Charlotte Carman

A woman accused of fatally stabbing her ex-boyfriend intends to go to trial on a self-defense claim rather than accept a plea deal that would have put her in prison for 30 years.

Charlotte Carman could possibly serve 63 years behind bars if convicted on murder charges. The 39-year old Trenton woman is accused of killing Paris France Way, 33, on May 31, 2015, near the intersection of Sherman and St. Joe’s avenues in Trenton.

Police arrested Carman on June 12, 2015, and she remains incarcerated in the Mercer County Correction Center on $400,000 cash bail as she awaits trial.

At a pre-trial conference on Tuesday, Assistant Prosecutor Stacey Geurds said Carman was waiting by the victim’s home in stalker fashion, waiting for the victim to return home on the date of the slaying.

Carman eventually saw Way and a neighbor and then approached her former beau when he was alone on the street. “He reacted by saying, ‘What are you doing? Why are you stalking me?’” Geurds said, alleging that Carman “took a knife from her person and ended up stabbing him in the lung.”

Paris France Way (Contributed photo)

As the victim was dying in the street from his injuries, Carman allegedly stabbed each of the victim’s four car tires, which was caught on surveillance video, Geurds said.

A female witness saw the victim screaming for help and will testify as an eyewitness when the case goes to trial, Geurds said.

In the two weeks between the murder and Carman’s arrest, Geurds said Carman used the victim’s money to get a tattoo depicting the victim’s date of birth. The assistant prosecutor also said that Carman “admits she spit on the victim while he was dying.”

Carman is being represented by public defender Joseph E. Krakora, who unsuccessfully negotiated a plea agreement calling for his client to receive 12 years in state prison.

Isiah Greene

Alleged killer Isiah Greene testified in his own defense Tuesday, exposing himself to fierce cross-examination that forced him to admit that he had previously lied to police.

“You lied about being shot on Sanhican?” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott asked the defendant. “You lied about who shot you? You lied about where you got shot?”

“Yes,” Greene responded to all of the questions.

Greene, 23, is on trial on allegations he murdered 24-year-old city man “Ace” Quaadir Gurley in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013. Gurley died from multiple gunshot wounds at the Donnelly Homes housing complex in Trenton.

Greene himself suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his left foot at around the same time Gurley died.

In taking to the witness stand, Greene at his murder retrial on Tuesday confirmed he was shot at Donnelly Homes but said he had originally lied to the cops— falsely telling them he was shot in the area of Sanhican Drive — because he did not want to be called as a witness in the shooting that killed Gurley.

In the initial trial that ended in a hung jury, prosecutors said Greene shot himself in the foot while shooting Gurley. But Greene on Tuesday gave testimony under oath saying he did not shoot Gurley or himself.

Defendant’s story

Wearing a green long-sleeved T-shirt, black tie and black pants, Greene answered questions from his defense attorney Mark Fury and from Assistant Prosecutor Scott to provide his version of events leading up to the fatal shooting.

Greene said he spent much of the day of July 20, 2013, in the area of Sanhican Drive, where he lived nearby on West State Street. He was wearing a white T-shirt, white tank top, white shorts, white shoes and white socks that day and attended a memorial “All-White Affair” that evening on Highland Avenue that was honoring a person who had died.

Greene said he was hanging out with three friends — Court, Twan and Justin — and mentioned that they had all been drinking that night. He said he only knew Court and Twan by their nicknames and that he did not know Justin’s surname.

“If you don’t know someone’s legal name, it is hard (for police) to find them, right?” Scott asked as if to question the legitimacy of Greene’s testimony. Greene did not back away from his story.

The defendant and his three friends wanted to go to a Philadelphia nightclub that night, but they were all too intoxicated to drive and therefore had to search for a potential designated driver to take them to the City of Brotherly Love, Greene said.

Someone drove the group straight from Highland Avenue to Donnelly Homes — about a seven-minute trip, Greene testified. He said they wanted to get a sober Donnelly Homes resident known as Kaye or Kayson to drive them from the North Trenton housing complex to Philly.

Someone in the group called Kaye’s cellphone about 1 a.m. July 21, 2013, but he did not answer it. Greene got out of the car and was going to knock on Kaye’s front door, he said.

“I never made it to go knock on the door,” Greene added. He said he had heard gunshots. “I got on the ground and got low.”

Then Greene realized he had been shot, he said. When the shots stopped flying, he hopped back to the vehicle and got in the front passenger’s seat. He sat down in a puddle of juice on the car seat, causing his shirts to become stained, he said.

