Defense attorney Steven Lember (left) and defendant Zaire Jackson listen to testimony at Jackson’s murder trial in Mercer County Superior Court. (GREGG SLABODA — The Trentonian)

The fate of alleged killer Zaire Jackson hangs in the balance as a jury of his peers deliberates on whether he is guilty or not guilty of murder.

Jackson, 22, of Trenton, has been charged with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose on allegations he knowingly procured a handgun without a permit and used it to kill an acquaintance who had disrespected him.

The victim of the slaying, 22-year-old Irvin “Swirv” Jackson, was shot in the head and killed in broad daylight at 1:59 p.m. Monday, April 9, 2012, on Moses Alley near North Hermitage Avenue in Trenton. Zaire Jackson, who was not related to the victim, was 17 years old when the murder occurred.

In the criminal trial, all 12 jurors must be unanimously and firmly convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of Jackson’s guilt on each charge to convict him on all counts. Likewise, all 12 jurors must unanimously have reasonable doubt about the defendant’s guilt to acquit him.

In closing arguments Tuesday morning, Jackson’s pool attorney Steven Lember asked the jurors to return a verdict of not guilty on all three counts, saying his client had no motive to murder the victim and that the state’s case is “full of holes” that introduce reasonable doubt into the equation.

Lember said the state has relied upon two “so-called eyewitnesses” in its prosecution of Jackson — testimony from criminal defendants Casey Corker and Robert Patterson — and said they are “two of the least reliable” witnesses who could ever be called to testify in a court of law.

“Both of them say initially they didn’t see the shooting,” Lember said of Corker and Patterson, adding both of them later changed their tune after they got arrested. Surveillance footage at the intersection of North Hermitage Avenue and Moses Alley “simply doesn’t support what these eyewitnesses say occurred,” Lember said of the two witnesses who had identified Jackson as the killer. “They made it up.”

“Reputation, respect and revenge: That is what this case is about,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Skylar Weissman said in his closing arguments Tuesday.

Zaire Jackson, also known as “Cory” and “Philly,” had “dealt drugs to hustle,” Weissman said. “He had a reputation to uphold.”

Weissman said the defendant, days after the murder, told police in an interview that he was arguing with Irvin Jackson on Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012. The assistant prosecutor accused the defendant of being armed and “walking around with a weapon” on that “holiday day.”

Later that day inside a city home, a man known as “Techs” placed a gun to Zaire Jackson’s head, and Jackson believed Irvin Jackson was responsible for Techs being at the house, Weissman said.

Then when Zaire Jackson was relaxing inside another Trenton house that was shot up later that evening — a shooting that almost struck him in the eye — the defendant believed Irvin Jackson was one of the individuals responsible for that shooting, Weismann said.

“This is all about respect, all about reputation,” he said. “He has to show he’s this tough guy, that he makes money.”

Following an eventful Easter Sunday, cellphone records show Zaire Jackson’s mobile device went “silent” from 12:30 p.m. to 2:03 p.m. on Monday, April 9, 2012, and further show he fled into Bucks County, Pennsylvania, following the 1:59 p.m. slaying, Weissman said, adding, “Phone records don’t lie, ladies and gentlemen.”

The jurors began deliberating Tuesday afternoon following closing arguments and jury instructions. The jurors, however, did not reach a verdict on Tuesday, prompting Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson to dismiss the jurors for the day and instruct them to continue their backroom deliberations at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Briann Lindsey

The city woman accused of murdering her boyfriend inside their Brookville Commons apartment has a history of mental health issues and has been placed on suicide watch at the county jail.

Briann Lindsey, 25, has been held at the Mercer County Correction Center since Tuesday on charges she fatally stabbed 35-year-old Christopher Johnson about 4:15 p.m. Monday.

Lindsey’s attorney, public defender Nicole Carlo, at a detention hearing on Thursday revealed her client’s history of mental illness and the fact that her client has been placed on suicide watch at the county lockup.

Prosecutors have filed a motion seeking to keep Lindsey incarcerated without bail pending final resolution of the case. The state, however, asked for more time to build its case and provide the defense with “discovery” evidence in the case, so the detention hearing that began Thursday has been effectively postponed to resume at 1:30 p.m. next Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw.

During her court appearance on Thursday, Lindsey sat in her seat at the defense table with her head down during the entire proceeding, which was uneventful aside from the revelations of Lindsey’s history with mental illness.

Carlo argued for her client to be provided with an immediate mental health evaluation, saying her client had been denied her right to mental health treatment.

Judge Warshaw agreed that Lindsey needed to be evaluated by mental health experts and said he was “confident” that the Mercer County Correction Center would be responsive in assessing Lindsey’s needs.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Stacey Geurds at Thursday’s hearing said Lindsey would be evaluated later that day by the Capital Health crisis team.

Lindsey is accused of fatally stabbing her beau in the kitchen area of their Brookville Commons apartment in Trenton’s Island neighborhood in the West Ward. Lindsey tried to clean up the crime scene prior to police arrival, prosecutors allege.

Wayne Bush

Wayne Bush’s long-awaited murder trial kicked off Wednesday with the prosecution accusing him of being the gunman who shot and killed a local hip-hop artist.

