A 16-year-old girl was an unintended target in an ongoing feud between warring factions from the city’s Wilbur section and Jersey Street, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Peter Charles Jr., 18, allegedly belonged to a group from Jersey Street, possibly the “130 boys,” a sort of neighborhood gang.

Peter Charles

Teenager Ciony Kirkman became unsuspectingly entangled in this dispute when Charles, a teenager with a lengthy and violent juvenile history, allegedly opened fire on a speeding van carrying the young girl and six others, prosecutors said.

Charles, now 18, made his first appearance in adult court at a bail hearing Wednesday after he was waived up in September by family court Judge Lawrence DeBello.

Charles was 17 years old when he was charged with murder, six counts of aggravated assault and weapons offense in connection with the April 24 slaying that claimed Kirkman, a former student at Daylight/Twilight High School who was involved in dance and cheerleading.

Ciony Kirkman (contributed photo)

Prosecutors believe they have Charles dead to rights, their evidence consisting of three witnesses and surveillance tapes they contend show the suspect in the area prior to the shooting.

The reasons for the shooting remain speculative.

The beef apparently stemmed from rap music offensive to members of the “130 boys,” Bruce Throckmorton, Charles’ attorney, had previously told The Trentonian.

He has denied his client belongs to a gang or neighborhood group.

If the dispute was deeper than over music, Assistant Prosecutor James Scott did not let on at the hearing. He would not discuss a motive for the shooting.

After the hearing, he said only that Charles targeted one of the other six minors in the stolen Ford Windstar, as it sped down Jersey Street toward Home Avenue.

Charles is accused of using a 22-caliber handgun to fire five, possibly six, at the van, Scott said, citing ballistics.

The fatal shot traveled through the back windshield and struck Kirkman in the head.

“Her brain split in two,” Scott said.

Kirkman was on life support and died two days later at a local hospital.

Throckmorton countered that the van’s windows were tinted and the shooter did not intend to kill Kirkman. He had previously suggested his client had an alibi for the murder andwas misidentified as the shooter.

But Scott said at the hearing that surveillance captured Charles walking toward the shooting scene about a minute or two before gunshots rang out and was shown running away immediately after.

The view from the city camera is “good enough” that it picked up when the first shot was fired, Scott said.

Additionally, a witness in the van identified Charles as the killer and an “independent witness” who was shown surveillance identified Charles on the tape without prompting from authorities, Scott said.

An unrelated investigation also turned up a discarded sweatshirt near the shooting, the prosecutor said.

DNA from one of Charles’ relative was discovered on the sweatshirt, Scott said.

Summing up the case against the city teen as “powerful,” the prosecutor asked the judge to raise bail from $500,000, pointing to Charles’ past legal scrapes as a youngster.

Charles was found delinquent of first- and second-degree crimes that involved a shotgun and a handgun.

He was first arrested in October 2012, at the tender age of 14.

Charged with aggravated assault and robbery, he was found delinquent in juvenile court of aggravated assault and placed on probation.

Later he was charged in another robbery involving a firearm and served time at a New Jersey juvenile detention center.

Judge Peter Warshaw increased bail to $750,000, citing the “extraordinary serious” nature of the charges.

Charles’ next court date was not available.

Police and medics rush to save a woman who was driven to TPD headquarters after being shot in East Trenton. November 30, 2016 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

The situation appeared bad from the start. Then, it became worse.

Amber Dudley, a 27-year-old female from Collingswood, who was driven to Trenton Police headquarters after being shot died at the hospital shortly before midnight Wednesday.

Officials say Dudley was one of three passengers being transported by a man providing rides through Lyft, which is a peer-to-peer ridesharing service similar to Uber.

None of the people in the car, including the driver, were from Trenton, according to police who say Dudley and the other two passengers were friends.

Officials say the vehicle was on Mechanics Avenue around 7:15 p.m. when a man armed with a handgun tried to enter the rear of the car. Officials say the suspect tried to rob the occupants of the vehicle, which sparked a struggle between he and the passengers. The Lyft driver then sped off, officials say, and the gunman fired a shot.

After Dudley was shot, the Lyft driver sped to TPD headquarters in the 200 block of North Clinton Avenue, creating a frantic situation that sent patrol vehicles speeding back to the police station.

Officers hurried to perform life-saving measures as Dudley lay spread out on the ground on the passenger side of a Toyota Corolla that was parked outside of the headquarters building.

Witnesses who were leaving the city’s municipal court, which is in the same building as police headquarters, said they saw Dudley hunched inside the vehicle, convulsing and clinging onto life while a man ran inside the building seeking help.

Amber Dudley (submitted photo)

“It looked like she wasn’t going to make it,” one witness said at the scene.

Witnesses said law enforcement personnel and medics took Dudley out of the car and performed CPR before placing her inside an ambulance and rushing her to the hospital.

The Lyft driver and other occupants of the car were detained for questioning. No other injuries were reported.

Officials say Dudley was able to speak when she arrived at the police station and told officers she was shot somewhere in East Trenton.

She died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

It took about 20 minutes for police and EMS officials to stabilize the woman and place her in an ambulance for transport to the hospital.

The Toyota, meanwhile, remained outside headquarters with the driver’s side door open, awaiting detectives to process the crime scene.

After news of her death spread, several of Dudley's friends expressed their sorrow on Facebook.

"I would die to give you your life back," Keane Susie wrote, while posting a picture of Dudley. "I can't stop crying. I want to wake up and this be a f****** nightmare."

One of Dudley's friends who uses the profile Gargoyles Max Steele wrote:

"This is such a sad story, such a bad turn of events. She was just a cool down to Earth person. She was actually one of the first people to start a conversation with me when I moved from Camden and came to Collingswood not knowing a soul besides my football teammates. R.I.P Amber man, You'll always be remembered by me, Collingswood Alumni. I always show love."

A representative from Lyft provided the following statement via email late Thursday:

"Our deepest sympathies are with the family and loved ones of the Lyft passenger who was tragically killed yesterday. Safety is our top priority, and Lyft has been working closely with law enforcement to assist their investigation."

The suspect remains on the run.

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 labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.

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

Police and medics rush to save a woman who was driven to TPD headquarters after being shot in East Trenton. November 30, 2016 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

A pedestrian was struck and killed in the Mill Hill neighborhood at the intersection of Market and Jackson streets Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016. (SULAIMAN ABDUR-RAHMAN - The Trentonian)

UPDATE: The victim has been identified as Vincent Miller.

A pedestrian was struck and killed by a motorist Saturday night, marking the second hit-and-run death to occur in the capital city this year.

Officials say the 30-year-old victim was in the crosswalk at the intersection of Market and Jackson streets around 7:40 p.m. when he was hit by a blue or teal colored Honda.

The man, whose identity is being withheld pending family notification, remained on the hood of the car for approximately 20 to 30 feet before rolling off and landing in the inner lane of Market Street, according to police officials.

Police say a Honda emblem was found at the crime scene, and that the vehicle leaked antifreeze, leading police on a trail that ended about a block away.