“I had never been shot before,” Greene said. “I said, ‘Take me to the hospital.’ They took me back to Sanhican.”

It was about 1:40 a.m. on Sanhican Drive when Greene falsely reported to police that he had been shot in that area. “I didn’t want to be a witness,” he said, explaining his reasoning for lying to the cops.

Greene was treated at Capital Health Regional Medical Center and released the next day.

Police arrested a then-20-year-old Greene on Nov. 18, 2013, charging him with murder. When police interviewed him that day, officers asked Greene how his blood ended up on Rossell Avenue at Donnelly Homes, and he responded, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Greene on Tuesday said he did not know Gurley but had “heard of him.” He even suggested that detectives put his DNA at specific locations at the murder scene “to bolster their story.”

“Mr. Greene, you told multiple lies to police on multiple occasions?” Scott asked the defendant.

“Yes,” Greene responded.

The criminal retrial is scheduled to resume 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi’s courtroom.

Isiah Greene

The fate of alleged killer Isiah Greene rests in the hands of 12 jurors who may determine whether he is guilty or not guilty of murdering 24-year-old Trenton man “Ace” Quaadir Gurley.

Greene, 23, of Trenton, is accused of possessing a handgun without a permit and using the weapon to shoot and kill Gurley at the city’s Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi on Wednesday read instructions to the 12 main jurors and the three randomly selected alternates directing them on how to render a verdict in the case.

The state previously tried Greene on murder charges in an October 2015 trial that ended in a hung jury. The state brought the case to a retrial earlier this month in hopes of securing a conviction.

During the retrial, Mercer County Assistant Prosecutors Jim Scott and Daniel Matos have emphasized the evidence in the case of shell casings and blood stains and painted Greene as a murderer who has previously lied to police about where he was at when Gurley was gunned down. Prosecutors say Greene shot himself in the foot while shooting Gurley.

Greene’s defense attorney Mark Fury has questioned the integrity of the evidence in the case, suggesting authorities could have tampered with certain items and materials to make it appear as if Greene was responsible for Gurley’s death.

Greene took to the witness stand in his own defense earlier this week and said he did not shoot Gurley or himself. He also said he did not know Gurley but had heard of him. Gurley lived a street-tough lifestyle but was described by his fiancée Dana Washington as a caring father who leaves behind six children.

Quaadir Gurley (center) with two of his six children. (Contributed Photo)

The state has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Greene purposely or knowingly caused Gurley’s death or that the defendant was aware his conduct would cause serious bodily injury that resulted in the victim’s death.

All 12 jurors must unanimously agree that the state beyond a reasonable doubt proved Greene murdered Gurley in order to convict the defendant on the murder charge. All 12 jurors must unanimously agree the state failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt to find Greene not guilty.

The other charges against Greene are possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a handgun. The state has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Greene knowingly possessed a handgun for the unlawful purpose of shooting Gurley and that he knowingly possessed a handgun without obtaining a permit for the jury to convict Greene on the weapons offenses.

“You are expected to use your own commonsense,” Massi told the jurors Wednesday in delivering his instructions. “It is your duty as jurors to consult with one another.”

In further jury instructions, Massi told the jurors that “each of you must decide the case for yourself,” adding, “Don’t be afraid to change your opinion. … Please remember you are not partisans. You are judges of the facts.”

With Massi passing along the instructions, the jury deliberated for about an hour on Wednesday before going into recess without rendering a verdict. Jury deliberations will resume Thursday morning at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse.

Isiah Greene

The fate of alleged killer Isiah Greene continues to remain in limbo as a jury ponders over the facts and evidence in his murder retrial.

Greene, 23, of Trenton, is accused of possessing a semiautomatic .40 caliber handgun without a permit and using the weapon to shoot and kill “Ace” Quaadir Gurley, a 24-year-old father who had six kids. The slaying occurred at the Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Prosecutors say Greene accidentally shot himself in the foot while shooting Gurley eight times in the abdomen and chest area. The triggerman fired 10 shots that morning. Greene this week testified in his own defense saying he did not shoot Gurley or himself.

The 12-member jury conducted deliberations for about an hour on Wednesday and followed up with several more hours of deliberations on Thursday, but the jurors still could not reach a unanimous decision on whether Greene is guilty or not guilty of murder and weapons offenses.

During Thursday’s backroom deliberations, the jury requested to sit inside Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi’s courtroom to listen to an audio recording of prior testimony in the case.