Jafar “Young Farr” Lewis, 26, was having a “nice evening” with his fiancée Twanna Robinson on Friday, Aug. 23, 2013, when he was gunned down in the capital city, Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor William Fisher said in his opening statement.

Robinson witnessed the murder with her own eyes from the passenger seat of her car, according to Fisher, who said Robinson could see Bush confronting her fiancé in the middle of the street and pointing at him as if he had a gun, and then she “ducked and panicked” after hearing two shots.

The first shot ripped through Lewis’s skull on Middle Rose Street near Brunswick Avenue in Trenton’s North Ward, “literally blowing Jafar’s brains out,” Fisher said. “Jafar never had a chance.”

Lewis owed Bush money, and that dispute over money motivated Bush to unlawfully obtain a handgun and use it in the ambush-style attack against the victim, Fisher alleged.

Bush, 39, has been held in custody on $1 million bail ever since he surrendered to the authorities on Aug. 30, 2013. He has been charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.

The private attorney representing Bush, John Furlong, said his client has been wrongly accused and is presumed innocent.

“I’m not saying Wayne sings in the church choir,” Furlong said, “but he’s not a murderer.”

Furlong in opening statements suggested the state cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bush is guilty. If the jurors think Bush is guilty simply by listening to Fisher’s opening statement, “You are in violation of your oath,” Furlong said to the 14 jurors.

After opening statements, the prosecution called upon Trenton Police Officer Jadeen Smith to testify under oath Wednesday afternoon. She was the first cop to arrive at the scene on the night Lewis was gunned down. She described the scene as “chaos,” saying multiple people were in the area “screaming” as the victim was lying on the street “bleeding profusely from his head.”

“I tried to stop the blood by applying pressure,” Smith said, adding her efforts were unsuccessful.

Trenton Emergency Medical Service rushed Lewis to Capital Health Regional Medical Center following the 9:20 p.m. shooting. He was pronounced dead at the hospital about three hours later.

Lengthy trial

Judge Robert Billmeier said Bush’s trial could last up to four weeks and conclude on Thursday, April 13, at the latest.

The jury is expected to be exposed to a plethora of evidence and witness testimony, but the main witness the prosecution intends to call upon is Robinson, 38, who would have married Lewis if he had lived long enough to take their romantic engagement to the next level.

Robinson is believed to be the state’s only eyewitness to the murder, but Furlong is expected to question her reliability and credibility under cross-examination later in the trial.

Robinson has a criminal history over the past two decades on matters mainly involving shoplifting or theft of services. The judge ruled that Furlong is prohibited from mentioning anything in Robinson’s rap sheet except for a credit card fraud case that Robinson pleaded guilty to about 15 years ago, which resulted in her being sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $3,525.50 in restitution.

Open court

Among the members of the public who attended Day 1 of Bush’s murder trial was his mother Linda Bush-Daniels.

“He’s in the right state of mind,” the mother told The Trentonian about her son on Wednesday. “He’s faithful and believes, and he’s innocent.”

“God is fighting this battle for us,” the mother added. “I know my son is coming out an innocent man. With God, all things are possible.”

Before the trial began Wednesday, there was a temporary juror crisis stemming from one of the jurors being briefly unable to make it to court in a timely fashion due to her being stuck on her unplowed Hamilton Township street. The juror was able to get someone to drive her to the court by noon.

Day 2 of Bush’s four-week-long murder trial is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Thursday.

The fiancée of slain hip-hop artist Jafar “Young Farr” Lewis witnessed her man get shot and killed more than three years ago but still remembers the vivid details as if it happened yesterday.

Testifying under oath Thursday at Wayne Bush’s murder trial, Twanna Robinson said she was sitting in the passenger’s seat of her Infiniti FX45 on the night of Aug. 23, 2013, and saw Bush raise his arm toward Lewis and “immediately heard two gunshots.”

“I ducked down in my car,” she said on the witness stand. “I was shocked. I didn’t expect to hear that.”

After hearing back-to-back gunshots, Robinson looked over at Bush and saw him standing tall above Lewis, who was lying motionless on the ground on Middle Rose Street near Brunswick Avenue in Trenton, according to her testimony. She said that Bush was wearing a black hoodie and appeared to be “in a daze, looking down” and that she started screaming, “You going to jail!”

Bush fled in a vehicle by driving in reverse in the wrong direction up the one-way Middle Rose Street toward Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to Robinson’s testimony.

Wayne Bush

Robinson, 38, has known Bush since high school but had never had any problems with him or his family prior to that night, she said. After Lewis, 26, was gunned down about 9:20 p.m., Robinson said she had shouted “Waynie shot Farr!” so that everyone who gathered at the scene would know what happened.

“Everybody was crying,” Robinson said Thursday, recalling the mood of the moment. “Everybody was yelling. Everybody was going off.”

Bush, 39, has been held in custody on $1 million bail ever since he surrendered to the authorities on Aug. 30, 2013. He has been charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Prosecutors say Lewis owed Bush a significant amount of money, fueling a dispute over cash that allegedly motivated Bush to unlawfully obtain a handgun and use it in an ambush-style attack against the victim, who was an up-and-coming hip-hop lyricist who went by the stage name Young Farr.

John Furlong, Bush’s defense attorney, questioned Robinson Thursday under cross-examination. He asked the eyewitness whether she had deleted much of her Facebook posts from August 2013 and September 2013 and Robinson responded, “I could have.”