A witness at the scene said she was at a traffic light at the intersection of Market and Mercer streets when she saw a Honda with heavy frontend damage and a crushed windshield. She told police she then looked down the street and saw two additional cars swerve to miss something in the roadway. She said she realized the object obstructing the road was a man’s body as she drove closer to the accident.

Police say the woman called emergency 911, and medics were dispatched to the scene to perform CPR. But their efforts were not enough to save the man, who was bleeding heavily and died at the hospital about 30 minutes after the accident.

“Wow, that’s horrible,” Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson, who lives in the Mill Hill section of the city where the accident happened, said.

The victim’s girlfriend told police they were inside a Mercer Street apartment when he left to purchase cigarettes at a nearby liquor store. When the man took longer than expected, she stepped outside and saw police investigating a crime scene.

The woman later went to the hospital and identified her boyfriend as the hit-and-run victim.

Police are in the process of obtaining surveillance video of the accident, and officials say it’s too early to know whether the driver or the pedestrian victim ignored traffic signals.

Caldwell-Wilson said that area of Mill Hill is prone to traffic accidents because of a long light, a short light, and the tendency for motorists to make illegal U-turns.

“It’s pretty dangerous,” the councilwoman said. “They're making illegal U-turns while traffic is flowing.”

The light at the Mercer Street intersection is extremely long, the councilwoman said, while the light at the Jackson Street intersection is extremely short; so drivers often speed through the area trying to beat both traffic signals.

“People get impatient at that long light and run right through the next one because they don't want to stop again,” Caldwell-Wilson said. “It’s been a problem for more than 15 years. The Department of Transportation needs to synchronize those lights a little better.”

So far this year, two people have died from hit-and-run accidents in the capital city.

If the driver of Saturday’s accident is located, he will likely be charged with death by auto.

According to the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit, vehicular homicides are considered manslaughter and are, therefore, not reported as a homicide statistic.

The Trentonian, however, includes death by auto and justifiable police shootings in its yearly homicide count.

This year's homicide toll is now 24.

In total, five people have died from traffic accidents in Trenton so far this year, and 18 people have died in traffic accidents throughout Mercer County, according to state police statistics.

“I think we need to start more traffic enforcement,” Caldwell-Wilson said. “People pull out in front of you, they ride on your tail, they pull out of side streets without looking for oncoming traffic; it’s crazy. They really need to start clamping down on these folks.”

The witness described the driver of the Honda in Saturday’s accident as a skinny white or Hispanic male with dark hair. Anyone with information about the accident is asked to call the TPD Criminal Investigations Bureau at 609-989-4155.

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony from State Police Detective Joseph Itri. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

Convicting accused killer Shaheed Brown has become a family affair.

Meanwhile, the former Newark gang member continues to fight for his freedom in a case that has plagued Mercer County prosecutors who haven't convinced juries in two trials six months apart that Brown gunned down 20-year-old Enrico Smalley Jr. outside a crime-ridden Trenton bar in 2014.

Brown’s attorney said in court papers a third trial is “destined” to end the same way.

The case has been passed on to Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian, the wife of retired prosecutor Brian McCauley.

McCauley handled the case at the first two trials – both ending in mistrials after juries came back deadlocked – before he retired this summer following 29 years with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Despite the past results, Gasparian is moving forward with the case. Brown has been locked up for more than two years and remains at the Hudson County jail on $1 million bail.

The judge who presided over the first two trials, Andrew Smithson, refused to reduce bail after Brown, while seated at the defense table, turned to a reporter at the back of the courtroom and expressed frustration with not being able to get a “fair shake” from the judge.

Smithson threw that in Brown’s face, citing the remark as proof of his belief that Brown would flee the court’s jurisdiction if he was found guilty by a jury. .

That didn’t happen, and the case has dragged on without an end in sight.

Enrico Smalley Jr.

Brown’s attorney, citing the fundamental fairness doctrine in court papers, has asked prosecutors to dismiss the case, in part because of the hung juries and alleged moribund evidence linking Brown to Smalley’s death.

Having to due with due process rights, the fairness rule bars prosecutors from keeping someone locked up indefinitely in absence of a conviction.

“It’s doubtful that the state will ever get a conviction based on the facts,” Heyburn wrote, pointing out the murder weapon was never recovered and no one identified his client as the killer.

The case rises and falls with a surveillance tape that captured the last moments of Smalley’s life outside of La Guira Bar in the early-morning hours of July 12, 2014.

A retired corrections officer, Kenneth Crawford, who anonymously phoned 911 from a  pay phone outside of a 7-Eleven on North Olden Avenue, testified at both trials he was in his vehicle across the street from the bar when he heard shots and saw the head and body of a man with dreadlocks making a “jerking movement” as the shots rang out.

But his testimony was far from definitive for prosecutors.

Crawford, whose view was blocked by a Lincoln Navigator parked in front of the bar, said he never saw a gun.

Edward Heyburn

Smalley and Brown both had dreadlocks, though prosecutors contend that after the murder Brown shaved his off his and skipped town for his stomping grounds of Newark.

Furthermore, Crawford said he saw Smalley’s picture in the newspaper after the murder and thought Smalley was the shooter because “it looked like the guy I saw doing the shooting.”

Brown, accompanied by his entourage, was shown arriving at the bar about 15 minutes before last call.

Dressed in a do-rag, white shirt and sagging cargo shorts, Brown was shown peeking his head into the vestibule and pacing around outside while chatting with members of his crew.

McCauley said at both trials Brown was casing the place and stalking his “prey,” as part of an ongoing feud with Smalley's gun-toting associates who had chased him from the same bar a week before.

The tape, shown repeatedly to jurors at the two trials, left a lot to the imagination. It doesn’t capture the shooting, as Brown and Smalley stepped off screen before the shots.

As they were off screen, another since-murdered city man, Rodney Sutphin, grabbed the attention of Alvie “King” Vereen.

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.

Vereen was pegged as the real killer by the defense because he stepped toward the area where Brown and Smalley were and suspiciously reached for his waistband.

The rub is the jury panels didn't know of Brown’s close ties to Vereen. The friends arrived at the bar together, and prosecutors said, ran off from the bar together.

They were later arrested together in Newark, accused of carjacking one of Brown’s associates. The case never went forward, however, and was barred from evidence at Brown’s trials.

Brown’s next court appearance is set for January.

(left to right) Wilson George, Jayshawn Smith and Juprie Wadley

Three city teens who were arrested earlier this year after another teen was killed in the capital city have been charged with murder in connection with the case.

Wilson George, Jashawn Smith and Juprie Wadley are each charged with murder and complicity offenses in connection with the shooting death of 15-year-old Maurice Wimbush-Jalaah, who was gunned down June 11.

Police apprehended all three suspects almost immediately following the daylight killing, but George was released because he was not in possession of a gun at the time he was stopped. Smith and Wadley allegedly had weapons with them when police apprehended the trio on Louise Lane following the fatal shooting. Another gun was found on the ground on Louise Lane, and police later charged George with weapons offenses for allegedly tossing it before his apprehension.