Specifically, the jurors wanted to once again listen to the testimony of Trenton Police Officer Matthew Bledsoe. Bledsoe took to the witness stand earlier this month and said he had responded to hundreds of shooting incidents since becoming a cop 11 years ago. Based on his “training and experience,” Bledsoe said it is his belief that Greene shot himself in the foot.

The jurors appeared to be focused and could be seen jotting down notes on notepad paper while Bledsoe’s testimony was being played back.

The testimony over whether Greene shot himself while allegedly gunning down Gurley has been a major sticking point in the case going back to the initial October 2015 murder trial that ended in a hung jury.

“They ran with the ‘shot himself in the foot’ thing because they want to think that every criminal is dumb, because it fits their idea,” Greene’s defense attorney Mark Fury said Wednesday in closing arguments. “It satisfies their need to be smart. Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit the facts. And frankly, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Comparing Greene’s .40 caliber gunshot wound to Gurley’s .40 caliber gunshot wounds, “It is plain that he did not shoot himself,” Fury said. “It’s more likely what he told you: He was hit by a ricochet.”

The prosecution and defense both agree Greene was at Donnelly Homes and was wounded in the early morning July 2013 shooting, resulting in some of his blood being left at the murder scene where Gurley died that same morning.

Quaadir Gurley (center) with two of his six children. (Contributed Photo)

But the defense suggests police had possibly planted evidence or tampered with certain items and materials to make it appear as if Greene was responsible for Gurley’s death, while prosecutors say they have legitimate circumstantial evidence and reasonable inference from key facts that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Greene murdered Gurley in “brutal” fashion.

“In a criminal trial, the evidence tells you the story of what happened,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott said Wednesday in closing arguments. “And the evidence in this case points in only one direction: That Isiah Greene murdered Quaadir Gurley on July 21, 2013, at about 1:30 in the morning.”

“In the midst of firing 10 shots, one of them hit himself in the leg, and the trajectory is in such a point that it has to be self-inflicted,” Scott added.

“The defendant is throwing out this comment, this invitation for you to speculate that this is planted evidence, that the blood is planted, that this is a frame job on Isiah Greene,” Scott said in his closing arguments to the jury, according to an audio recording of the proceeding. “The timeline here knocks that out of the water. The evidence does not support that claim.”

Jury deliberations are scheduled to resume at 9:15 a.m. next Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Isiah Greene

A jury may once again have a hard time judging whether or not alleged killer Isiah Greene is guilty of murder.

Prosecutors say Greene shot and killed 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013. The slaying occurred at Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex.

The state previously tried Greene on murder charges in an October 2015 criminal trial that ended in a hung jury. The state brought the case to a retrial earlier this month in hopes of securing a conviction this time around.

Prosecutors have circumstantial evidence linking Greene to the scene of the murder and have made reasonable inferences to conclude that Greene shot himself in the foot while shooting Gurley multiple times with a .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun.

Greene, 23, denies shooting himself or Gurley. He took to the witness stand in his own defense last week and said he was walking in the courtyard of Donnelly Homes and got low on the ground upon hearing gunshots. Realizing he was shot, Greene in sworn testimony said he got up and hopped into an occupied vehicle that drove him to the area of Sanhican Drive.

Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Jim Scott said Greene went to Sanhican Drive and made a “fake 911 call to police” to falsely report he was shot on Sanhican Drive, saying Greene did that “so that he is not tied to the murder of Quaadir Gurley.”

Case weaknesses

Police have not found the murder weapon in the case. If Greene was the triggerman, that would mean the people who helped him flee the scene in a motor vehicle were accessories to the violent crime. But police have not made any other arrests in connection with the homicide of Gurley.

As such, there are no co-defendants or cooperating criminals testifying against Greene. No co-conspirator has pointed the finger at Greene.

The state has one eyewitness to the murder, Lalisa Thompson, who testified to seeing a dark-skinned man wearing a white tank top and armed with what she believed to be a handgun. She said she did not actually see the gunman firing any shots. Greene is an African-American with relatively light skin, although he conceded his skin generally tans a darker shade in the summer compared with the winter.

Prosecutors say Greene fired 10 shots and that one of the shots struck himself in the foot and that eight struck Gurley in the body. Prosecutors have not presented a motive in the case — an explanation for why Greene allegedly wanted Gurley dead — but have said they have enough circumstantial evidence that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Greene is guilty of murder and weapons offenses.

Greene testified he did not know Gurley, a street-tough father who leaves behind six children, but said he had heard of him.

