You knew it was serious?” Scott said. “Much more serious than a street fight. Deadly serious right.”

The prosecutor then had Kaver read a passage from her statement to police that described her mind state at the time.

Kaver took the stand on the same day as Laporsha Guy, the former girlfriend and mother of Austin’s twin daughters.

The women, both standing up for their men, were pitted against each other, their accounts of what happened mirroring each other at certain times and other times conflicting.

Guy, 21, wearing a sleeveless black dress and white high-top Converse Chuck Taylors, became emotional throughout her testimony, especially when prosecutors played recordings of her frantic calls to 911 dispatchers, moments after her boyfriend was shot.

Burying her face in her hands, and daubing her eyes with tissues, Guy discussed meeting Austin while they attended Trenton Central High School. They knew each other for four years when she became pregnant with twin daughters, Jakayla and Janyla.

She told jurors that on the day Austin was killed, he visited her at her East State Street home.

He walked in with a cheesesteak and soda, when she heard Currie yelling for Austin to come outside and fight.

Robert Bartley

Austin didn’t back down, even as his girlfriend urged him to stay inside, Guy said.

“No, Porsha, I was waiting on him,” she said.

The men grabbed each other and traded blows, the fight lasting seconds.

Guy saw a man and a light-skinned woman standing outside recording the fight on a cell phone.

After the fight, Currie threw part of a purple anti-theft club through the window of Austin’s tan Infinity. Austin jumped on Currie’s car windshield, causing extensive damage.

Then Austin went back inside the home and discussed the fight with Guy.

“Five minutes later a knock came on the door,” Guy said.

It was Bartley, who told Austin he owed his “people’s some money for breaking the window.”

Austin tried to shut the door, but Robert put his foot in the doorway, brandished a handgun and shot Austin while Guy looked on helplessly, clutching one of her twin daughters.

She ran to the bathroom and called for help.

Trying to comfort her crying babies, she huddled over Austin to render aid while paramedics raced to the home.

Her testimony was striking when compared with Kaver, a 24-year-old Trenton native and college dropout who earns a living as a cook.

Kaver acknowledged she and Currie are in love and have been together for seven years.

They met in middle school, she said, lived together for two years and still see each other three times a week.

She said she was with Currie and another man, Brandon Hill, the afternoon of Feb. 26, 2013.

They visited a CVS store on Greenwood and North Olden avenues, where she purchased candy and made copies of her Social Security card.

Shortly after, the group left and ran into Austin outside his home.

“James was saying what’s up,” she said. “Raheem was saying what’s up back to him.”

After exchanging words, Raheem turned around his aunt’s silver Honda Civic, and the men argued on the sidewalk before coming to blows.

Hill recorded the fight on his cell phone, Kaver said, until she told him to break up the fight. He handed her the phone and intervened. Kaver said they all got back into the car, Currie climbing with her into the back seat, and drove off.

On the way home, Currie asked for Kaver’s cell phone to call home. Kaver said.

She said heard her boyfriend speaking to Bartley, and asked him if his mother was there.

But she did not recall Currie telling Bartley to get his gun from where it was hidden inside the home they shared on the 600 block of Greenwood Avenue.

James Austin with his twin daughters.

That is a crucial point of contention in the case, as prosecutors allege that Currie conspired with Bartley in that phone call to retaliate against Austin, leading to his death.

The defense said Currie made no such plans, and that Bartley, who is expected to take the stand Thursday, is testifying against his cousin because he is benefitting from a plea deal with prosecutors. His deal calls for him to serve 25 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter.

Retired Trenton Police detective Gary Britton testified earlier in the day that Bartley confessed during an interrogation to killing Austin.

“He was not sure what we were able to find out about what happened,” said Britton, who spent 24 years with Trenton Police. “He seemed to be curious about a fight that took place a day before with his cousin. By the end of that, he was completely broken down, sobbing, apologetic, angry that he made the decision that he made.”

A judge Thursday morning rejected a request from Raheem Currie’s defense attorney for a mistrial based on testimony from a Trenton Police officer who noted that the victim, James Austin, was the son of a retired police officer.

Currie is being tried for conspiring with his cousin, Robert Bartley, to murder Austin, the slain 18-year-old son of retired city cop Luddie Austin, in February

Raheem Currie

2013.

“A mistrial should only be granted to prevent an obvious failure of justice,” Judge Pedro Jimenez said. “There has to be clear showing of actual harm.”

The issue revolved around the testimony of Drew Astbury, a K-9 officer from Trenton Police.

