(Left) Darryl Boone, (Right) Lamar Gaines

A Trenton man who admitted to killing his cellmate at the Mercer County Correction Center has been sentenced to 25 years in state prison.

Lamar Gaines, 22, must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence behind bars for strangling and beating 38-year-old Darryl Boone to death in 2013.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta sentenced Gaines last Friday to a quarter-century in prison for the homicide, 10 years in prison for a carjacking and five years of incarceration for an aggravated assault. He will serve out his sentences concurrently.

Gaines killed Boone at the county jail in Hopewell Township on Oct. 5, 2013. Court documents state that Gaines told correction officers he used a torn bed sheet to strangle Boone while he slept. The documents also say that while Boone was unconscious, but still breathing, Gaines filled a plastic cup with toilet water and poured it over Boone’s face multiple times in an attempt to drown him. Gaines then used the torn bed sheet to strangle Boone a second time, documents state, and he then slammed Boone’s head into the concrete floor several times. Gaines was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter earlier this year.

Three days before Boone’s death, Gaines assaulted another inmate named James Colman by choking him unconscious and attempting to drown him in a slop sink. Gaines pleaded guilty to that aggravated assault about two months ago.

Gaines was previously arrested on Feb. 1, 2012, for a carjacking incident that occurred on that date in Trenton. He pleaded guilty to first-degree carjacking on May 9.

Gaines as of Wednesday morning had not yet been transferred to the state prison system. His days at the county jail are coming to an end, for the state Department of Corrections is expected to soon book him at a state prison.

Police investigate a murder in Trenton (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Less than 24 hours before residents were expected to swarm the streets for the annual block party to combat crime, a man was murdered in the capital city.

"This is crazy," a woman on her way to work said Tuesday morning as she navigated crime scene tape and a police barricade to continue her daily walk.

Jermaine Austin, 37, was shot and killed late Monday night. Officials found him suffering from numerous gunshot wounds in the 1100 block of East State Street around 10 p.m. Austin later died at the hospital.

It's the second fatal shooting in eight days to occur on East State Street.

Jermaine Austin (Submitted photo)

On Tuesday morning, investigators seemed to be focused on an area in front of a home where numerous evidence placards littered a porch and sidewalk. But police also barricaded a parking lot between Jo Jo's Food and Meat Market and State Laundromat, which are located directly across the street from that home.

Residents at the scene said they were not around Monday night to witness the shooting, but none of them seemed surprised.

"Typical Trenton," a resident said as she placed headphones on her ears and continued walking.

Court records show Austin was released from prison earlier this year after serving time for drug distribution. Residents who knew him expressed their grief on social media.

"Rip Jermaine Austin we had the strongest love once now we got the strongest hate. life long friend s.i.p," Khalid Carter wrote on Facebook.

"Rest in paradise Jermaine Austin...this is so sad! Another childhood friend more like family!" Israel Martin wrote.

So far this year, 14 people have been killed in this 8-square-mile city, which includes the hit-and-run death of 39-year-old Lea Pringle. Three of those homicides occurred during the month of July.

Hundreds of city residents are expected to fill the streets Tuesday evening for National Night Out, an annual event that promotes involvement in crime prevention activities, police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. Police also view the event as a message to criminals that citizens are standing together to combat crime.

Police investigate a murder in Trenton. August 1, 2017 (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Sgt. Jason Astbury received awards for valor and merit during a May 2010 police ceremony but was shaken eight months later when he discovered the murdered body of Dardar Paye stuffed inside the trunk of a Buick sedan.

Trenton Police Sgt. Jason Astbury

“I was startled,” Astbury said Thursday during witness testimony. “I’ve never come across anything like that in my career.”

Astbury found the body in the trunk on Jan. 16, 2011, following an interstate police chase that began in Trenton and ended on Route 1 in Falls Township, Pennsylvania.

Paye, 33, was a U.S. Army veteran and Liberian immigrant who had been shot and killed in the basement of a Monmouth Street home in Trenton before getting placed in garbage bags and stuffed in the Buick’s trunk. Astbury said he had checked the body for a pulse, to no avail.

Mack Edwards, one of the five defendants charged with the murder of Paye, was riding as a passenger in the Buick. When the vehicle slowed down to a near-full stop, Edwards opened the front passenger’s door and tried to exit from it, according to Astbury, who had placed Edwards in a front headlock in an effort to subdue him outside the moving vehicle.

Mack Edwards

“I had to punch him,” Astbury said on Thursday, adding he struck Edwards on the top of the head during a tussle. He was “on the ground struggling with the passenger” while another officer apparently reached inside the vehicle to put the Buick in park, he said.

Edwards, 31, of Trenton, was quickly placed in handcuffs. “They put a bandage on his head and he was placed in a police vehicle,” Astbury added.