Defense weaknesses

Greene said he was hanging out with three friends and drinking alcoholic beverages on Highland Avenue when his crew decided to drive over to Donnelly Homes to get a designated driver who was supposed to take them to a Philadelphia nightclub. According to his sworn testimony, Greene got out of the parked vehicle off Rossell Avenue and was going to knock on the front door of the designated driver’s home when he heard gunshots. One of those shots struck him in the foot, he said.

But Greene’s defense attorney Mark Fury has not called any witnesses to corroborate his client’s story about the botched nightclub plan. Greene has admitted to previously lying to police about the shooting — saying he falsely reported he was shot on Sanhican Drive because he did not want to be called as a witness in the shooting that killed Gurley.

Medics transported Greene from Sanhican Drive to Capital Health Regional Medical Center to treat his gunshot wound, which was not considered life-threatening. Greene could have arrived at the hospital much sooner if his crew drove him from Donnelly Homes to the nearby trauma center. Instead, his crew dropped him off at Sanhican.

Investigators found Greene’s blood at the murder scene. Fury and Greene suggested police may have tampered with evidence or manipulated the scene in a way to make it appear as if Greene committed the violent crime. That argument, however, is highly speculative in nature as no evidence has been presented to prove any evidence-tampering occurred. Fury said investigators have conducted “unfortunately sloppy police work at the scene,” but several police officers have testified in the case about the thoroughness of their investigation.

Under cross-examination, Greene became defensive in answering questions posed to him by the prosecution, repeatedly accusing a prosecutor of misinterpreting or taking his statements out of context. “Unlike every other witness in this case, the defendant was excitable, evasive and combative,” Assistant Prosecutor Scott told the jury in closing arguments. “There is a complete lack of corroboration to what the defendant told you.”

Legal proceedings

Greene’s murder retrial began Jan. 5. After several days of witness testimony and evidence being submitted into the record, the 12-member jury began deliberating over whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty.

The jury failed to reach a verdict last week but is scheduled to continue deliberating Tuesday morning behind closed doors at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse.

Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi is presiding over the case.

TRENTON >> Mercer County officials have announced a 16-count indictment charging a Trenton man for the shooting death of Ciony Kirkman.

Ciony Kirkman (contributed photo)

Peter Charles, Jr, 18, was charged with first-degree murder and a list of lesser charges, according to a press release from the office of Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri

Charles, of Bayard Street, was also indicted on six counts of first-degree attempted murder, seven counts of fourth-degree aggravated assault, one count of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon. He remains in jail in lieu of $750,000.

On April 26, 2016 Ciony Kirkman, 16, was declared legally dead at Capital Health Regional Medical Center around 10:30 p.m.

Kirkman was inside a stolen minivan with a group of other kids when the vehicle was ambushed by gunfire on Jersey Street around 6:30 p.m. April 24, 2016.

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

Sources say minutes after the warning, they heard at least a dozen gunshots in rapid succession.

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

Andrew Alston

A third suspect accused in the murder of Amber Dudley has been arrested.

Thirty-nine-year-old Andrew Alston, the alleged gunman who fired a shot while robbing passengers of a Lyft rideshare service in November, was arrested minutes after prosecutors sent media a release seeking the public's help in finding him.

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.

Dudley and two of her friends were being driven by a man providing rides through Lyft. 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.

Kasey DeZolt (left) and Dominique Richter

At previous bail hearings for two other defendants in the case, prosecutors said 31-year-old Dominique Richter “implicated herself and others” in the Nov. 30 murder, and that she organized the robbery “by her own admission.”

Prosecutors also say phone records show that 32-year-old Kasey DeZolt lured a witness to Mechanics Avenue where a man tried to rob occupants of a car, resulting in Dudley’s death.

That gunman, prosecutors say, is Alston, who was arrested Tuesday afternoon. Alston is charged with being an accomplice to felony murder, robbery and weapons offenses. He has last known addresses of Perrine Avenue and Randall Avenue in Trenton.

Dezolt and Richter, whom are charged with the same offenses, remain in the Mercer County Correction Center.

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)

Nearly five years ago, a then-17-year-old Zaire Jackson allegedly shot and killed a city man execution style.

Jackson, now 22, will finally have his day in court to defend himself before a jury of his peers.

Jury selection began Tuesday at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse for Jackson’s imminent murder trial.

Jackson, a Trenton resident also known as “Philly” and “Cory,” is accused of shooting at 22-year-old Irvin “Swirv” Jackson in broad daylight and then chasing the victim down and fatally shooting him in the head April 9, 2012.

Irvin Jackson, who was not related to the defendant, died in a West Ward alleyway off North Hermitage Avenue.