Wimbush-Jalaah was shot around 3:45 p.m. that Saturday in Prospect Village, which is a Trenton Housing Authority complex. He later died at the hospital.

At this time, police have not disclosed a suspected motive for the killing, but detectives who spoke on condition of anonymity said street hustlers from Prospect Village have been “beefing” with hustlers from the North 25 Housing complex for a while. The apartment complexes are less than a 15-minute walk from each other, and pedestrians would more than likely cross Calhoun Street, which intersects with Louise Lane, if they were to walk from one complex to the other.

George has been incarcerated since June. Smith and Wadley were arrested again Wednesday morning in Trenton by members of the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Bail for each teen was set at $1 million cash or bond.

A blaze of bullets and shell casings scattered in the street were linked to the murder of 15-year-old city teen found slumped over in the streets, soaked in blood almost exactly six months ago, prosecutors said.

(left to right) Wilson George, Jayshawn Smith and Juprie Wadley

It took detectives time to take in the murderous scene they encountered when they arrived in Prospect Village, in the city’s West Ward, in broad daylight June 11.

The victim, Maurice Wimbush-Jalaah, was fatally shot in a volley of bullets during a gun battle, prosecutors said.

Three city teens, Wilson George, Jashawn Smith and Juprie Wadley, were charged six months later with the teen’s slaying.

Smith and Wadley appeared in court Friday for a bail hearing.

Assistant Prosecutor William Fisher, laying out the ““extremely strong circumstantial case,” said authorities recovered three handguns, bullets and shell casings linking the teen suspects to the killing.

The three are charged with murder, conspiracy and weapons offenses.

George had been allowed to walk in June after police didn’t find a gun on him.

He later charged for allegedly tossing a handgun before he was apprehended with the others on Louise Lane, the same spot where cops shot city teen Radazz Hearns last year.

The two teens, who don’t have prior criminal records, were charged with murder after police wrapped up the investigation, including getting ballistics back from the state police crime lab.

Maurice Wimbush-Jalaah (submitted photo)

Police recovered six bullets and eight shell casings in June that matched to recovered handguns, Fisher said.

Prosecutors didn’t disclose a motive but detectives who spoke on condition of anonymity said street hustlers from Prospect Village have been “beefing” with hustlers from the North 25 Housing complex.

The apartment complexes are less than a 15-minute walk from each other.

Smith appeared calm as he listened by video to the prosecutor outline the allegations against him, sitting inside a small, boxy room at the Mercer County Correction Center.

He is accused of running from the police when as he and his associates left the Prospect Village housing complex.

Officers spotted the teens fleeing down the sidewalk, three blocks from the shooting, and ordered them to stop at gunpoint.

George and Wadley got on the ground while Smith bolted.

While being chased by the cops, he dropped a sweatshirt and a 9 mm Smith & Wesson handgun, Fisher said. He was tracked down and charged.

Wadley was patted down and found with a .22-caliber revolver with two fired shell casings in the chamber, Fisher said.

Police canvassed the scene again and found a .32-caliber gun near the back of a parked Lexus where Smith dropped his sweatshirt, Fisher said.

The eight spent shells in the street came from the same gun, Fisher said.

“The only bullets that were traceable were traceable back to these guns,” Fisher said.

Smith admitted in an interview with the police firing three shots toward a crowd of people, prosecutors said.

Wadley denied he was at Prospect Village but later changed his story, admitting he was there and ran when he heard shots but didn’t see who fired them.

George didn’t appear for a bail hearing and whatever he may have told the authorities wasn’t addressed.

The prosecutor said surveillance showed the three teens heading toward the area of the shooting and leaving from it.

A judge maintained bail at $1 million for the two teens. George’s bail hearing is set for a later date.

-Penny Ray contributed to this report

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

With retaliatory violence being a never-ending cycle in the capital city, law enforcement officials are planning to organize a ceasefire program similar to the crime intervention efforts used in cities such as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

With three weeks left in 2016, there has been a 40 percent increase in the number of shootings year-to-date compared to this same time period last year. Officials say there have been 147 shootings in this 8-square-mile city this year, and 178 people were struck by gunfire.

Officials say the increase in shootings is most likely fueled by unresolved disputes that have been escalating for a while.

“This year we've seen protracted conflicts between neighborhood cliques, which in my opinion caused the increase in shooting incidents,” Trenton Police Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez, who leads the Shooting Response Team, said. “Some of the beefs revolve around previous homicides, but we’ve had disputes related to drug distribution as well.”

This year, officials say, some neighborhoods formed loose alignments with typically rival groups to increase their manpower and fight a clique with which they both had issues.

For example, some hustlers from Spring Street, Passaic Street, North 25 and the Wilbur Section formed a loose alliance to battle street hustlers from MLK Boulevard, Perry Street, Sanford Street, Jersey and Home, Stuyvesant and Rosemont, and Prospect Village.

But, of course, the allegiances were only temporary and the aligned groups eventually returned to fighting each other.

“When one conflict started to slow down, we'd see another one flare up,” Rodriguez said.

And the gunfights did not always happen in the darkness. Officials say the number of daylight shootings increased this year, forcing law enforcement to adjust strategies, which included more daytime crime suppression efforts.

Police officials are now planning to bring rival cliques together in search of a peaceful resolution to their disputes. Officials plan to invite rival groups to a neutral location, such as a house of worship or a school, to have them discuss their differences.

“We won't eradicate all the violence, but we must try to help these folks understand the severity of their actions,” Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr. said. “How many more young children do we have to see hit by gunfire? Bullets don't have names on them. They're not guided missiles; they fly everywhere. Just think about all the innocent people who have been killed this year.”

So far this year, police have identified at least three homicide victims as innocent people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time: Nolman Vidal Rodriguez, who was shot while attending a birthday party on Greenwood Avenue; Ciony Kirkman, who was shot while inside a stolen minivan with six other juveniles on Jersey Street; and Amber Dudley, who was one of several passengers being transported by a Lyft ridesharing driver when a gunman tried to rob occupants of the car and fired a shot during a struggle.

Trentonian file photo - Police investigate a shooting on MLK Boulevard

“The last thing we need to see in this city is a bullet fly through a window while a child is sitting at a desk in school,” Parrey said. “We need these violent offenders to understand that their personal beefs are not worth taking someone’s life.”

Additionally, police have seized a total of 241 guns in Trenton so far this year, which includes weapons recovered by all other local and state agencies working in the city. That number is greater than the amount of guns seized in Trenton last year.

“But while the work is being done by law enforcement, those wanting to cause violence and commit crimes get younger and younger each year,” Lt. Rolando Ramos, head of the Violent Crimes Unit, said.

That’s why the department also plans to engage more youth at the elementary school level. As of now, officials focus most of their youth engagement efforts in middle and high schools, due to lack of police manpower. But as the department hires more officers, Parrey plans to have cops spend more time with elementary school kids in order to reduce the stigma associated with law enforcement and show kids they should expect a safer community.