While responding to a question from Assistant Prosecutor James Scott about whether he learned the victim’s identity, Astbury, who first responded to the shooting at East State Street residence, noted Wednesday that James Austin was the son of “one of our own.”

The comment drew an immediate objection from Currie’s attorneys. And the matter was addressed at sidebar.

Afterward, Jimenez told jurors to disregard the police officer’s comment because Austin’s connection to the police department was not “relevant.”

But Jack Furlong, Currie’s attorney, didn’t feel the instruction eliminated the taint the comment may have on jurors’ deliberations. And on Thursday morning, he asked the judge for a mistrial because Astbury’s testimony, along with memorial buttons Austin’s family have worn at trial, cast a “partisan and prejudicial” pall over the murder trial.

Scott, arguing against the mistrial, said Astbury’s testimony was “not solicited by the state.” The passing comment, while extraneous, did not impact the fairness of the trial, the prosecutor said.

“In trial,” Scott said, “things happen.”

James Austin with his twin daughters.

After listening to opposing attorneys present their cases, Jimenez rejected Furlong’s argument as nothing more than “artful legal terminology” and denied the mistrial request.

Delivering a decision from the bench, Jimenez touched on the frayed collective nerve of Americans who have denounced and demonstrated, sometimes violently, against a rash of police shootings of black men and other police misconduct cases around the country.

The judge said public’s views of police officers have shifted from “deification to demonization,” and the mistrust of cops has infiltrated the judicial system. Jurors, he said, scrutinize police officers’ testimony more these days than they may have a decade ago.

“We readily observe people can think that a police officer is less likely to tell the truth than a [civilian]," Jimenez said, noting prospective jurors in Currie’s case were dismissed because of a potential bias against cops.

“For better or worse, things have changed in our society,” the judge said. “There's no discernible basis or evidence beyond mere speculation that [Astbury’s] testimony was nothing more than irrelevant information to be stricken from the record with a curative instruction.”

A Mercer County medical examiner testified Thursday that a slain city cop’s son was healthy and his body went into shock after he was shot by a city man outside a Trenton home in February 2013.

James Austin, 18, the son of retired Trenton cop Luddie Austin, was shot once in the chest Feb. 26, 2013, outside his girlfriend’s East State Street home, following a fight with another man, Raheem Currie.

James Austin with his twin daughters.

Currie and his cousin, Robert Bartley, returned to the home with two others minutes after Currie and Austin smashed each other’s car windshields.

Bartley admitted fatally shooting Austin, in pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter, and is expected to testify this afternoon.

Currie is on trial, accused of conspiring with his cousin to retaliate against Austin, which ended in his death.

Prosecutors called ballistics and medical experts to testify this morning. The ballistics experts examined a .32-caliber handgun and a shell casing recovered at the murder scene and concluded it was came from the handgun used to kill Austin.Forensic pathologist Raafat Ahmad took the stand afterward and described how she performed an autopsy on Austin. She examined his body, the bullet hole in his chest, and determined his manner of death was homicide.

Jurors were shown photos of Austin, laying face-up on a gurney inside the medical examiner’s office. A victim advocate warned family members before the gruesome, graphic photos were put up on an overhead projector.

After removing his shirt, which had a bullet hole and drops of blood, and opening up his chest cavity during an internal examination, Ahmad found Austin’s left lung had collapsed after it was pierced by a bullet that never left his body.

About three-fifths of his blood was inside his chest, causing massive internal hemorrhaging that forced Austin’s body into “irreversible shock,” Ahmad said. He lost so much blood that the his organs were pale and shut down, the medical examiner testified.

Austin was rushed to the hospital, into emergency surgery, but doctors could not save him. He lived less than a half-hour after being shot by Bartley.

Ahmad said Austin was healthy, other than the fatal gunshot that cost him his life.

“Was there any way that James Austin could have survived these injuries?” Assistant Prosecutor James Scott asked.

Ahmad said that Austin did not stand a chance.

Andrew Ferencevych, Currie’s attorney, questioned the doctor about her autopsy report, toxicology reports and Austin’s tattoos.

Raheem Currie

Luddie Austin, James’ father, rubbed his forehead and kept his eyes downcast as Currie’s attorney asked about his son’s tattoos but didn’t seem to tie it into the murder conspiracy case against his client.

Austin’s mother, Yvonne Maxwell, rubbed Luddie’s shoulder, in a consoling manner.

Ferencevych turned his focus to the toxicology results, questioning the doctor about what they showed.

“He had a slight amount of marijuana in his system,” Ahmad said, raising her voice. “But it didn’t cause his death.”