Zaire Jackson has been charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Retired Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson has been recalled to the bench to preside over Jackson’s trial.

Meanwhile, the murder retrial for alleged killer Isiah Greene remains in limbo as a jury on Tuesday indicated it was nowhere near reaching a verdict.

“At this time we are unable to reach a unanimous decision,” the 12-member jury said Tuesday afternoon in a written message read aloud by Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi.

With the jury at an impasse, Massi instructed the jurors to continue deliberating for the rest of the afternoon, reminding them that “each of you must decide the case for yourself” and that “you are not partisans; you are judges of the facts.”

Despite Massi’s motivational pep talk, the jurors remained at an impasse and the judge excused the jury for the day about 4 p.m. Tuesday and instructed them to return at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday for continued deliberations.

Like Zaire Jackson, Greene, 23, of Trenton, has been charged with murder and weapons offenses for a crime he allegedly committed when he was a teenager. Greene has been accused of shooting and killing 24-year-old city man “Ace” Quaadir Gurley at the city’s Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Greene’s initial murder trial in October 2015 ended in a mistrial as 12 jurors failed to unanimously decide whether he was guilty or not guilty. His retrial could prove to be déjà vu.

DaShawn 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.

Andrew Alston

The alleged gunman in last November’s fatal Lyft robbery has pleaded not guilty to all charges as the state made a motion Wednesday seeking to keep him locked up indefinitely.

Fresh after Tuesday’s high-profile arrest, 39-year-old Andrew Alston made his first appearance in court Wednesday via video conference and told a judge he understands the charges against him and understands his rights as a defendant.

Alston has been charged with being an accomplice to felony murder, robbery and weapons offenses in connection with the murder of Amber Dudley, 27, of Collingswood. Public defender Jessica Lyons said her client Alston entered a plea of not guilty on all complaints against him.

Alston is the alleged gunman who fired a shot while robbing passengers of a Lyft rideshare service in Trenton on the night of Nov. 30, 2016. Co-defendants Kasey DeZolt, 32, and Dominique Richter, 31, were arrested last month as alleged accomplices to the murder of Dudley.

New bail reform procedures in New Jersey have abolished monetary bails in favor of a system that allows freshly arrested defendants to be released from jail with special conditions pending the outcome of the case. But defendants charged with serious offenses such as murder can be denied pre-trial release and remain detained indefinitely if a judge deems that appropriate.

With Alston being an alleged killer, Mercer County prosecutors on Wednesday made clear they want him to remain locked up in jail pending resolution of the case, which could drag on for months or years before it finally gets resolved with a conviction or acquittal.

As such, the prosecutors and public defender have agreed to have Alston appear in court next Tuesday for a detention hearing that would determine whether he would be released from custody pre-trial with special conditions or remain incarcerated indefinitely.

Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw is scheduled to oversee Alston’s detention hearing next Tuesday at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse. If the judge determines Alston is a high flight risk or if the judge determines there is no condition of release that would safeguard the public from Alston, he would most certainly order the defendant to be detained indefinitely at the Mercer County Correction Center.

Alston’s public defender made a discovery request Wednesday seeking to obtain evidence that the state has against her client.

Isiah Greene

In other court action, a 12-member jury on Wednesday still could not reach a verdict in Isiah Greene’s murder retrial. Greene, 23, of Trenton, is accused of shooting and killing 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley at the city’s Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Isiah Greene

During deliberations Wednesday afternoon, the jury stepped into Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi’s courtroom for several minutes to listen to prior witness testimony in the case of an emergency medical technician, which the jurors requested.

The jury will continue with its fourth full day of deliberations Thursday morning behind closed doors at the criminal courthouse. Greene’s initial trial in October 2015 ended in a hung jury and his retrial may end in the same way at the rate things are going.

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.

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.

DaShawn 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.

Charlotte Carman

A woman accused of fatally stabbing her ex-boyfriend intends to go to trial on a self-defense claim rather than accept a plea deal that would have put her in prison for 30 years.

Charlotte Carman could possibly serve 63 years behind bars if convicted on murder charges. The 39-year old Trenton woman is accused of killing Paris France Way, 33, on May 31, 2015, near the intersection of Sherman and St. Joe’s avenues in Trenton.

Police arrested Carman on June 12, 2015, and she remains incarcerated in the Mercer County Correction Center on $400,000 cash bail as she awaits trial.

At a pre-trial conference on Tuesday, Assistant Prosecutor Stacey Geurds said Carman was waiting by the victim’s home in stalker fashion, waiting for the victim to return home on the date of the slaying.