Then Furlong got Robinson to acknowledge that she had met with prosecutors multiple times to practice her testimony prior to Bush’s murder trial.

Furlong also got Robinson to acknowledge that she had filed a criminal complaint against Bush’s mother alleging terroristic threats — a complaint that was eventually dismissed after Robinson failed to show up in court.

The families had long been acquainted. Wayne Bush was engaged to Jafar Lewis’s cousin, Ghadah Lewis, at the time of the murder.

With the jurors paying close attention to the cross-examination, Furlong asked Robinson if she had pleaded guilty to credit card fraud — referring to a case from about 15 years ago when Robinson was indicted on 19 counts and reached a plea deal to get most counts dismissed in exchange for an admission of guilt and a sentence of two years of probation.

“I pleaded guilty to a credit card charge,” Robinson said during her testimony on Thursday.

Bush’s murder trial is expected to be lengthy. A jury of his peers has committed to serving up through Thursday, April 13.

A woman who witnessed the August 2013 shooting death of her hip-hop lyricist fiancé Jafar “Young Farr” Lewis probably should not have been questioned over her previous credit card fraud plea deal when she testified last week at Wayne Bush’s murder trial.

Wayne Bush

Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier on Monday conceded he may have been wrong to allow a defense attorney to mention the specifics concerning how Twanna Robinson reached an agreement about 15 years ago to get most of her criminal charges dismissed from what had been a 19-count indictment.

In exchange for pleading guilty to a single credit card fraud charge in January 2002, Robinson, 38, received a sentence of two years of probation and was ordered to pay $3,525.50 in restitution.

John Furlong, Bush’s defense attorney, probed Robinson under cross-examination last Thursday by asking her about the terms of the plea deal concerning her unlawful credit card use.

“I pleaded guilty to a credit card charge,” Robinson said on the witness stand, giving a disciplined response to a question that arguably was inappropriate.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor William Fisher objected to Furlong’s questioning, but Billmeier at the time allowed Furlong to ask Robinson if she had previously taken a plea deal to get most of her charges dismissed from a 19-count indictment.

Furlong “was permitted over the prosecutor’s objection to talk about the many charges about indictment that were dismissed,” Billmeier said Monday morning from the bench when the jury was away on recess. “I made it a snap judgment that I thought that was appropriate because it was contained on the judgment of conviction. Mr. Fisher’s research indicates perhaps the court was wrong.”

Fisher sent an email to Billmeier late Sunday night citing case law that shows it may have been totally inappropriate for Robinson to have been questioned about the specifics of her plea deal.

“I’m inclined to agree with Mr. Fisher that I think my snap judgment perhaps was an error,” Billmeier said. The judge, however, also said he would give Bush’s defense attorneys an opportunity to respond by 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Bush’s legal team is composed of Furlong and defense attorney Andrew Ferencevych, who is expected to craft a response of arguing that the judge was correct in allowing Furlong to question Robinson about the plea deal.

Billmeier said if he rules and reverses himself that he would give the jurors a “curative instruction” that would essentially direct the jurors to disregard Furlong’s probing question.

Bush, 39, has been held in custody on $1 million bail ever since he surrendered to the authorities on Aug. 30, 2013. He has been charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon on allegations he armed himself with a handgun and shot and killed 26-year-old Jafar Lewis on Aug. 23, 2013.

Jafar "Young Farr" Lewis

With Mercer County prosecutors having a difficult time winning convictions in recent murder trials, the smallest little detail in testimony or cross-examination can make all the difference in the world for a jury that must deliberate over whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty.

A judge, like a referee in athletic competition, is expected to enforce the rules fairly and impartially. But if the judge makes a potential mistake in judgment, the competing teams — the defense and the prosecution — have the right to challenge a jurist’s legal rulings just as opposing sportsmen can challenge a referee’s call on the field.

Autopsy doctor

Mercer County Medical Examiner Dr. Raafat Ahmad, who has worked for the county for almost 40 years and is days away from retirement, testified on Monday about the homicide of Lewis and afterward received kudos from the bench for her long service.

“I want to thank you for being available for this trial; I know you’ve had a very long tenure as a medical examiner,” Billmeier said to Ahmad on Monday when the jury was still away on recess. “On behalf of the Mercer County judiciary, I want to thank you.”

“You’re welcome. It was an honor and privilege to serve the county,” Ahmad said in response. Then she asked if she could take photos with the judge, which Billmeier allowed once the prosecutors and defense attorneys made clear they had no objections to the photo op whatsoever.

Prosecutors indicted Duane Bennett, 43, of Upper Freehold, last week in connection with the death of 56-year-old crossing guard Antonio Wiley on April 18, 2016 at the Route 129 and Lalor Street intersection.

Duane Bennett

The Mercer County Prosecutor's Office said Bennett was indicted on one count of second-degree death by auto and one count of third-degree unlicensed driver causing death to another. At the time of the crash Bennett was only charged with a summons and was not held. The indictment added the second-degree death by auto count, the prosecutor’s office said.

Bennett, who has had his license suspended 23 times, was driving while his license was indefinitely suspended for failure to comply with a court order and non-payment of surcharges. Since obtaining a license the 43-year-old has racked up 19 driving violations.