The department hired 22 new officers earlier this year and currently has a class of 19 recruits in the police academy. The department also has enough budget to hire another class of recruits, but anywhere from 10 to 20 officers could retire within the next two years. The total amount of officers currently on the force is much lower than the number of cops employed prior to the 2011 layoffs.

“We need more resource officers to monitor the schools,” Parrey said. “A lot of this beef carries from school into the streets. It's not only adults involved in gun violence. We have kids as young as 12 years old carrying guns. If we don't eliminate the myth that police are bad, and that a life of crime is good, we're not going to improve.”

City activist Darren “Freedom” Green echoed the director’s statements and said he’s willing to help police facilitate a ceasefire. But he said the city’s youth must also be taught positive conflict resolution techniques and strategies for rebuilding their lives.

“A lot of times, these rivalries are not even about money,” Green said. “I know a few murders that revolved around females. This generation needs to learn they don't have to die when they disagree. I don't have a problem facilitating a truce, but to transform the community we must help people become viable citizens. We need to teach the science of responsible civilized behavior.”

A third teenager charged in the murder of a 15-year-old six months ago in the city’s West Ward was arrested for allegedly dealing drugs the week of the killing.

(left to right) Wilson George, Jayshawn Smith and Juprie Wadley

Wilson George, 19, has also been indicted on drug-distribution offenses for allegedly dealing dope in October 2015, according to court records. He faces a number of un-indicted drug charges filed the same week he and two other teens are accused of gunning down Maurice Wimbush-Jalaah, 15, on June 11 in Prospect Village, a Trenton housing complex.

George made his first appearance in court for a bail hearing Monday.

His associates, Jashawn Smith and Juprie Wadley -- also charged with murder, conspiracy and weapons offenses -- had bail hearings last week. They are each being held on $1 million.

George’s bail was reduced to $500,000 after prosecutors laid out the case against him.

The case against the three teens is built on ballistics from three recovered handguns -- a .32-caliber, 9 mm and .22-caliber revolver -- as well as bullets and shell casings balistically tied to the murder, prosecutors said.

The .22 was found after police patted down Wadley, minutes after they encountered the teens running down Louise Lane. They ordered them to stop at gunpoint.

Maurice Wimbush-Jalaah (submitted photo)

Wadley and George got down but Smith bolted and was apprehended after a foot chase.

Assistant Prosecutor William Fisher said Smith tossed a 9 mm handgun.

George had been allowed to walk when police didn’t find a gun on him. But he was later charged with tossing the .32-caliber handgun, which was discovered next to a sweatshirt behind a silver Lexus.

Prosecutors said George dropped the sweatshirt and the gun. There was a gap between when George, who had denied the allegations, was charged with murder and conspiracy.  

The suspect’s attorney, Kathleen Redpath-Perez, pointed to the delay in saying police’s case against George has “problems” and isn’t as strong as prosecutors let on.

“He should have been charged the same day if that was the observation made [about the gun],” she said.

While his associates spoke to police and gave different accounts of what allegedly happened, it’s unclear if George spoke to detectives.

Fisher declined to say whether the teen spoke detectives when they tried to interrogate him.

File photo - Evidence markers litter a crime scene.

A fourth person has been arrested in connection with the 2012 death of Emilio Lopez.

Emmanuel Cruz, 29, was arrested in Falls Township, Pa., Monday night by members of the U.S. Marshals Service. He is charged with murder, robbery and related weapons offenses in connection with Lopez’s death.

Three other men, whom are all cousins, were previously arrested in connection with Lopez’s death. Officials say investigators developed new information indicating Cruz was the shooter. Charges against him were signed yesterday, and police apprehended Cruz inside a Falls Township apartment later that night.

Lopez, 34, was killed November 16, 2012, in the 100 block of Kent Street in Trenton. Witnesses reported Lopez was shot at point-blank range when a van pulled up alongside him.

A trio of cousins — Roberto Cruz, Jose Rivera and Kenneth Rivera — were arrested and charged with murder within a week of Lopez’s death; they remain in jail awaiting trial. Emmanuel Cruz is Roberto Cruz's brother.

Prosecutors say video footage shows Lopez crossing near Kent Street when he is approached by several suspects from different angles. They boxed him in, prosecutors say, and one of them shot Lopez in the back.

Cruz’s bail was set at $1 million.

Dominique Richter (left) and Kasey DeZolt

Two women have been arrested in connection with the death of Amber Dudley, who was killed during a robbery gone awry last month.

Dominique Richter, 31, of Hamilton, and Kasey DeZolt, 32, of Morrisville, Pa., are both charged as accomplices in the death of Dudley, who was shot in the chest while being driven by a man providing rides through Lyft, which is a peer-to-peer ridesharing service similar to Uber.

Dudley, a 27-year-old from Collingswood, was one of three passengers in the car November 30 when a man armed with a handgun tried to enter the rear of the vehicle on Mechanics Avenue. Officials say the suspect tried to rob the occupants of the car, which sparked a struggle between he and the passengers. The Lyft driver then sped away and the gunman fired a shot.

After Dudley was shot, the Lyft driver sped to TPD headquarters in the 200 block of North Clinton Avenue, about a mile away from the shooting scene. Patrol vehicles then sped back to the police station, and law enforcement frantically tried to save Dudley.

Amber Dudley

Officers and EMS personnel hurried to perform life-saving measures as Dudley lay spread out on the ground on the passenger side of a Toyota Corolla that was parked outside of the headquarters building. It took about 20 minutes for them to stabilize her and place Dudley in an ambulance.

But their efforts were not enough; Dudley later died at the hospital after undergoing emergency surgery.

Richter was arrested Wednesday night in connection with the murder, and DeZolt was apprehended Thursday morning.

Sources told The Trentonian the gunman remains on the run.

Richter lists Capital Health Regional Medical Center as her employer on Facebook. The hospital, though, would not confirm the status of Richter's employment following her arrest.

“We actually don't provide information whenever it's a police matter,” Capital Health spokeswoman Kate Stier said in a message. “With this particular case, it is a police matter, so we don't have anything to provide you as far as information.”

On her LinkedIn profile, DeZolt lists her employer as Edible Arrangements, where she’s worked as a Customer Service Store Manager. A representative from the store said they don’t have an employee with the last name DeZolt.

Richter and DeZolt are each charged with accomplice liability felony murder, accomplice liability robbery, accomplice liability unlawful possession of a weapon and accomplice liability possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose.

Each of their bail amounts were set at $1 million.

Police and medics rush to save a woman who was driven to TPD headquarters after being shot in East Trenton. November 30, 2016 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Dominique Richter (left) and Kasey Dezolt

One of the alleged female accomplices in last month’s grimy robbery-plot-turned-murder of Amber Dudley had her $1 million bail cut in half Tuesday while the triggerman remains at large.

Dominique Richter, 31, of Hamilton, attended her bail hearing via remote video conference Tuesday morning and was inching to make a statement, asking, “May I say something?” but she ultimately heeded the advice of her attorney Raymond C. Staub, who advised her to remain silent.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Grillo unsuccessfully asked Judge Thomas M. Brown to maintain Richter’s bail at $1 million, arguing that Richter had “implicated herself and others” in the Nov. 30 murder of Dudley and that she had organized the robbery “by her own admission.”