Carman eventually saw Way and a neighbor and then approached her former beau when he was alone on the street. “He reacted by saying, ‘What are you doing? Why are you stalking me?’” Geurds said, alleging that Carman “took a knife from her person and ended up stabbing him in the lung.”

As the victim was dying in the street from his injuries, Carman allegedly stabbed each of the victim’s four car tires, which was caught on surveillance video, Geurds said.

A female witness saw the victim screaming for help and will testify as an eyewitness when the case goes to trial, Geurds said.

In the two weeks between the murder and Carman’s arrest, Geurds said Carman used the victim’s money to get a tattoo depicting the victim’s date of birth. The assistant prosecutor also said that Carman “admits she spit on the victim while he was dying.”

Carman is being represented by public defender Joseph E. Krakora, who unsuccessfully negotiated a plea agreement calling for his client to receive 12 years in state prison.

Isiah Greene

Unable to reach a verdict this week, the jury in Isiah Greene’s murder retrial asked the court on Thursday if it could decide whether the defendant was an accomplice to the homicide as opposed to being the principal triggerman.

Prosecutors say Greene shot and killed 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013. The slaying occurred at Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex.

The 12-member, racially diverse jury has heard hours of witness testimony in the trial that began Jan. 5. They began deliberating on Jan. 18 but soon reached an impasse as the jurors failed to make a unanimous decision over whether or not Greene is guilty or not guilty of murder and weapons offenses.

Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi on Thursday afternoon excused the jurors and told them to return next Tuesday to continue their backroom deliberations. “Enjoy the weekend,” he said after reminding the jurors they are prohibited from discussing or researching the case while the trial remains open.

But with the jurors asking the court whether they could convict or acquit Greene on murder accomplice liability charges, Massi next Tuesday will allow prosecutors and Greene’s defense attorney Mark Fury to broach the topic before the jury, and then Massi will weigh in with jurisprudence.

After Massi placed the trial in recess Thursday, Fury told The Trentonian he does not see how a jury could convict his client as an accomplice to murder if the principal person responsible for the murder remains unknown and at large. Greene is the only defendant to be arrested and charged in connection with the murder of Gurley.

The state previously tried Greene on murder charges in an October 2015 criminal trial that ended in a hung jury.

A man was shot and killed along the 500 block of Brunswick ave in Trenton late last night. Gregg Slaboda -  The Trentonian

TRENTON >> The capital city almost made it through the first month of the year without a murder.

But tragedy struck Monday night outside a North Ward liquor store.

A man was murdered at approximately 9:45 p.m. in front of Dee Dee’s Lounge & Liquor Store at 549 Brunswick Ave.

A spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement Tuesday that Tian Thompson, 34, of Trenton, was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the head after the city’s ShotSpotter technology detected gunfire in the area. Thompson was transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a few hours later, spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio said.

Dee Dee’s owner Abel Reyes said he was working last night when the shooting occurred. He said the victim was a regular bar customer who was smoking a cigarette outside.

The shooter was walking from Chase Court when he turned left on Brunswick to head toward the hospital.

Tian Thompson

“The shooter pretended like he was going to the hospital and that’s when he stopped and started firing,” Reyes said, noting it appears the victim was targeted and several shots were fired. “As soon as he saw the guy smoking the cigarette, he started shooting.”

Several other people were outside when the shooting occurred, Reyes said, but the victim was the only one hit.

Reyes said the victim was nice to him and his employees but “he was doing some wrong,” indicating that he was dealing drugs.

“He never bothered me,” said Reyes, who has owned the store for seven years. “It’s sad to see that people get killed for no reason.”

Surveillance video from the store captured the murder, Reyes said.

Employees from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office were at the scene Tuesday afternoon downloading the footage.

The glass front door of the store, which closes at midnight, was hit with a bullet. The door’s glass was cracked and there was a bullet hole visible in a Bud Light logo on the door.

A couple spots on the sidewalk were also circled with yellow chalk, indicating that bullets were found in those areas.

Reyes said nothing like this has ever happened since he owned the place. He said he was disheartened.

Tian Thompson

“I wish the police stopped by more often,” the owner said. “Sometimes, in a week, you don’t see a cop drive by.”

Reyes said immediately after the shooting he called 9-1-1.

“After I called, a cop drove by and didn’t  stop,” Reyes claimed.

Trenton Detective Lt. Chris Doyle declined to comment on the owner’s allegations.

“The case is under investigation and we’ll see what the investigation shows,” he said. 