Edwards is currently standing trial on murder charges alongside co-defendant and alleged triggerman Danuweli Keller, 29, of Hamilton.

The other co-defendants in the case — Trenton men Phobus Sullivan, 33, Abdutawab Kiazolu, 29, and William D. Brown, 32 — are expected to be tried later in the future. Sullivan is accused of driving the Buick in an attempt to dispose of Paye’s body.

The Trentonian previously reported that Astbury pursued the Buick because it had matched the description of a vehicle that was spotted during recent home invasion robberies in Trenton. When Astbury took notice of the Buick, police said, it was traveling with two other vehicles — a white minivan and a silver Mitsubishi — and they were all driving at a high rate of speed in the area of Anderson Street and Hamilton Avenue in the city’s Chambersburg section.

All three autos headed for the bridge on Route 1 South into Pennsylvania. The first car, the Mitsubishi, stopped to pay the toll at the bridge, but the other two vehicles drove through the toll plaza without paying, according to news accounts in The Trentonian, which cited police sources.

Astbury and Detective Charles Steever Jr. gave chase, police said, with the Buick stopping on Route 1 near the Oxford Valley exit in Bucks County’s Falls Township.

Danuweli Keller

Police say Sullivan and Edwards exited the Buick and tried to flee on foot. Detective Eliezer Ramos caught up to Sullivan, while Astbury apprehended Edwards.

Pennsylvania State Police spotted the fleeing white minivan heading south on Interstate 95 at a high rate of speed. Police said Keller was driving the minivan and that Kiazolu was riding as a passenger inside that vehicle. Troopers brought the vehicle to a stop in Philadelphia by using spike strips to take out the vehicle’s tires and arrested Keller and Kiazolu, police said at the time.

Brown was later charged in connection with the murder after the arrests of Edwards, Keller, Sullivan and Kiazolu.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier is presiding over the Keller and Edwards murder trial, with defense attorney Peter Abatemarco representing Keller and defense attorney Mark G. Davis representing Edwards.

Dardar Paye

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian is prosecuting Edwards and Keller on behalf of the state.

An audio recording of police radio chatter was played in the courtroom on Thursday. “There’s a body in the trunk we have,” Astbury said in the recording.

Astbury has been on the Trenton Police force since April 2000. He received service commendations for valor and merit in May 2010 and was named 2011 Trenton Police Officer of the Year several months after the body-in-the-trunk discovery.

TRENTON >> Mercer County and Trenton Police say that Lewis Young, 30, of Trenton, was murdered while driving in the city Thursday evening.

Young was pronounced dead at Capital Health System-Fuld after a passenger in his vehicle drove him to the hospital. The shooting occured around 8:30 p.m., Young was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.

County Homicide Task Force and city police are investigating, but no arrests have yet been made.

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.

Jonathan Weathers

A Mercer County grand jury issued two murder indictments last week.

Jonathan Weathers, 26, was indicted on charges of murder, robbery and tampering with a witness in connection with the death of 60-year-old Stephen Merrill.

Weathers is accused of severely beating Merrill during a robbery on August 2, 2016. Merrill was found suffering from a brain bleed, a collapsed lung and multiple broken bones on Lamberton Street around 3 a.m.

Officials say Weathers took Merrill’s wallet, cellphone and Fitbit during the assault.

Merrill died at the hospital a few weeks later.

While Weathers was in jail, prosecutors say, he contacted a witness in the case and told them to recant their statement regarding the robbery and not go to court. For that, Weathers was charged with tampering with a witness.

Weathers remains in jail on $1 million bail.

A grand jury also indicted 16-year-old Danny Saad for the death of Carlos Leiva-Oviedo, who was fatally stabbed near the intersection of Hudson and Genesee streets on the morning of June 14, 2016.

Surveillance video helped police identify Saad, from Newark, as a suspect in the case. Saad was charged with murder and related weapons offenses, and was waived to adult court.

Saad remains in the Middlesex County Youth Detention Center.

Daren Joseph

A Florida man who was arrested on charges related to money laundering earlier this year, was shot and killed while sitting in a car directly across the street from a city hospital Wednesday night.

Daren Joseph, 29, from Lauderhill, Florida, was found lying in the street next to a dark-colored Acura around 9:35 p.m. in the 100 block of Miller Street, a section of the city that doesn't experience much violence, located directly across the street from Capital Health Regional Medical Center.

"We don't see too much criminal activity in this area," a cop at the scene said Wednesday night. "It's kinda surprising."

Adding mystery to the surprise, the Acura — which had New York license plates — was still idling and partially parked on the sidewalk parallel to a fence, leading detectives to believe the victim was driving the car at the time he was shot. Cops presume Joseph placed the car in park after it jumped the curb, then crawled out of the car to escape the attack.