Witnesses told The Trentonian that Bennett, who was driving the Chevy Avalanche that struck Wiley, had ignored the traffic light at the intersection. Bennett had also struck a Nissan Maxima before eventually hitting and killing Wiley. The driver of the Maxima told The Trentonian that she was turning left from Lalor onto Route 129 and that she had a green light.

Antonio Wiley and sister Veronica Jones (submitted photo)

Wiley had worked as a crossing guard for at least a year at the time he was struck. Last year, Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson said Wiley worked for Vineland-based Tri-County Security, which was contracted by the city in June 2015 to provide one crossing guard at the intersection of Route 129 and Lalor Street for a year. The $52,416 contract states the services are being performed for the Trenton Police Department. Last August, Trenton city council voted to award Vineland-based Tri-County Security a contract to continue providing one crossing guard at the deadly intersection for $63,336.

Following the incident there was a push for an overpass in the area to make the crossing safer. Last year Assemblywoman Liz Muoio (D-Mercer/Hunterdon) requested a meeting after the crash took the life of 56-year-old Antonio Wiley. The politician called the meeting productive and outlined some of her own observations at the intersection.

“DOT is saying the buttons should give people adequate time to cross,” Muoio said. “There is a large Latino population here. All the signage is in English. Those are the kinds of things DOT can do quickly. The long-term solutions we’re going to need to study more in-depth.”

The assemblywoman said an issue with an overpass at the site is a lot of property on both sides of the road will be needed to make it handicap accessible. Sitting on three of the four sides of the intersection is a cemetery, a senior housing complex and a Dunkin’ Donuts.

While at the troubled intersection last year politicians observed one woman attempt to run across the street against the light, a school bus nearly collide with a car and another pedestrian cross the street illegally during a one-hour period. Officials said last year that improvements had yet to be made.

In addition to the concerns about how to make the intersection safer, the city, county, and state might also be on the hook for money in a lawsuit. An attorney for relatives of Antonio Wiley has put the city, Mercer County, the Mercer County Improvement Authority and the state on legal notice in August of 2016.

Bennett is scheduled to have another hearing on April 3, the Prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.

Police investigate on Cleveland Ave in Trenton where some teens found a man dead late Thursday night.
Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman - The Trentonian

The Mercer County Prosecutor's Office has identified a man who was found shot to death on Cleveland Avenue Thursday evening.

Officials said that Marquis Saunders, 23, of Hamilton was located unconscious, unresponsive and bleeding from an apparent gunshot wound around 7:40 p.m. in the first block of Cleveland Avenue.
Police were called to the area on a report of a man down in the alley where Saunders was found, he was pronounced dead at the scene. The Trentonian reported on Thursday that the victim was found by teens who then called police.

An autopsy was scheduled for Friday, the prosecutor's office said. The death remains under investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force.
Anyone having information regarding the killing is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406.

A man was found dead on Cleveland Ave. in Trenton late Thursday night.
Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman - The Trentonian

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.

David Noncent

The convicted sex offender who fatally stabbed 26-year-old Trenton man Courtney Levine on Dec. 4, 2012, has been sentenced to 13 years in state prison.

David Noncent, 45, who previously pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter, received the prison sentence last Thursday at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse before Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw. He must serve 85 percent of his sentence behind bars before he can become eligible for parole under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act.

Noncent killed Levine in the first block of Chapel Street and turned himself in to police the following day. The victim was the brother of Noncent’s former girlfriend.

Courtney Levine

Prior to the fatal knife attack, Noncent and Levine were arguing over alleged domestic violence issues involving Noncent and his ex-girlfriend. The verbal altercation between both men then escalated into a foot chase that ended with Noncent piercing a knife into Levine’s lung, causing the victim to bleed to death internally, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

More than a self-confessed killer, Noncent had a criminal career that spanned two decades in both Burlington and Mercer counties. He was convicted of criminal sexual contact against two juvenile females in 1995, according to court records.

When police were investigating a brutal August 2013 murder in North Trenton, a man who had previously served time in state prison for robbery and selling drugs sent a text message claiming he was the gunman responsible for the slaying.

“I just shot and killed somebody,” Dalord Dumas wrote in a text message that he sent to a friend on Aug. 23, 2013, the same night that Trenton hip-hop lyricist Jafar “Young Farr” Lewis was fatally gunned down.

The friend, Ishmael Raines, asked Dumas if he was joking, and Dumas responded he was “serious,” not joking. That prompted Raines to alert the authorities.

As Dumas was driving with his romantic date, Jennifer Bellamy, in his front passenger seat, he parked his vehicle near Raines’ home and soon realized that police officers were pulling up on him with their guns drawn.

Officers placed Dumas into a patrol car, and two detectives eventually questioned him for several hours at Trenton Police headquarters, but the officers did not charge him with any crimes and actually gave him a ride to Bellamy’s home.

Dumas, 40, testified Monday at Wayne Bush’s murder trial about the whole ordeal. He admitted to sending the “strange” text, but said he was intoxicated on vodka when he sent the “bull s---” text.

“I said that I had killed somebody,” Dumas said under cross-examination. “I was intoxicated, and I was talking to someone I thought was a friend.”

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor William Fisher asked Dumas if he had shot somebody on Brunswick Avenue and then asked him if he had a gun on the night of Aug. 23, 2013.