Friends and relatives took to social media to pay tribute to the victim, many of whom knew Thompson as “Dread.”

One woman who witnessed the shooting was shocked to learn of Thompson’s death on Tuesday.

“Did he die?” she asked the reporter before hearing the devastating news. “Yeah, I knew him. That’s deep. He was young too.”

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force and the Trenton Police Department are investigating.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-989-6406. 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.

Isiah Greene

Twelve jurors once again could not unanimously agree on whether Isiah Greene is guilty or not guilty of murder.

Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi declared a mistrial on Tuesday after the jurors sent the court a note indicating they had failed to reach a verdict and were done deliberating.

“We are leaning toward trying this case again,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott said. “The information that we had in this trial was different, better than we had in the first trial, and we are going to continue to work very hard to bring Isiah Greene to justice.”

Greene, 23, of Trenton, is accused of shooting and killing 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013. The murder occurred at Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex.

The state previously tried Greene on murder charges in an October 2015 criminal trial that also ended in a hung jury.

“The jury obviously worked very hard,” Greene’s defense attorney Mark Fury said on Tuesday. “We have to respect their effort. Maybe the proofs just are not there.”

Fury said his client “is elated he was not convicted” of the murder charges and weapons offenses, adding Greene “is prepared to defend himself as many times as it takes to prove his innocence.”

Over the course of Greene’s second murder trial that began Jan. 5, the 12-member, racially diverse jury heard hours of witness testimony and began deliberating on Jan. 18. The jurors soon reached an impasse over deliberations but tried to find a way forward.

Accomplice liability

Last Thursday, the jurors asked the court whether they could potentially convict Greene as an accomplice to the slaying.

Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi settled the jury’s curiosity Tuesday morning when he read them new instructions informing them they could judge the facts, evidence and testimony to determine whether Greene had aided an unknown gunman in the commission of the violent crime.

Without doubt, an armed perpetrator shot and killed Gurley at Donnelly Homes. Prosecutors have long identified Greene as the alleged gunman, saying Greene accidentally shot himself in the foot while intentionally firing multiple shots at Gurley, striking the victim eight times in the body.

But with Massi allowing the jury to consider whether or not Greene was an accomplice to the murder, Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott on Tuesday told the jurors that “the unusual trajectory” of the gunshot wound that Greene suffered shows the injury was either self-inflicted or that Greene was “standing next to the shooter.”

“The evidence proves that the defendant murdered Quaadir Gurley,” Scott said. “He is responsible for the death of Quaadir Gurley.”

Furthermore, Scott said the evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Greene was present at the scene when Gurley was fatally gunned down and suggested it is possible for the jurors to infer that Greene had aided an unknown gunman in the murder of Gurley.

During the retrial, Greene acknowledged he had suffered a gunshot wound at Donnelly Homes but testified he did not shoot himself and that he was not the triggerman responsible Gurley’s death. Greene presented himself as an innocent victim of a shooting, suggesting he was at the wrong place at the wrong time when someone popped off numerous shots in the courtyard.

Fury said the jury had asked a “fascinating” question that has “never happened” in his many years of practicing law but suggested the jury was “reaching” out of bounds in trying to probe whether his client could be convicted as an accomplice to murder.

“Mere presence at the scene is not enough to make one an accomplice,” Fury told the jurors, adding the state has presented “no motive” behind why Greene allegedly wanted Gurley dead.

“I guess what I feel compelled to say: If it’s difficult to say ‘Guilty,’ that’s OK,” the defense attorney said. “It’s not that bad to say ‘Not guilty.’ It’s OK. It’s supposed to be easier to say ‘Not guilty’ than ‘Guilty,’” he added, calling that the American system of jurisprudence. “We are not just reaching for ideas. If you have to ask the question, ‘What if?’ … that is by definition reasonable doubt.”

If the state of New Jersey thought Greene was an accomplice who has aided an unknown gunman in the shooting death of Gurley, “Don’t you think they would have offered it to you?” Fury said.

“It is easy to say ‘Not guilty’ theoretically,” Scott said in response, “but that is only if you ignore the evidence before you. The evidence here is powerful and overcomes reasonable doubt.”

In order for the jurors to have convicted Greene on “accomplice liability” murder charges, prosecutors would have had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an unknown person committed the violent crime and that Greene facilitated or promoted the commission of the violent crime and that Greene solicited, aided, agreed to aid or attempted to aid an unknown gunman in the violent crime and that Greene had the “criminal state of mind” to play a role in the brutal murder of Quaadir Gurley.