Police say several shell casings were found inside the car, implying the suspect was in the Acura with the victim when the shooting began.

Joseph was shot numerous times, including once in the head.

Police investigate a murder in the 100 block of Miller Street. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

As of now, police do not have a suspected motive for the killing, and detectives say Joseph's connection to Trenton is not immediately clear.

However, Joseph was arrested in Fort Lee by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office on March 16. Prosecutors say Joseph's arrest was the result of an investigation regarding money laundering.

When cops stopped Joseph in Bergen, he allowed them to search his car, where police found $41,509 behind a secret liner of a suitcase. Joseph was charged with transporting or possessing property believed to be derived from criminal activity, which is a third-degree crime. Joseph was later released on his own recognizance.

Records show Joseph submitted an application on May 9 to enter the Pretrial Intervention (PTI) program. It appears a decision was not made prior to his death. Court records show Joseph was scheduled to have a pre-indictment conference on June 6, but it appears the event was withdrawn.

Joseph's death marks the second murder this month in the capital city.

So far this year, the city has experienced 10 homicides, which includes the hit-and-run death of Lea Pringle.

Seven people have died by gunfire this year, and two people were stabbed to death.

Anyone with information about Wednesday's killing is urged to contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477.

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

A man was murdered while in his car across the street from the hospital Wednesday night (Penny Ray - Trentonian)

Danuweli Keller (left) and Mack Edwards

A 12-member jury has unanimously found Danuweli Keller guilty of a 2011 city murder that left the victim’s body stuffed in the trunk of a car.

Meanwhile, the jury on Thursday could not reach any verdicts against co-defendant Mack Edwards, 31, of Trenton, with the jury deliberating for hours over Edwards’ fate but being hung on all 17 counts at the trial’s conclusion.

Prosecutors say they have a strong case against Edwards and will try him again in hopes of securing a conviction at a future trial. The partial verdict is not exactly what the state was looking for, but the prosecution expressed satisfaction with the jury convicting Keller on the murder charges.

“We’re happy in the sense that Danuweli Keller was found guilty for the execution of Dardar Paye,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian told The Trentonian after the verdict. “We’re glad he will finally be held accountable for the crime.”

Keller, 29, of Hamilton, shot and killed Paye in the basement of a Monmouth Street home in Trenton in January 2011. Paye, 33, was a U.S. Army veteran and Liberian immigrant. After Keller murdered him, Paye’s body was placed in garbage bags and stuffed in the trunk of Buick.

Dardar Paye

Trenton Police Sgt. Jason Astbury found the body in the trunk on Jan. 16, 2011, following an interstate police chase that began in Trenton and ended on Route 1 in Falls Township, Pennsylvania.

A total of five defendants have been charged with the murder of Paye, including Keller and Edwards. The other co-defendants in the case are Trenton men Phobus Sullivan, 33, Abdutawab Kiazolu, 29, and William D. Brown, 32, and they are all expected to be tried in the near future.

The jury on Thursday was hung on some of the charges against Keller but was firmly convinced of Keller’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on the first-degree murder and armed robbery charges. Consequently, Keller faces 30 years to life in prison.

Gasparian said the state will recommend Keller gets hammered with life imprisonment when he is sentenced on Sept. 7.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier presided over the Keller and Edwards murder trial, with defense attorney Peter Abatemarco representing Keller and defense attorney Mark G. Davis representing Edwards.

“The jury took their time,” Davis told The Trentonian after the mixed verdict came down. “I think they did a good job reviewing the evidence and coming up with a verdict.”

With the jury convicting Keller on the heaviest charges but being hung on all 17 counts against Edwards, Davis said he expects the state will retry his client.

For a defendant to be found guilty of a criminal charge in a trial by jury, all jurors must unanimously agree that the state has proven the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. For a defendant to be found not guilty, all jurors must unanimously agree that the state failed to prove its case in a convincing manner. A hung jury occurs when the jurors deliberate for hours but fail to reach a unanimous agreement over a defendant’s fate.

A murder victim lies in the street on Sanford St in Trenton Friday as police process the scene.
John Berry - The Trentonian

TRENTON >> With the start of the summer, city kids were riding their bikes and hanging out of front porches to kick off the Fourth of July weekend.

But on the first block of Sanford Street on Friday afternoon, a man lay dead in the street after being gunned down.

Police sources say the victim is 19-year-old city resident Nebate Anderson.

Employees at a car business at the end of the street said they were in the garage when the shooting occurred so they didn’t see anything. But the workers said they heard at least five shots.

“Thank God the kids weren’t playing on their bikes,” one woman said who had been living on the street the past 16 years. “They don’t care about daytime, the children, nothing.”

The shooting occurred just before 3 p.m.

When cops arrived on the scene, Anderson was found laying on the ground between a car and a minivan, police sources said. Anderson lived across the street from where he was shot, the sources told The Trentonian.