Dudley, a 27-year-old from Collingswood, was one of three passengers inside a taxi-style vehicle on the night of Nov. 30 as a man armed with a handgun tried to enter the rear of the vehicle on Mechanics Avenue in the city’s East Trenton neighborhood. Officials say the suspect tried to rob the occupants of the car, which sparked a struggle between him and the passengers.

Dudley was shot in the chest while being driven by a man providing rides through Lyft, which is a peer-to-peer ridesharing service similar to Uber. As the gunman engaged in a tussle with the passengers of the vehicle, the Lyft driver sped away and the gunman fired a shot, officials said.

Police arrested Richter last Wednesday in connection with Dudley’s homicide, held her on $1 million cash bail and charged her as an accomplice with first-degree felony murder, first-degree robbery and weapons offenses. Richter apparently gave a statement to authorities sometime between her arrest and Tuesday without having her attorney Ray Staub present.

Grillo at Tuesday’s bail hearing said prosecutors have found “inconsistencies” in Richter’s statement to authorities and that prosecutors have reviewed phone records and talked with individuals who were in the car with Dudley when she was shot.

Richter’s Hamilton-based defense attorney said he had not had a chance to speak one-on-one with his client or to review her statements but called the $1 million bail “excessive” and asked for a reduced bond. In making his argument, Staub said Richter is the mother of a 4-year-old child and declared his client “is not going anywhere,” suggesting Richter was not a flight risk.

Staub also said Richter’s fiancé and father were both seated in the courtroom during the bail hearing in support of their loved one.

Although Richter faces serious charges as an alleged accomplice to the murder of Amber Dudley, Judge Brown lowered her bail to $500,000 cash or bond.

Staub afterward told The Trentonian he is “glad” the judge reduced the bail.

Grillo said he had no comment on the judge denying his request to maintain Richter’s bail at $1 million.

Another alleged accomplice in Dudley’s murder, Kasey DeZolt, 32, of Morrisville, Pa., was arrested last Thursday and charged with the same offenses as Richter. DeZolt did not have a bail hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

Police still have not announced an arrest of the gunman who had fired the shot that killed Dudley. Prosecutors identified the suspected gunman as Andrew Alston and confirmed he remained at large as of Tuesday morning.

Emmanuel Cruz

Recently arrested murder suspect Emmanuel Cruz killed Emilio Lopez in cold blood during a 2012 city robbery and the whole shebang was recorded on surveillance footage, authorities alleged.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian at a bail hearing Tuesday said the state has identified three cooperating witnesses who have all fingered 29-year-old Cruz as the alleged gunman who had shot and killed Lopez four years ago in Trenton.

Lopez, 34, was slain Nov. 16, 2012, in the 100 block of Kent Street in the city’s Chambersburg neighborhood.

Gasparian said four individuals, including Cruz, were “looking to rob individuals on the street” on the night of the murder. She said the entire incident was caught on video of Lopez walking down the street before being surrounded by the suspects and shot and killed.

The surveillance video corroborates the cooperating witness accounts, Gasparian said.

Members of the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Cruz on Dec. 19 in Falls Township, Pa. He has been charged with murder, robbery and related weapons offenses in connection with Lopez’s death.

Three other men, whom are all cousins, were previously arrested in connection with Lopez’s death within a week of the murder. Those three defendants have been identified as Roberto Cruz, Jose Rivera and Kenneth Rivera; they remain in jail awaiting trial on murder charges. Emmanuel Cruz is Roberto Cruz’s brother.

Considering the evidence in the case and the fact that Cruz has previously served 18 months behind bars on a 2012 felony conviction, Gasparian successfully argued for Judge Thomas M. Brown to maintain Cruz’s bail at $1 million cash or bond Tuesday.

Cruz’s public defender Aletha Sheppard unsuccessfully argued for the bail to be reduced to $250,000. She called the million-dollar bail “extremely excessive” and said Cruz “has substantial ties to the community,” adding Cruz has a fiancée and a 9-year-old daughter.

Brown said he was keeping Cruz’s bail at $1 million cash or bond due to the strength of the case.

Kasey DeZolt (left) and Dominique Richter

As details regarding the death of Amber Dudley emerge, the case becomes more odd.

At a bail hearing Thursday, prosecutors said phone records show that 32-year-old Kasey DeZolt actually lured a witness to Mechanics Avenue where a man tried to rob occupants of a car, resulting in Dudley’s death.

Prosecutors previously said co-defendant Dominique Richter “implicated herself and others” in the Nov. 30 murder, and that she organized the robbery“by her own admission.”

Other than that, officials have remained tight-lipped as detectives continue to search for Andrew Alston, who prosecutors say pulled the trigger that fateful night and remains on the run.

Dudley, a 27-year-old from Collingswood, was one of three passengers in a car when a man armed with a handgun tried to enter the rear of the vehicle on Mechanics Avenue. Officials say the suspect tried to rob the occupants of the car, which sparked a struggle between he and the passengers. The driver then sped away and the gunman fired a shot.

Amber Dudley

Dudley and two of her friends were being driven by a man providing rides through Lyft, which is a peer-to-peer ridesharing service similar to Uber. After Dudley was shot, the Lyft driver fled to TPD headquarters. It took about 20 minutes for law enforcement and EMS personnel to stabilize her before taking Dudley to the hospital, where she later died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

At DeZolt’s bail hearing Thursday, prosecutors said a witness in the car with Dudley told police DeZolt lured them to that location on Mechanics Avenue. Prosecutors did not disclose the nature of the meeting, but Assistant Prosecutor Michael Grillo said text messages and phone call records confirmed a witness was in communication with DeZolt prior to the botched robbery.

DeZolt’s defense attorney didn’t proffer much information, but requested a bail reduction due to her client’s nonexistent criminal record.

A judge reduced DeZolt’s bail to $500,000 cash or bond, partly because she had no prior criminal history and partly because Richter’s bail was lowered to that amount by a different judge earlier this week.

DeZolt, of Morrisville, Pa., and 31-year-old Richter, of Hamilton, are both charged with accomplice liability felony murder, accomplice liability robbery, accomplice liability unlawful possession of a weapon and accomplice liability possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose.

At the bail hearing, defense attorney Amber Forrester said DeZolt was employed at Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton “up until recently.”

Richter also lists Capital Health Regional Medical Center as her employer on Facebook.

Two men were murdered in the parking lot of this gas station. Sept. 11, 2016 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Shortly after 3 a.m. on September 11, a Trenton cop left the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Chambers Street; moments later two men were murdered in the Shell gas station parking lot.

“I wonder what we could have done differently in that particular circumstance,” Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr. said. “I had a supervisor in a vehicle sitting there. He left to respond to a call. Other than having someone posted on every single corner, what more can you possibly do?”

The capital city experienced 24 homicides in 2016, which includes the deaths of Edwardo Martinez and Vincent Miller, whom both were killed by hit-and-run drivers. That number also includes the death of Alfred Toe who was shot and killed while trying to wrestle a handgun away from an off-duty police officer.