“No sir,” Dumas said Monday in response to Fisher’s questions.

When police brought Dumas into custody for questioning, Dumas allowed them to search his phone and vehicle for evidence and also agreed to speak to police without requesting a lawyer because, he said, “I didn’t have anything to hide.”

Although Dumas sent a text message claiming to be the killer, police determined that Dumas was joking and ultimately arrested and charged Wayne Bush, 39, with the slaying.

Bush has been held in custody on $1 million bail ever since he surrendered to the authorities on Aug. 30, 2013. He has been charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon on allegations he armed himself with a handgun and shot and killed 26-year-old Jafar Lewis.

Wayne Bush

John Furlong, Bush’s defense attorney, probed Dumas under cross-examination Monday in ways that not only highlighted Dumas’ criminal history — he was sentenced to five years of prison on drug charges in 1997 and sentenced to three years behind bars for robbery in 2010 — but Furlong also got Dumas to acknowledge his history of bearing false witness.

Furlong asked Dumas if he had ever lied to police.

“Yes, I have,” Dumas confirmed.

Then Furlong asked Dumas if he had ever lied under oath.

“Yes, I have,” Dumas said.

Ronderrick Manuel

A man who was arrested last week on burglary offenses is now facing murder charges accusing him of being the gunman who shot and killed Amber Dudley during last November’s fatal Lyft robbery in the capital city.

Ronderrick Manuel, 43, of Trenton, is the fourth defendant to be arrested in connection with the murder of Dudley, 27, of Collingswood. The other defendants, however, have been charged with accomplice liability murder.

Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri on Monday evening announced police have captured Manuel and charged him as the principal actor, charging him with murder, felony murder, robbery, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Manuel was taken into custody Sunday night in Trenton by the U.S. Marshals’ New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, according to the prosecutor’s office. Ewing Police arrested Manuel last Thursday on burglary charges after a business on Calhoun Street reported hearing someone in the unoccupied portion of the building.

The other co-defendants charged in connection with the murder of Dudley are Andrew Alston, Kasey Dezolt and Dominique Richter, all of whom remain incarcerated at the Mercer County Correction Center as they await trial.

Dudley was a passenger in a vehicle operating under a rideshare service that was lured to Trenton on Nov. 30, 2016. Prosecutors say their investigation has revealed that when the Lyft vehicle was in the area of Mechanics and East Trenton avenues shortly after 7 p.m., a man identified as Manuel got inside attempting to rob a male passenger when his gun discharged during the confrontation, wounding Dudley with lethal injuries that eventually led to her death.

The judge who presided over Wayne Bush’s murder trial abruptly declared a mistrial on Wednesday after a woman gave potentially inflammatory testimony on the witness stand, marking Mercer County’s second murder trial of 2017 to end without a verdict.

“Very reluctantly,” Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier said to the 14 jurors, “I discharge you with the sincerest thanks of all of us — the prosecutor’s office, the defendant and me — for all the sacrifices you’ve made. … Thank you, and you are free to go.”

Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier

The trial began March 15 and ended exactly two weeks later without the jurors ever getting an opportunity to deliberate.

Prior to calling the jurors into his courtroom and dismissing them for good, Billmeier gave comments from the bench explaining why he was “very reluctantly” declaring a mistrial.

He said Denise Louis, the state’s final witness who testified on Tuesday, did not follow his guidance or the guidance of prosecutors who had clearly warned her about the court’s rules of engagement. Louis was specifically told and reminded of the fact that she was not allowed to tell the jury about a conversation she had heard between Bush and a third party involving the statement, “Somebody is going to catch this.”

But Louis did not play by the rules and “gave the very language that she had been told by the prosecutor not to tell the jury,” Billmeier said. “It was immediate cause for a mistrial.”

Bush, 39, has been incarcerated at the Mercer County Correction Center ever since he surrendered to the authorities on Aug. 30, 2013. He has been charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon on allegations he armed himself with a handgun and shot and killed Trenton hip-hop lyricist Jafar “Young Farr” Lewis, 26, on Aug. 23, 2013.

Wayne Bush

John Furlong, Bush’s defense attorney, called for a mistrial following Tuesday’s testimony debacle, and Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor William Fisher consented to Furlong’s request. The fact that both sides supported a motion for retrial made it compelling for Billmeier to grant the request on Wednesday.

Another reason Billmeier cited for declaring a mistrial is the fact that the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division in a March 13 decision affirmed his prior decision to exclude Denise Louis from telling the jurors about the “Somebody is going to catch this” conversation.

The Appellate Division found the statement in question to be “ambiguous” and noted that Louis had “stated she did not understand what was meant by the comment.” The Appellate Division further suggested that the comment “is more prejudicial than probative because of its potential inflammatory nature.”

Try again

Due to Wednesday’s sudden mistrial, a future jury of newly selected jurors will have to decide Bush’s fate.

“Obviously this jury never will have the opportunity to deliberate and obviously never make a decision as to guilt or innocence of the defendant Wayne Bush,” Billmeier said. “Mr. Bush has been incarcerated for more than three and a half years, and he’s entitled to have a second trial start promptly.”

Billmeier has proposed for Bush’s retrial to start on Tuesday, May 30, the day after Memorial Day.