The sources who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution said Anderson had a warrant for his arrest for a prior shooting. Police sources said Anderson “always had a gun on him” and was a “known shooter.”

Half of Sanford Street is lined with vacant, boarded-up houses that are used as memorials for people who have been killed with “RIP” inscriptions written with spray paint.

Some young children were sitting on porches with their parents at the border of the crime-scene tape.

“Damn, summertime,” one man said. “Oh man, that s**t is crazy, crazy in the hood.”

Anderson was arrested by Trenton police on May 2 because he matched the description of a suspected gunman in connection with two shootings.

Anderson allegedly reached for his waistband when he saw the cops.

Detectives grabbed Anderson’s hand, which was on the gun, and disarmed him as they tackled him onto the ground.

Police say the semi-automatic weapon was fully loaded and equipped with a high-capacity magazine. Detectives also found Anderson in possession of marijuana.

Anderson was charged with drug and weapons offenses for the incident.

Friday’s murder was the second homicide in the past three days.

On Wednesday night, Daren Joseph, 29, of Lauderhill, Fla., was found lying in the street next to a dark-colored Acura on the 100 block of Miller Street, a section of the city that doesn’t experience much violence, located directly across the street from Capital Health Regional Medical Center.

So far this year, the city has experienced 11 homicides, which includes the hit-and-run death of Lea Pringle.

Eight people have died by gunfire this year, two people were stabbed to death, and the one vehicle death.

Anyone with information about Wednesday’s killing is urged to contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton Crime Stoppers tip line at (609) 278-8477.

Trentonian staff writer Penny Ray contributed to this report

Police and County Homicide detectives on the scene of a murder on Sanford St. in Trenton.
John Berry - The Trentonian

A 21-year-old man was shot and killed Friday night while seated inside his vehicle in North Trenton, becoming the city’s 15th homicide victim of 2017.

Jerome J. Thomas of the Somerset section of Franklin Township in Somerset County suffered multiple gunshot wounds on the 600 block of Southard Street about 7:50 p.m. Friday, authorities said. He was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

The at-large triggerman was described as a black male who fled the scene after the shooting.

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force is investigating the slaying.

This is a developing story.

Leroy Tutt

A man who was notoriously shot in the butt earlier this year has been arrested in connection a capital city murder.

Leroy Tutt, 30, was arrested Saturday night and charged in connection with the murder of 19-year-old Nebate Anderson. Trenton patrol cops saw Tutt driving a vehicle near the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Evans Avenue and arrested him in connection with warrants issued as a result of Anderson's death.

Anderson was gunned down on June 30 in the first block of Sanford Street, where police found him lying on the ground between a car and a minivan. He lived across the street from where he was shot.

Before his death, police issued a warrant for Anderson’s arrest in connection with a prior shooting. However, officials never publicly stated who they believed Anderson shot.

Nebate Anderson

Perhaps coincidentally, Tutt was shot in the butt on the afternoon of April 26 in the 600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Sources say Tutt ran into a deli as a gunman fired at him. The incident left the business with a shattered glass door.

The gunman and the victim fled the scene before police arrived, but Tutt later walked into the hospital to seek treatment for a gunshot wound to the butt.

Tutt has a record of violent criminal offenses. Public records show he was arrested in 2013 for aggravated assault and weapons offenses. He was paroled in October 2015 and released from custody in June of last year.

So far this year, this 8-square-mile capital city has experienced 15 homicides. Twelve of those victims died by gunfire, two were stabbed to death, and one was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

The latest victim, 21-year-old Jerome Thomas, of Franklin Township, was shot and killed while sitting inside his vehicle in the 600 block of Southard Street Friday night. The gunman remains on the run.

Alleged killer Tyleeb Reese, who commanded international attention earlier this year during a 35-hour deadly standoff with police, has been indicted on heavy criminal charges.

Tyleeb Reese

A Mercer County grand jury on Wednesday handed up an 18-count indictment charging Reese with a variety of offenses ranging from murder to resisting arrest, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Reese, 35, of Trenton, is accused of shooting and killing a civilian, 56-year-old Robert Powell Jr., during the early hours of the standoff on May 10. The standoff ended about 5 p.m. May 11 with Reese surrendering peacefully. A judge eventually ordered Reese to be held without bail on pretrial detention. 

Robert Powell Jr. (right)

The standoff began about 6:20 a.m. May 10 when a U.S. Marshals regional task force came under fire upon entering Reese’s house on the 300 block of Centre Street. The officers were attempting to arrest Reese that morning because he had previously failed to appear in court regarding a Megan’s Law violation. Reese is a convicted sex offender who must register his status with the proper law-enforcement authorities.