That number does not include the death of Antonio Wiley, the city crossing guard who was struck and killed by a motorist while helping someone walk across Route 129 in April. Duane Bennett, of Upper Freehold, was arrested in connection with the incident and is charged with causing death while driving with a suspended license. But Bennett has not been charged with death by auto, and the medical examiner lists the manner of Wiley’s death an accident. Prosecutors say the case will be presented to a grand jury soon, which may result in a vehicular homicide indictment.

According to the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit, vehicular homicides are considered manslaughter and are not reported as a homicide statistic. Justifiable homicides are not counted in state police murder statistics either. Therefore, NJSP will report Trenton’s official 2016 homicide number as 21.

The Trentonian, however, includes vehicular homicides and justifiable police-involved killings in its yearly homicide count.

Whether one acknowledges the 2016 death toll as 24 or 21, the tally is still greater than the number of people who were killed in the capital the year prior. The number of young people who are killed each year in this 8-square-mile city, coupled with the fact that several of them were innocent bystanders, is one of the things that keeps Parrey awake at night.

“Sometimes you just want to scream,” Parrey said. “Every morning [after a murder] we ask, ‘Why weren’t we there?’”

The department hired two classes of recruits last year, and it has enough budget to hire another group for the next police academy class. But anywhere from 10 to 20 officers could retire within the next two years. The total amount of officers currently on the force is much lower than the number of cops employed prior to the 2011 layoffs, which presents a number of challenges to daily crime suppression.

“From a statistical perspective, 2015 was a very good year,” Parrey said. “When the numbers were tallied at the end of that year, I thought, ‘Wow, this may be hard to live up to.’ We saw an uptick in crime in 2016, but these things go in cycles. The summer months and weekend nights are no longer the most violent times of the year. We can no longer predict when and where crime will happen. We truly have to have a 24/7 crime suppression operation throughout the entire year.”

State police data released last week shows the capital city experienced an increase in almost every category of crime compared to the year prior. Between January and November 2016, rapes increased 14 percent, robberies increased 10 percent and burglaries increased 22 percent, compared to that same time period in 2015. Gun assaults, aggravated assault and simple assaults increased comparatively between the two years as well.

With violence prevalent in this population of 84,000 people, city activists, politicians and law enforcement personnel are talking more about the role mental health plays in these criminal incidents.

A 2015 report released by the Study Commission on Violence recommends reforming New Jersey’s mental health programs to curb violence. Although the commission found that people with a mental health disability are more likely to be victims as opposed to perpetrators of violent crime, the report also notes that violence directly correlates with substance abuse.

Additionally, a study conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) found that 72 percent of prisoners with a mental health disorder also had a substance abuse problem. That same study also found that two-thirds of all juveniles who are exposed to the criminal justice system have co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.

“In fact, it is when substance abuse co-occurs with mental illness that we see a connection to criminal activity,” the commission’s report states, also noting that violent behavior appears to be more common in people with mental illnesses when there is also the presence of other risk factors such as a history of violence, juvenile detention, physical abuse and recent stressors such as being a crime victim, getting divorced, or losing a job.

Due to these facts, personnel at the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office have been practicing what they describe as an “informal Mental Health Court.”

Mental Health Court is not a new concept within the criminal justice system, but not every jurisdiction has one. Union County currently has a jail diversion program that works similar to Mental Health Court. And Pennsylvania has numerous specialty courts, including several that are devoted to cases involving a mental health component.

Essentially, Mental Health Court works similar to Drug Court, and offenders with severe mental illness are diverted into a judicially supervised program that includes community-based treatment.

Since Mercer County doesn’t have a Mental Health Court, prosecutors and defense attorneys often work together to identify cases with a mental health component that are clogging the criminal justice system and could be resolved without sending the offender to jail. Since the county doesn’t have a formal program such as this, prosecutors could not provide an exact number of cases that fall into this category. But officials say a “significant number” of Mercer County cases could be resolved through a mental health jail diversion program, especially the criminal assault cases that originate within the Ann Klein Forensic Center and the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital.

“You’re never going to eradicate mental health issues; you have to service and supervise it,” Assistant Prosecutor Amy Devenny said. “If we put someone in jail for three years, he or she will still have the same issue when they get out. We have to get better at supervising and managing those types of cases. We get a good number of people who shouldn’t be in the criminal justice system.”

In 2007, Senator Shirley Turner (D-Mercer/Hunterdon) introduced legislation that would establish a Mental Health Court in Mercer County. But the bill never gained traction with other lawmakers for several different reasons. Turner plans to reintroduce a revised version of the bill in the near future, and she believes fellow lawmakers will support it.

“I would love to see this type of jail diversion program become more structured here in Mercer as opposed to me picking up the phone and calling Amy about a case,” Public Defender Jessica Lyons said. “Quite honestly, there’s more than the few cases that cross our desks and there’s no mechanism to adequately identify the cases that would benefit from Mental Health Court.”

In Pennsylvania, a specific judge oversees all the cases in a particular jurisdiction that may benefit from a mental health jail diversion program, and he or she works with prosecutors and defense attorneys to develop the appropriate course of action.

“Individuals who complete our program often develop the tools they need to be successful,” Judge Sheila Woods-Skipper, who presides over Mental Health Court in Philadelphia County, said. “Sometimes they make small achievements, such as being able to take their medication independently. But some of the people who enter the program actually learn to live independently. Sometimes they go back to school and receive their high school diploma, or they attend college or some other type of vocational training. Those type of things make the program successful.”

Coordinators of the Mental Health Court program in Philadelphia were not able to provide exhaustive data regarding recidivism rates. But officials say that in 2015 only three of the people who completed the Mental Health Court program in Philadelphia were later arrested for new offenses.

Senator Turner said her new bill would establish Mental Health Court programs in North, Central and South Jersey. For the programs to truly be successful, each jurisdiction that implements a specialty court would have to hire additional judges and other personnel, which would require grant money or more taxpayer dollars.

“From what I’ve been able to determine from legislators, there’s a lot of interest in this,” Turner said. “I think people have come to the realization that this is far preferable in more ways than one. This is how we should deal with someone in a humane manner: help make that person productive so they can take care of themselves instead of incarcerating them.”

View additional 2016 homicide statistics here.

A man was shot and killed on Edgewood Avenue. November 15, 2016 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

The capital city experienced 24 homicides in 2016, which includes the deaths of Edwardo Martinez and Vincent Miller, whom both were killed by hit-and-run drivers. That number also includes the death of Alfred Toe who was shot and killed while trying to wrestle a handgun away from an off-duty police officer.

That number does not include the death of Antonio Wiley, the city crossing guard who was struck and killed by a motorist while helping someone walk across Route 129 in April. Duane Bennett, of Upper Freehold, was arrested in connection with the incident and is charged with causing death while driving with a suspended license. But Bennett has not been charged with death by auto, and the medical examiner lists the manner of Wiley’s death an accident. Prosecutors say the case will be presented to a grand jury soon, which may result in a vehicular homicide indictment.