In the meantime, Bush is being held on $100,000 cash only bail, but his defense attorney has asked the court to consider a bail reduction or conditional release from jail pending final resolution of Bush’s pending murder retrial.

Billmeier scheduled an April 11 status conference to discuss how the state intends to proceed and determine whether a bail reduction or a non-monetary conditional release is warranted.

“I give tremendous credit to Judge Billmeier,” Furlong told The Trentonian on Wednesday, “because he had to preside over some very rough water. The state’s case was idiosyncratic, and I am being charitable. It is, I don’t want to say outrageous but very concerning that Wayne Bush is still detained. He is entitled to bail after this episode of trials that found ways to go wrong. As far as I’m concerned, the murder of Jafar Lewis remains unsolved and Wayne Bush and I can’t solve it for them.”

Furlong said he is “exasperated” that the state’s final witness “blew up” the initial trial but looks forward to his client being found not guilty at the forthcoming retrial.

“I will be there when the bell rings for round 2,” he said. “If round 2 is like round 1, the state may want to rethink its prosecution. … No two trials are alike, but I am confident the state’s trial isn’t going to get better. If anything, it is going to get worse.”

Earlier this year, a hung jury’s failure to reach a verdict in the Isiah Greene murder retrial prompted Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi to declare a mistrial in that case on Jan. 31.

Another Mercer County murder trial defendant, Zaire Jackson, was found not guilty by a jury of his peers on Feb. 17, underscoring the difficulty Mercer County prosecutors have had in winning murder trial convictions this year.

Ronderrick Manuel

Prosecutors are seeking to keep Ronderrick Manuel locked up without bail at the Mercer County jail on allegations he shot and killed Lyft rideshare passenger Amber Dudley last fall in a grisly robbery-turned-murder.

Prosecutors have filed the motion for pretrial detention earlier this week when Manuel, 43, of Trenton, made his first court appearance Tuesday via video link. He was arrested last week on allegations he burglarized a Ewing property and re-arrested Sunday night to face charges of murder, robbery and weapons offenses.

Manuel is the fourth defendant to be arrested in connection with the murder of Dudley, 27, of Collingswood. The other defendants — Andrew Alston, Kasey Dezolt and Dominique Richter — have been charged with accomplice liability murder while Manuel is being prosecuted as the alleged principal gunman responsible for Dudley’s violent death in Trenton on Nov. 30, 2016.

Neither the press nor the general public was permitted to attend Manuel’s initial arraignment on Tuesday due to the courtroom’s doors being locked in error, according to New Jersey Judiciary spokesman Pete McAleer.

Under New Jersey’s bail reform procedures that went into effect on Jan. 1, newly arrested defendants are supposed to be provided with a first court appearance within 48 hours. Mercer County’s first court appearance arraignments — called CJP or Central Judicial Processing hearings — are supposed to be open to the public either in the actual courtroom or through the state’s online Virtual Court.

Manuel’s first court appearance on Tuesday was not streamed live on the Virtual Court. Thus, the courtroom’s doors being locked in error had the real effect of preventing the general public from observing Manuel’s legal proceeding — a proceeding that was supposed to be conducted in open court, not under the cloak of secrecy.

Homicide Watch Trenton has belatedly learned that a judge scheduled Manuel’s detention hearing to be held Thursday afternoon at Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw’s courtroom. That hearing will decide whether Manuel remains incarcerated without bail or if he is released with conditions.

The fourth defendant to be arrested and charged in connection with last year’s murder of Amber Dudley did not appear in court Thursday for his scheduled detention hearing.

Ronderrick Manuel, 45, of Trenton, waived his court appearance on Thursday due to illness, according to his public defender Nicole Carlo.

Ronderrick Manuel

Prosecutors are seeking to keep Manuel locked up without bail at the Mercer County jail on allegations he shot and killed Lyft rideshare passenger Amber Dudley last November in a grisly robbery-turned-murder. But prosecutors, instead of explaining why they want Manuel to be detained indefinitely pretrial, said nothing of substance at Manuel’s hearing on Thursday.

Prosecutors signaled they were not prepared to proceed with the detention hearing on Thursday, so a judge postponed the hearing to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 4, before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw.

While Manuel did not appear in court on Thursday, he apparently did make an initial court appearance earlier this week via video link. However, neither the press nor the general public was permitted to attend that initial arraignment on Tuesday due to the courtroom’s doors being locked in error, according to New Jersey Judiciary spokesman Pete McAleer. The legal proceeding, known as a CJP or Central Judicial Processing hearing, was supposed to be conducted in open court, not under the cloak of secrecy.

Manuel is the latest defendant to be arrested in connection with the murder of Dudley, 27, of Collingswood. The other defendants — Andrew Alston, Kasey Dezolt and Dominique Richter — have been charged with accomplice liability murder while Manuel is being prosecuted as the alleged principal gunman responsible for Dudley’s violent death in Trenton on Nov. 30, 2016.

Police arrested Manuel last week on allegations he burglarized a Ewing property and re-arrested him on Sunday night to face charges of murder, robbery and weapons offenses.

When Manuel finally has his detention hearing, prosecutors will likely argue he is a flight risk and too dangerous to the public to be released on any conditions. Manuel’s previous criminal history may also be cited at the hearing as well as his actual age.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office originally said Manuel was born on Dec. 17, 1973, but court records indicate he was born on Dec. 17, 1971.