In the deadly standoff, Reese barricaded himself inside his home and allegedly fired at police in a gunfight that killed Powell and left three Mercer County Sheriff’s officers wounded with non-life-threatening injuries. In addition to first-degree murder, the indictment also charged Reese with seven counts of first-degree attempted murder, seven counts of second-degree aggravated assault, one count of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, one count of third-degree burglary, and one count of third-degree resisting arrest.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor John P. Boyle Jr. presented the case to the grand jury.

A cold-blooded killer is going to state prison.

Seth Z. Bowers

Seth Bowers, 22, of Trenton, has been sentenced to 17 years of incarceration for shooting and killing 25-year-old Zaire Gibbs in the capital city last year.

Originally charged with murder and weapons offenses, Bowers pleaded guilty a few months ago to one count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter. He confessed to shooting Gibbs about 3:50 p.m. June 1, 2016, during an altercation on Washington Street in Trenton. The victim died 24 hours later at the hospital from his mortal wounds.

Known criminal

The self-confessed killer is well-known to law-enforcement. Trenton Police Detective Gregory Hollo arrested Bowers on Dec. 21, 2015, in connection with a robbery that occurred on that date. He eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree armed robbery.

Zaire Gibbs

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown on Wednesday sentenced Bowers to 17 years of incarceration for the homicide and 10 years of incarceration for the armed robbery. He will serve out the sentences concurrently and must serve at least 85 percent of his sentences behind bars and will be subjected to five years of parole supervision.

As the state builds a murder case against Leroy Tutt, a judge on Tuesday granted a motion that will prevent the defendant from seeing all evidence or knowing what witnesses police have relied upon to obtain probable cause for Tutt’s Aug. 5 arrest.

Leroy Tutt

Tutt, 30, of Trenton, has been charged with murder and weapons offenses on allegations he shot and killed 19-year-old Nebate Anderson about 3 p.m. June 30 on Sanford Street.

Tutt is an ex-con who recently served time in state prison for unlawful handgun possession and aggravated assault. He may have been motivated by revenge when he allegedly gunned Anderson down.

As previously reported by The Trentonian, Tutt suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the butt on the afternoon of April 26 in the 600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Police sources said Anderson was the gunman who had shot Tutt and said Anderson would have eventually been arrested in connection with that shooting if he had not been murdered.

Nebate Anderson

Prosecutors filed a motion Aug. 7 seeking to keep Tutt incarcerated pretrial without bail at the Mercer County Correction Center. However, the detention hearing has been postponed till 9 a.m. Friday because Tutt’s public defender Nicole Carlo has not had enough time to review the state’s discovery evidence against her client.

Sporting an orange Mercer County inmate jumpsuit, Tutt appeared in court Tuesday morning for a motion hearing regarding a protective order that prosecutors filed on Monday. Prosecutors may seek a protective order to limit discovery if they have legitimate concerns for witness safety.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor James Scott on Tuesday formally asked Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown to grant the protective order, and the jurist honored the request, disregarding Carlo’s objection to the motion.

In general, a defendant is entitled to be provided with all material discovery evidence in a timely fashion, but the New Jersey Supreme Court in State v. Habeeb Robinson earlier this year upheld the principle of protective orders.

“In appropriate cases,” the high court ruled, “the prosecutor may apply for a protective order to redact, delay, or withhold the disclosure of materials that would expose witnesses and others to harm, hinder or jeopardize ongoing investigations or prosecutions, undermine the secrecy of informants and confidential information which the law recognizes, or compromise some other legitimate interest.”

The protective order against Tutt suggests the state may have compelling evidence and witness statements linking him to the murder of Anderson and that the state has a compelling interest to shield those witnesses from possible retaliation.

Tutt was last released from state prison on June 26, 2016, according to the New Jersey Department of Corrections. He previously served time for selling drugs.

Alleged gunman Leroy Tutt maintains his innocence, but two cooperating witnesses and cellphone tower data have implicated him in the June 30 murder of 19-year-old Nebate Anderson.

Leroy Tutt

Tutt, 30, of Trenton, has been jailed without bail since getting arrested Aug. 5. He is accused of shooting and killing Anderson in Trenton’s North Ward in broad daylight.

“Mr. Tutt has potential alibi witnesses,” public defender Nicole Carlo said at a recent court proceeding, adding her client “adamantly maintains his innocence.”

An alibi witness is a person who can testify that a defendant was somewhere other than the crime scene when it occurred. Police reviewed cellphone communications data and “confirmed that Leroy Tutt’s cellular telephone was in the general area of Sanford Street during the incident,” according to court documents, but Carlo said the cell tower data “is not a link to the homicide.”