In the end, the jury could not unanimously agree on whether Greene was an accomplice to murder, and the jurors could not overcome their inability to unanimously decide whether Greene was or was not the principal gunman responsible for the death of Gurley, a street-tough city man survived by six children.

Quaadir Gurley (center) with two of his six children. (Contributed Photo)

“It is a shame they were not able to come to a verdict,” Scott said, “but I do have great gratitude to them for agreeing to serve for that period of time and taking their job very seriously. I have nothing but admiration for a jury that’s willing to do that.”

The evidence

Prosecutors had circumstantial evidence — including new DNA test results not available in the first murder trial— that linked Greene to the murder scene. One eyewitness, Lalisa Thompson, testified to seeing a dark-skinned man wearing a white tank top and armed with what she believed to be a handgun. She said she did not actually see the gunman firing any shots.

Before the shooting, someone drove Greene from Trenton’s West Ward to the Donnelly Homes housing complex in the North Ward. Greene, wearing all-white clothing, exited the car and shortly thereafter suffered a gunshot wound to his left foot in the courtyard. He hopped back inside the vehicle, and the driver transported him to Sanhican Drive, where Greene called 9-1-1 and falsely reported he was shot at Sanhican. He said he had lied to the cops to avoid being called as a witness in the shooting that killed Gurley.

The state has amassed lots of evidence in the case, but prosecutors have never found the murder weapon and did not have any co-defendants or cooperating criminals testifying against Greene. No co-conspirator has pointed the finger at Greene. To date, Greene is the only defendant to be arrested and charged in connection with the murder of Gurley.

“We always have our investigations going and we are always looking for new evidence to go to trial,” Scott said Tuesday after Judge Massi declared a mistrial. “Nonetheless, even with this set of evidence, we think we have a very strong case and the proof of guilt against Isiah Greene is very strong, and that’s why we are leaning toward trying this case again.”

Andrew Alston

When police arrested Andrew Alston last week in connection with last November’s fatal Lyft robbery, the 39-year-old Trenton man was found in alleged possession of drugs and a handgun.

On Tuesday, Alston appeared in court and consented to the state’s request calling for him to be incarcerated indefinitely without bail at the county jail as he awaits trial on serious charges.

Alston, who has a long rap sheet of prior arrests, has been charged with being an accomplice to felony murder, robbery and weapons offenses in connection with the murder of Amber Dudley, 27, of Collingswood. Public defender Jessica Lyons has previously said her client Alston pleads not guilty on all complaints against him. Alston has also been charged with additional weapons offenses and multiple drug offenses stemming from his Jan. 24 arrest.

Court records identify Mercer County Sheriff’s Detective James Udijohn as the arresting officer. Udijohn last year earned accolades as the 2016 Sheriff’s Officer of the Year and in August 2015 was involved in a high-profile police-involved shooting that wounded a Trenton teenager.

When Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw asked Alston how he was doing in court Tuesday afternoon, Alston responded, “I’m doing fine.”

Wearing a cream-colored jacket on top of his orange jumpsuit, Alston seemed eager to consent to indefinite pre-trial incarceration during Tuesday’s detention hearing.

“It’s a significant hearing,” Warshaw told Alston. “This has nothing to do with guilt or innocence. [This is about] deciding whether you are detained pending trial without bail.”

“If I waive all of that, I can just get on to the trial part?” Alston asked.

“The goal is to have the case tried within a year,” the judge responded.

Alston is the alleged gunman who fired a shot while robbing passengers of a Lyft rideshare service in Trenton on the night of Nov. 30, 2016. Co-defendants Kasey DeZolt, 32, and Dominique Richter, 31, were arrested last month as alleged accomplices to the murder of Dudley.

Kasey DeZolt (left) and Dominique Richter

Alston has previously served time behind bars on robbery, theft and drug charges, among other offenses.

Before police issued a warrant for Alston’s arrest in late December 2016, he gave a formal statement to police on Dec, 7, 2016, according to his public defender who has demanded “discovery” access to evidence against her client, including area video surveillance footage and phone records in the felony murder case.

New bail reform procedures in New Jersey have displaced monetary bails in favor of a risk-based-assessment system that allows freshly arrested defendants to be released from jail on their own recognizance or released on special conditions pending the outcome of the case. But defendants charged with serious offenses such as murder can be denied pre-trial release and remain detained indefinitely if a judge deems that appropriate.

A judge in certain cases can impose a monetary bail on newly arrested defendants, but the new reforms strongly discourage a judge from going in that direction.