The suspended driver accused of striking and killing a Trenton crossing guard last year in a high-profile case of vehicular homicide appeared in court Monday for a post-indictment arraignment.

The legal proceeding lasted less than two minutes as defense attorney Kristy L. Bruce from the Hamilton-based Rubinstein Law Firm represented Duane Bennett at his arraignment.

“We waive the formal reading of the arraignment,” Bruce said, utilizing a procedural step that avoided the drama of Bennett’s charges being recited before the court.

Duane Bennett

A grand jury last month indicted Bennett, 43, of Upper Freehold, on one count of second-degree death by auto and one count of third-degree unlicensed driver causing death to another in connection with the death of Antonio Wiley, 56, on April 18, 2016, at the Route 129 and Lalor Street intersection.

Superior Court Judge Thomas M. Brown asked whether the state has offered any initial plea deals to Bennett, who could serve up to 10 years in prison if convicted on the death by auto charge.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said the state had not yet presented Bennett with a plea bargain, adding, “I found out that this was assigned to me on Friday, so I have not had an opportunity to meet with the victim’s family, but I will extend it for the next status conference.”

The judge scheduled a status conference for May 15.

Ronderrick Manuel

The fourth defendant arrested and charged in connection with last year’s Lyft rideshare murder has such an extensive history of failing to appear in court and such high New Jersey public safety risk assessment scores that a judge easily ordered him to remain incarcerated at the Mercer County jail without bail.

Hauled into a courtroom in his orange jumpsuit, Ronderrick Manuel, 43, of Trenton, appeared at his detention hearing Tuesday and attempted to portray himself as a hardworking man who would potentially lose his Chambersburg home if placed on pretrial detention.

Manuel, through his public defender Nicole Carlo, said he works two area jobs allowing him to afford his housing expenses and suggested he would be happy to be released on home detention and electronic ankle bracelet monitoring.

Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw, however, said Manuel’s willingness to submit to electronic monitoring is “not sufficient” to warrant his release. “This is a serious, serious criminal history,” he said of Manuel’s record.

A regional U.S. Marshals task force arrested Manuel on Sunday, March, 26, on allegations he shot and killed Lyft rideshare passenger Amber Dudley, 27, of Collingswood, last November in a grisly robbery-turned-murder in Trenton.

The three other defendants in the case — Andrew Alston, Kasey Dezolt and Dominique Richter — have been charged with accomplice liability murder while Manuel is being prosecuted as the alleged principal gunman responsible for Dudley’s violent death on Nov. 30, 2016.

The state filed its detention motion against Manuel on the grounds that the defendant had very high risk assessment scores under New Jersey’s automated Public Safety Assessment or PSA that ranks the potential risk of a defendant failing to appear in court and the risk of a defendant committing new criminal activity and violence.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Grillo cited Manuel’s high PSA scores and noted that the murder charges against the defendant means “this is a case where there is a presumption of detention.”

To be released pretrial, Manuel would have needed to provide the judge with a very convincing rebuttal to the state’s motion and PSA recommendation calling for his detention.

Carlo, Manuel’s public defender, argued her client “does not present a flight risk” and said Manuel has ties to the community through his family and through his home ownership on the 100 block of Anderson Street and his employment at a halal meat market and wireless gadgets shop.

But Warshaw reviewed Manuel’s record and found the defendant had one failure to appear in the last two years and 11 failures to appear in court from 2002 to 2012 and that Manuel has previously served time in prison on serious charges.

Manuel committed statutory rape in another state and a couple of burglaries in the 1990s, according to records Warshaw read in court. The statutory rape conviction requires Manuel to register as a sex offender, but Warshaw said Manuel has a history of failing to comply with the registration requirement.

By having very high risk assessment scores, Warshaw said that “obviously demonstrates in and of itself compelling evidence” for why it was appropriate and fitting for Manuel to be indefinitely incarcerated at the Mercer County Correction Center without bail pending final resolution of his murder case that could end with an acquittal, conviction, plea deal or dismissal of all charges.

As such, Warshaw signed the detention order but said Manuel has the right to appeal the decision.

Manuel has a pre-indictment conference scheduled for Monday, May 8, before Superior Court Judge Robert Bingham II.

Lance Beckett (Facebook photo)

On Friday, a 17-year-old was waived up as an adult in connection with the murder of 19-year-old Lance Beckett.
Beckett was shot and killed on September 18, 2016 on East Stuyvesant Avenue in Trenton.

Mada Eoff, 17, appeared via telephone from the Juvenile Detention Center in Middlesex County, at an initial appearance where assistant prosecutor William Fisher advised the court the State has filed for a detention hearing to have him held under the state’s new criminal justice reform rules.

Fisher advised the court that by statute there is a presumption of detention in this case.

Eoff was arrested in September of last year along with 18-year-old Quashawn Emanuel, both are Trenton residents.

The teens were pair was charged with murder, possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. The teens are part of a trio that allegedly shot Beckett before stomping on his head. Also arrested in the case was 34-year-old Omar Kennedy who is accused of stomping Beckett after he’d been shot down. At an October 27, 2016, assistant prosecutor Tim Ward said that Kennedy stomped on Beckett’s head “to ensure he was dead,” while he bled out in a wooded area near East Stuyvesant Avenue.
Four shots were fired, but it’s not clear who fired the fatal shot, however.