Trenton Police were dispatched to Sanford Street about 1:48 p.m. June 30 on a report of shots fired and located Anderson lying in the street between two vehicles. While on scene, police detectives received phone calls from “concerned citizens who wished to remain anonymous” alleging that Tutt killed Anderson in retaliation for a shooting that occurred earlier in the year, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Tutt was the victim of a shooting on April 26; he survived a gunshot wound to the butt. Weeks after the shooting, police eventually filed warrants for Anderson’s arrest on June 28 upon determining Anderson was the gunman who shot Tutt on the 600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Anderson was wanted as the suspected triggerman but got murdered before police could arrest him on the warrant, court documents show.

Nebate Anderson

Officers recovered nine .40 caliber spent shell casings at the scene. Two cooperating witnesses provided police with statements linking Tutt to the grisly slaying, and officers on Aug. 4 obtained a complaint warrant charging Tutt with murder and weapons offenses, according to documents in the court case. Trenton Police Detective Luis Vega Jr., a member of the Mercer County Homicide Task Force, arrested Tutt the following day subsequent to a motor vehicle stop. Carlo said no weapon was recovered.

Tutt may possibly never learn the identity of the two cooperating witnesses who pointed the finger at him, because Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown granted a protective order that allows the prosecution to redact, delay, or withhold the disclosure of any materials that would expose witnesses and others to harm.

Police on June 30 received anonymous tips implicating Tutt in the murder, but it was not until July 3 when Vega “learned the identity of a witness who was present at the scene of this murder and is referred to as ‘Cooperating Witness #1’ or ‘CW1,’” Vega said in his affidavit of probable cause statement. “CW1 stated to me that while on Sanford Street CW1 heard several gunshots, which gained CW1’s attention. CW1 then observed Leroy Tutt standing over the victim shooting a gun at the victim.”

Vega said he spoke with a second witness on July 18. He referred to that witness as “Cooperating Witness #2” or “CW2.”

According to the affidavit of probable cause, CW2 told Vega he had heard gunshots and then observed Tutt standing near Anderson’s body and “carrying his right arm in a way that appeared as if he was carrying a gun.”

Carlo last Friday urged Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Bingham II to release Tutt from the Mercer County Correction Center on electronically monitored home detention as he awaits trial.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor James Scott at the court hearing last Friday argued for pretrial detention, saying that Tutt is “a violent person” who has been incarcerated before on criminal convictions.

Judge Bingham cited Tutt’s criminal history, which includes convictions for selling drugs and perpetrating an aggravated assault, and ordered him to be jailed without bail on pretrial detention.

Recent court sentencings in Trenton show that trial-by-jury convictions generally lead to significantly more prison time than negotiating a guilty plea.

Dante Alexander, 33, of Trenton, this week received 50 years of imprisonment for shooting and killing 26-year-old Brandon Nance outside a city bakery in 2013. He pleaded not guilty in the case and took it to trial, where a jury of his peers convicted him in May of first-degree murder for slaying Nance in cold blood on Aug. 29, 2013, in front of the Italian People’s Bakery on Butler Street in broad daylight.

Dante Alexander

Alexander will have to serve at least 85 percent of his term behind bars and will be subjected to five years of parole supervision upon release, according to his defense attorney Christopher T. Campbell.

Meanwhile, self-confessed killer Michael Holman received 15 years of imprisonment for fatally injuring 18-year-old Julio Cesar Cruz in 2014. Holman, who turns 22 later this month, approached Cruz in the first block of Rusling Street and slammed the victim on the ground Feb. 15, 2014. Cruz suffered a mortal head injury during the attack and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Holman was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty earlier this year to first-degree aggravated manslaughter. He could have received 30 years to life in prison if he had been convicted at trial, but Holman averted that by fessing up to his crimes under a negotiated plea agreement.

Michael Holman

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier sentenced Holman on Aug. 30 to 15 years of incarceration in the Trenton homicide case and seven years of incarceration in a separate aggravated assault case involving an incident that occurred Aug. 27, 2014, when Holman was jailed at the county lockup in Hopewell Township on high monetary bail. He pleaded guilty in both cases and will concurrently serve out his sentences.

Dante Martin, 21, of Trenton, a co-defendant in Holman’s homicide case, was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning for a status conference.

Danuweli Keller

The triggerman who shot and killed U.S. Army veteran Dardar Paye execution style and who then ordered the victim’s body to be stuffed in the trunk of a car has been sentenced to six decades of hard time behind bars.

The state argued that Danuweli Keller should have been hit with life imprisonment — which amounts to 75 years of incarceration — for being convicted at trial on first-degree murder charges, but Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier on Thursday sentenced Keller to 61 years in state prison.

“We are gratified that Mr. Keller will be in prison for over half a century,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian told The Trentonian after the sentencing. “It was a cold-blooded execution of the victim. Hopefully this gives the victim’s family some closure.”

Paye, 33, was a U.S. Army veteran, father of two sons and a Liberian immigrant. One of his sisters, Elizabeth Paye, spoke at Thursday’s sentencing and talked about the hurt of losing her brother while also expressing that she forgives Keller for his vicious crimes.