According to the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit, vehicular homicides are considered manslaughter and are not reported as a homicide statistic. Justifiable homicides are not counted in state police murder statistics either. Therefore, NJSP will report Trenton’s official 2016 homicide number as 21.

The Trentonian, however, includes vehicular homicides and justifiable police-involved killings in its yearly homicide count.

September was the deadliest month of 2016, largely because of a double murder that happened at a Shell gas station; three other people died that month as well. Four people were killed in each of the months of June and August. There were no homicides in February, March and October.

Twenty-one victims were male; three were female.

Nine homicides occurred in the West Ward, more than any other ward. The East Ward experienced eight killings.

Twelve victims were in their 20s at the time of their death, and six victims were in their 30s when they died. Four teenagers were murdered in 2016 as well.

The oldest victim was 60-year-old Stephen Merrill, a well-respected member of the capital city’s arts and music community who was robbed and beaten to death by a man later identified as 25-year-old Jonathan Weathers. The youngest victim was 15-year-old Maurice Wimbush-Jalaah, who was gunned down in Prospect Village.

Seventeen victims were black, five were Hispanic and two were white.

Shootings killed 20 people in the capital city, more than any other homicide method. One person was stabbed to death: 27-year-old Carlos Leiva-Oviedo.

Seven victims were pronounced dead at the scene and 17 died at the hospital.

Nineteen suspects were arrested in connection with homicides that occurred in 2016; two of them are female and six of them are juveniles. So far, only one of the suspects who was a juvenile at the time of the crime is being tried in court as an adult: Peter Charles Jr., who is accused of firing at a speeding van carrying seven other juveniles, including Ciony Kirkman who died from a gunshot wound to the head.

The majority of homicides happened between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. Six killings occurred between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Using 2015 census data and the 21 homicides state police will officially report to the FBI, Trenton’s 2016 murder rate is 24.93 homicides per 100,000 residents.

A third teenager charged in the murder of a 15-year-old six months ago in the city’s West Ward was arrested for allegedly dealing drugs the week of the killing.

(left to right) Wilson George, Jayshawn Smith and Juprie Wadley

Wilson George, 19, has also been indicted on drug-distribution offenses for allegedly dealing dope in October 2015, according to court records. He faces a number of un-indicted drug charges filed the same week he and two other teens are accused of gunning down Maurice Wimbush-Jalaah, 15, on June 11 in Prospect Village, a Trenton housing complex.

George made his first appearance in court for a bail hearing Monday.

His associates, Jashawn Smith and Juprie Wadley -- also charged with murder, conspiracy and weapons offenses -- had bail hearings last week. They are each being held on $1 million.

George’s bail was reduced to $500,000 after prosecutors laid out the case against him.

The case against the three teens is built on ballistics from three recovered handguns -- a .32-caliber, 9 mm and .22-caliber revolver -- as well as bullets and shell casings balistically tied to the murder, prosecutors said.

The .22 was found after police patted down Wadley, minutes after they encountered the teens running down Louise Lane. They ordered them to stop at gunpoint.

Maurice Wimbush-Jalaah (submitted photo)

Wadley and George got down but Smith bolted and was apprehended after a foot chase.

Assistant Prosecutor William Fisher said Smith tossed a 9 mm handgun.

George had been allowed to walk when police didn’t find a gun on him. But he was later charged with tossing the .32-caliber handgun, which was discovered next to a sweatshirt behind a silver Lexus.

Prosecutors said George dropped the sweatshirt and the gun. There was a gap between when George, who had denied the allegations, was charged with murder and conspiracy.  

The suspect’s attorney, Kathleen Redpath-Perez, pointed to the delay in saying police’s case against George has “problems” and isn’t as strong as prosecutors let on.

“He should have been charged the same day if that was the observation made [about the gun],” she said.

While his associates spoke to police and gave different accounts of what allegedly happened, it’s unclear if George spoke to detectives.

Fisher declined to say whether the teen spoke detectives when they tried to interrogate him.

Murder suspect Isiah Greene

Here we go again.

Fifteen months ago after Isiah Greene’s murder trial ended in a hung jury, Mercer County prosecutors Thursday made good on their promise to retry the suspected killer in a court of law.

Greene is the alleged gunman charged with the July 2013 murder of 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley. The slaying occurred in the courtyard of Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Police arrested a then-20-year-old Greene on Nov. 18, 2013, in connection with the murder of Gurley. When the case finally went to trial nearly two years later, a jury heard many hours of testimony over a two-week period but could not render a verdict, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial on Oct. 16, 2015.

“We’re trying him again,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott said at the time. “I think we have a strong case.”

When Greene’s second murder trial opened on Thursday, Assistant Prosecutors Scott and Daniel Matos worked in tandem in an attempt to paint the defendant guilty as charged while defense attorney Mark Fury gave measured remarks intended to introduce reasonable doubt into the minds of the jurors.

The 15-member jury in Green’s retrial is composed of 11 women and four men. The state Superior Court judge presiding over the case, Anthony Massi, told the jurors they are prohibited from reading about the case in the press. He also told them they must not communicate with anyone about the murder trial in any form, including social media, text messages or email.

Four witnesses testified at the retrial on Thursday: Mercer County Medical Examiner Dr. Raafat Ahmad; Gurley’s fiancée Dana Washington; eyewitness Lalisa Thompson; and Trenton Police Detective Maricelis Rosa-Delgado, who was the primary crime-scene investigator who had responded to the fatal shooting of Gurley.

Gurley lived a street-tough life, but his fiancée testified to his softer side as a family man. Washington later told The Trentonian about how Gurley is missed by his loved ones. In addition to being engaged to Washington, Gurley also had five children.

Murder victim Quaadir Gurley

Washington is the mother of two of Gurley’s children, both of whom are girls who were ages 1 and 6 when their father was gunned down in cold blood. The daughters are now ages 5 and 10.

Murder scene

The July 2013 shooting littered spent shell casings outside 101 Rossell Ave. and blood stains along a nearby sidewalk. The incident quickly turned into a homicide when on-duty Detective Rosa-Delgado arrived on the scene in the pre-dawn hours. She took photographs at the crime scene from about 2 a.m. when it was dark up to 6 a.m. after the sun had risen on that fair-weather summer day.

Rosa-Delgado took to the witness stand on Thursday and testified as a factual witness, not an expert. The prosecutors meticulously questioned her about her crime-scene investigation into the murder of Gurley and displayed several of her photographs on a projector screen depicting evidence of the shooting.

After a long day of opening statements and witness testimony, Judge Massi recessed the trial at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday. The retrial for Greene, now 23, is scheduled to recommence 9:15 a.m. next Tuesday with Rosa-Delgado expected to resume her testimony.

Alleged killer Isiah Greene

Freshly groomed and nicely dressed, murder suspect Isiah Greene appeared cool, calm and collected in court Tuesday as a police officer testified that she photographed the defendant several years ago when he was recovering from a gunshot wound to the foot.