Eoff’s hearing is set for April 11 in front of Judge Peter Warshaw.

At Friday's hearing the teen’s attorney entered a plea of not guilty, and asked for any and all discovery to adequately defend the teen at his detention hearing.

Amber Dudley

Five people were indicted last week in the murder of 27-year-old Amber Dudley, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office said on Wednesday.

Ronderrick Manuel, 43, of Trenton, who is the alleged triggerman in Dudley's killing was indicted on two counts of first degree felony murder, one count of first degree robbery, two counts of second degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and second degree unlawful possession of a weapon. Manuel had recently been arrested after it was alleged he burglarized a Ewing property, he was subsequently rearrested on the charges for which he has been indicted on.

Ronderrick Manuel

The other defendants — Andrew Alston,39; Kasey Dezolt, 32, of Morrisville, Pa.; and Dominique Richter, 31, of Hamilton were each indicted on one count of first-degree felony murder, one count of first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.

The fifth defendant, Douglas Mathis, 52, of Trenton was served his complaints while he was locked up in Camden on unrelated charges. Court documents related to Mathis' charges say he is accused of transporting co-defendant Manuel to the scene of the homicide.

Amber Dudley, of Collingswood was a passenger in a Silver Toyota Corolla that prosecutors say was lured into Trenton on November 30, 2016. During that time it was alleged that shortly after 7 p.m. in the area of Mechanics and East Trenton Avenue, Manuel got into the vehicle in an attempt to rob a male passenger. It is alleged that Manuel's gun was discharged and Dudley was wounded.

Kasey DeZolt (left) and Dominique Richter

The driver of the silver Toyota Corolla sped to the police station where officers and EMS personnel worked to save Dudley's life as Dudley lay spread out on the ground on the passenger side of the Corolla while it was parked outside of the headquarters building. It took about 20 minutes for them to stabilize her and place Dudley in an ambulance.

Dudley died at the hospital.

The case was presented the the Mercer County Grand Jury by Assistant Prosecutor Michael Grillo.

Alleged killer Masiyah Howard will soon have his day in court.

Howard’s murder trial is scheduled to begin 10 a.m. May 4 at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse before Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson.

Howard, 21, of Trenton, is accused of shooting and killing 25-year-old Louis Bryan Alvarez in the city’s Chambersburg neighborhood on Feb. 26, 2013. Police arrested him days later on unrelated robbery charges and then gained probable cause to charge him with murder and weapons offenses.

The homicide victim was a Guatemalan native who worked in Trenton and lived on Fulton Street. On the night of the slaying, Howard went to Alvarez’s residence to confront him and then fired a shot through a glass window after the victim had slammed the door shut about 9:50 p.m., police alleged.

Louis Bryan Alvarez

Trenton cops arrived on scene to find Alvarez unresponsive, suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso. Medics rushed Alvarez to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he died about an hour later.

Police say Howard committed two separate robberies in February 2013 leading up to his alleged fatal gunplay that month. He is accused of robbing a Trenton deli and robbing another man. Police arrested him on March 2, 2013, first charging him with the robbery counts and then hammering him with murder charges.

Howard was 17 at the time of his arrest but is being tried as an adult.

Defense attorney Steven Lember is representing Howard; Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Heather Hadley is trying the case for the state.

When all was said and done Ernier Pacheco was sentenced to 12 years in state prison.

Ernier Pacheco

He plead to aggravated manslaughter in the 2014 stabbing death of 21-year-old Alberto Saquic outside of Chapala II on Morris Avenue. Pacheco was 18 at the time of the stabbing.

Speaking through an interpreter, Pacheco apologized to Alberto Saquic's family.
"First of all, I'd like to apologize to the victim's family for my actions," Pacheco said. "It was never my intent for this to happen." The 19-year-old said that he feels he is older now and has a different frame of mind than he did on the night that Saquic died.

He also apologized to the court, to which Judge Peter Warshaw replied "you don't have to apologize to me."
Saquic's brother had intended to be in court, but a work conflict prevented him from being able to attend.

Assistant Prosecutor Kathleen Petrucci said that she'd relate Pacheco's apology to the family, but noted that Friday appeared to be the first time that Pacheco had expressed remorse for his actions.

Judge Warshaw sentenced the 20-year-old in accordance with his plea agreement, but he was given jail credit for 873 days.He'd already spent in prison. Under the terms of his plea agreement he'll have to serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for release. Typically, aggravated manslaughter carries between 10 to 30 years in prison.

Two teens have been indicted in the murder of Ricardo Montalvan Jr., the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office said on Friday.

Ricardo Montalvan Jr.

Prosecutors said that Divon Ray, 17, and Zakeem Brown, 18, were each indicted on one count of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree felony murder, one count of first-degree robbery, one count of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.

In 2016, the pair were waived up to adult court from juvenile, the Prosecutor's office said.
Montalvan was shot in a parking lot in the 200 block of Whittakter Avenue on May 11, 2016 around 9:50 p.m.
The 23-year-old victim was found inside of a silver Toyota Camry with at least one gunshot wound.

Montalvan was transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 10:15 p.m.
Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Ward presented the case to the grand jury.