Dardar Paye

“Mr. Keller, you took someone so special and dear to my heart,” Elizabeth Paye said. “By the grace of God, I’ve been holding on. … I forgive you. You need to forgive yourself.”

But the convicted murderer on Thursday spoke with an air of arrogance, describing himself as an innocent man wrongly brought to justice.

“I had nothing to do with Dardar being murdered. I maintain my innocence,” said Keller, who was 23 at the time of the slaying. Keller did not testify at his murder trial, which ran about five weeks and led to him being convicted June 29 on various counts of murder, robbery, eluding and witness tampering.

On Thursday, Keller sported an orange inmate jumpsuit and provided an alibi defense, saying he was not at the Monmouth Street household at the time of the murder. Keller said Dardar Paye was “a good friend of mine” and expressed his condolences to Paye’s surviving relatives. “This is not the first time an innocent person got convicted for a crime he didn’t commit,” he said. “It won’t be the last time.”

Keller has the right to appeal his conviction, but Judge Billmeier said the evidence against Keller was “absolutely overwhelming” and noted that Keller had played the lead role in the slaying of Paye. “He is a murderer,” the judge said of Keller. “He has no conscience, no regard for life.”

Keller, 29, of Hamilton, lured Paye into a Monmouth Street home in Trenton in January 2011. Once inside the house, the 33-year-old Paye was forcibly whisked into the basement at gunpoint and bound and gagged with duct tape. After robbing Paye of his belongings, Keller finished him off with a shot to the head and directed Paye’s body to be placed in garbage bags and stuffed in the trunk of Paye’s Buick.

An interstate police chase soon transpired in which Keller and several co-defendants were arrested in Pennsylvania, with Trenton Police Sgt. Jason Astbury finding Paye’s body in the trunk on Jan. 16, 2011.

The other co-defendants arrested and charged with murdering Paye are Trenton men Mack Edwards, 31; Phobus Sullivan, 34, who is currently incarcerated in state prison for shooting and killing 21-year-old Andrew Leonard in December 2010; Abdutawab Kiazolu, 29; and William D. Brown, 32, who is currently incarcerated in state prison for murdering 23-year-old Tracy Crews in September 2008.

A hung jury earlier this year could not reach any verdicts against Edwards. The state will retry him on the murder charges. Meanwhile, Sullivan, Kiazolu and Brown are expected to have their day in court in the near future.

A jury of Keller’s peers convicted him in June on several counts but also failed to reach verdicts on several other counts, including the most serious murder charge that would have required a mandatory life sentence without eligibility for parole.

The nature of the verdict gave Billmeier the discretion to hammer Keller with a sentence short of the maximum punishment. The judge sentenced Keller to several concurrent terms for his various felony convictions on murder, robbery and eluding, but the main takeaway was that Keller was hit with 61 years behind bars comprising 56 years for first-degree murder to be served consecutive to five years for tampering with a key witness in the case, Alfonso Slaughter.

Keller was awarded several years of jail credit but will have to serve out 85 percent of his sentence — just over 50 years behind bars — before he is eligible for parole.

Billmeier said his sentencing of Keller “is in the interest of justice.”

Naquan Green

A self-confessed killer will serve only a few years behind bars for shooting and killing 25-year-old Taquan McNeil in 2015.

Naquan Green, 29, of Trenton, was sentenced to five years of incarceration last Friday. Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta imposed the sentence, which requires Green to serve 85 percent of the sentence in state prison before he can become eligible for parole, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Green shot McNeil three times during a botched drug deal Feb. 15, 2015, on the 100 block of Boudinot Street in Trenton. He was arrested March 4, 2015, and later indicted on counts charging him with murder and weapons offenses. But Green pleaded guilty to reduced charges on May 26 after agreeing to a plea bargain offered by the state — fessing up to second-degree manslaughter committed recklessly.

Taquan McNeil, 25, of Trenton (Mercer County Prosecutor's Office Photo)

A seasoned criminal, Green has multiple state and federal convictions, including for a 2005 drug offense as a juvenile. He was sentenced to three years in state prison in 2012 for a 2009 aggravated assault. The state had active drug charges and weapons offenses pending against Green but dismissed all of those counts as part of his plea bargain in the homicide case.

In addition to being sentenced to five years of incarceration, Green will also be subjected to three years of parole supervision after serving his time in state prison.

City gunman Masiyah “Chicken” Howard has beaten murder charges through attrition after being prosecuted for years as an alleged killer.

Masiyah Howard

Howard was accused of shooting and killing 25-year-old Louis Bryan Alvarez over a $20 dispute involving an Xbox video game system in 2013, but a jury earlier this year could not reach a verdict on whether Howard was responsible for the victim’s death.