With the image being projected on a screen, Trenton Police Detective Maricelis Rosa-Delgado said she took that photo depicting Greene on a hospital bed with his left foot bandaged at Capital Health Regional Medical Center on the morning of July 21, 2013 — the same date that Greene allegedly shot and killed 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley at Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex.

When a prosecutor asked Rosa-Delgado if the man in the photo was present in the courtroom and if she could see him, the detective looked at Greene and talked about the clothing he was wearing.

“White dress shirt, tie; I believe that’s a sweater,” Rosa-Delgado said of the black sweater vest Greene was sporting on top of his long-sleeved shirt.

Greene, 23, appeared unfazed through Rosa-Delgado’s testimony. At times he placed his right hand under his chin and slightly reclined in his chair. On another occasion he yawned.

It wasn’t Greene’s first rodeo as a defendant on trial for murder. Prosecutors previously tried him 15 months ago in a court of law, but an indecisive jury could not render a verdict, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial on Oct. 16, 2015.

In the initial trial that ended in a hung jury, prosecutors said Greene shot himself in the foot while shooting Gurley. Greene took the stand and offered a different explanation, saying he had been struck by a wayward bullet, possibly one that had ricocheted off buildings when another gunman opened fire on Gurley. He said he saw the gunman run past him but he didn’t get a good glimpse of his face.

Murder victim Quaadir Gurley

Rosa-Delgado arrived at the murder scene at 2:07 a.m. — not long after Gurley died — and took photographs till about 6 a.m. Then she headed to 29 Sanhican Drive to take pictures of reddish-brown stains suspected to be Greene’s blood at 6:55 a.m. After that, she went to Capital Health Regional Medical Center and collected clothing and other items that belonged to Greene and Gurley at 7:10 a.m., according to her testimony in the retrial.

Personal belongings

While on the witness stand Tuesday, Rosa-Delgado displayed the white Air Jordan speakers that belonged to Gurley. Several hours after the murder, a hospital security officer turned over the slain victim’s possessions to Rosa-Delgado, who testified that the items on Tuesday appeared to be the same or substantially similar to the condition she originally found them in three-plus years ago.

The detective on the witness stand also displayed some of the items that belonged to Greene, including the socks that Greene wore on the day he was hospitalized for his gunshot wound to the foot. One of those socks appeared to have a dark brown stain on the sole area, presumably Greene’s dried blood. Greene’s hospital items on Tuesday appeared to be the same or substantially similar to the condition Rosa-Delgado originally found them in, she said.

When Greene’s defense attorney Mark Fury got the chance to cross examine Rosa-Delgado Tuesday afternoon, he immediately jockeyed for a position to possibly insert reasonable doubt into the minds of the 15-member-strong racially diverse jury.

“It was a full moon, wasn’t it?” Fury said.

“I’m not sure, sir,” Rosa-Delgado responded.

“You didn’t note in your report that lighting was poor and you were having trouble finding stuff,” the defense attorney said.

“No, I did not,” the police detective responded.

Mentioning how Rosa-Delgado found multiple shell casings, several spots of suspected blood and a ring at the scene where Gurley was slain, Fury said, “You didn’t have any trouble finding this stuff, right?”

Catching his stride, Fury moments later said, “No one suggested this was a robbery, did they?”

“No,” the veteran police detective responded.

“You didn’t find anything that ties Mr. Greene to the scene?” he asked her.

“No, I did not,” she said in response.

Fury went on to suggest that a bad cop could have tampered with evidence without Rosa-Delgado ever noticing.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Matos countered with the courtroom equivalent of a Hail Mary pass, asking Rosa-Delgado if she sees better at night.

“I have glaucoma,” Rosa-Delgado responded. “I see better at night than day.”

Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi told the jury to disregard Rosa-Delgado’s final remark.

Staff writer Isaac Avilucea contributed to this report.

DeShawn Bethea stood solemn in khaki prison garb before a Mercer County Judge as he received a sentence of 14 years in the death of 61-year-old Berkley McDaniel in June of 2013 on Friday.
The 27-year-old was sentenced in accordance with a negotiated plea deal for manslaughter and aggravated assault in two violent cases in Trenton.

DaShawn Bethea

McDaniel’s family said in court they did not know Bethea, but they questioned why he would have committed such a violent act against McDaniel. In spite of Bethea’s crime that took McDaniel’s life – the family forgave him in letters and before the court. McDaniel was not Bethea’s intended victim, but an innocent bystander who was struck amid wild gunfire on Stuyvesant Avenue that night.

McDaniel’s wife, who was not present at the hearing, had her voice heard through a letter addressed to the court. McDaniel received the awful news while she was at work that Berkley McDaniel had been shot in the head in Trenton. Through the letter his wife said that they did not know Bethea, but questioned why he would commit such a brutal crime.

“Berkley is gone, we will forever remember him. Nothing can bring him back,” she said in the letter read to the court by Assistant Prosecutor William Fisher. The family asked that the court punish Bethea to the fullest extent of the law.
McDaniel’s sister Cynthia McDaniel-Hankins, who made the journey with family from Virginia, addressed the court in a letter and in person.

“You have hurt two families, the McDaniel family and your own,” McDaniel-Hankins wrote in a letter to the court. “You are a young man; we pray that you have begun to change your life for the better. Every day we remind you of the special moments we spent with him. There is nothing that can be done to bring Berkley back to us.”
The oldest of six siblings, Billy McDaniel, passed away before knowing if justice would be served in his brother’s death, McDaniel-Hankins’ letter said.

“So I say today to Mr., Bethea, we forgive you for what you’ve done. I understand that they’re telling me that you didn’t intend to shoot my brother, but I wish you the best,” McDaniel-Hankins said while fighting a flood of emotion before the court. “As you grow older, I hope that you will be able to turn your life around and you will be able to come out of jail and be productive. I don’t know anything about you sir, but I forgive you.”
Bethea was given a chance to speak and he addressed the court expressing his apologies to both McDaniel’s family and his own.

“I never intended to hurt Mr. McDaniel. He was a good man, I knew him personally,” Bethea said. “I know it hurt right now, because there’s nothing I can say to bring Mr. McDaniel back.

Bethea expressed that despite McDaniel’s death he never intended to kill [McDaniel] , and that he’s a “kindhearted dude.” Bethea then asked for the family’s forgiveness stating, “I hope you all forgive me, later on down the line. I know it’s hard right now.”

Judge Peter Warshaw then imposed the recommended sentence of 14-years on the aggravated manslaughter, and a seven-year sentence on a separate aggravated assault that will run concurrently.

Seth Z. Bowers

A city man was indicted last week in connection with the shooting death of Zaire Gibbs.

Seth Bowers, 22, is charged with murder and related weapons offenses in connection with the death of Gibbs, who was gunned down around 3:50 p.m. June 1 during an altercation on Washington Street.

Gibbs died from his injuries the following day while in the hospital.

Zaire Gibbs

After the shooting, authorities found a left-footed shoe on Washington Street that matched a right-footed Adidas sneaker discovered at Bowers’ Anderson Street home, not far from the crime scene.

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

Bowers remains in the Mercer County Correction Center on $1 million cash only bail.