The state had the option of retrying him on the murder charges, but the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office has instead decided to dismiss all counts related to the Alvarez homicide after Howard pleaded guilty in June to possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose in an unrelated robbery case.

A judge sentenced Howard to five years of incarceration in July for the weapons offense, but his time in the state prison system will be short lived. That’s because the 21-year-old Howard received 1,590 days of jail credit and is therefore slated to be released from state custody on Jan. 9, 2018, according to the New Jersey Department of Corrections.

When Howard was 17 years old, he allegedly committed an armed robbery in Trenton on Feb. 11, 2013, and then allegedly gunned down Alvarez two weeks later in the city’s Chambersburg neighborhood on the night of Feb. 26, 2013.

Police arrested Howard on Feb. 28, 2013, in connection with the robbery and a few days later also charged him with murder and weapons offenses in connection with the Alvarez slaying. The state ultimately decided to prosecute Howard as an adult in both the homicide and robbery cases.

Louis Bryan Alvarez

Since his arrest in 2013 up till his transfer to the state prison system earlier this summer, Howard had been locked up at the Mercer County Correction Center on high monetary bail. He pleaded not guilty in the homicide case and took the matter to a trial by jury, which ended with a mixed verdict.

The jury on May 9 found Howard guilty of unlawful possession of a handgun but was hung on the counts of murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. The jury was firmly convinced that Howard unlawfully possessed a firearm, but the 12 jurors could not unanimously agree on whether Howard was the gunman who had shot Alvarez to death with a fatal bullet to the chest.

The weapons conviction could have resulted in Howard getting sentenced to five to 10 years in state prison, far less than the 30 to 75 years of incarceration he would have received if a jury had convicted him on first-degree murder. But the guilty verdict on the weapons charge became almost meaningless after Howard accepted a plea offer from the state in the robbery case.

Howard resolved his robbery case by pleading guilty June 2 to second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose. Prosecutors, in turn, dismissed the other counts against Howard in the robbery case and dismissed all counts in the homicide case when Mercer County Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta sentenced the defendant on July 7 to five years of incarceration for the weapons offense.

In dismissing the homicide-related charges, the prosecutor’s office has effectively exonerated Howard of murder while acknowledging it would have been difficult —perhaps near impossible — for the state to unanimously convince 12 jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Howard was the gunman who killed Alvarez.

At the end of the day, the state did not have the strongest case against Howard. For example, the state did not have any surveillance video, eyewitness accounts or direct evidence linking Howard to the February 2013 murder of Alvarez.

Prosecutors primarily relied upon the testimony of three cooperating witnesses — a trio of legally troubled Trenton gang members from the 793 Bloods set — who testified under oath that Howard had previously talked to them about being in the county jail for shooting someone.

Although the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Howard unlawfully possessed a handgun without first having obtained a permit to carry, the lack of direct evidence in the case and the state’s reliance upon criminal cooperating witnesses seeking lenient prison sentences may have been the issue that rendered the jury unable to unanimously decide whether Howard was guilty of murder or manslaughter. The jurors declined to speak with The Trentonian about their deliberations after the trial ended with the partial verdict.

Masiyah Howard listens to closing arguments in Mercer County Superior Court on Wednesday, May 3, 2017.
(Gregg Slaboda Photo)

Howard was represented by defense attorney Steven Lember and is currently incarcerated at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility in Chesterfield Township.

A 17-year-old unlicensed driver has been arrested in connection with the March 7 hit-and-run homicide of 39-year-old Lea Pringle.

Lea Pringle (Facebook photo)

The teenage city girl was charged Thursday with death by auto and related offenses and remanded to the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center, according to Trenton Police, who said the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office will determine whether the defendant is tried as a juvenile or an adult.

The unlicensed teen driver is accused of striking the pedestrian about 12:30 a.m. March 7 in the 600 block of North Olden Avenue, just outside of Benny’s bar. Pringle later died at the hospital. She was a Bucks County resident of Yardley, Pennsylvania.

Trenton Police Detective Craig Kirk and Detective Sgt. Bethesda Stokes are the investigating officers who solved the fatal hit-and-run case.

According to the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit, vehicular homicides are considered manslaughter and are, therefore, not reported as a homicide statistic. The Trentonian, however, includes death by auto and justifiable police shootings in its yearly homicide count.

The area where Pringle was struck is said to be rife with reckless or careless drivers who speed through the city’s East Trenton neighborhood. Several hours after the vehicular homicide incident occurred, a man who identified himself as the manager of Benny’s said motorists continually speed through the area, which consists of residential housing on both sides of the street, and regularly has several cars parked outside of homes.

A city woman, Ivelisse Bassat, was arrested earlier this year on allegations she recklessly crashed into a pedestrian while driving drunk on the 600 block of North Olden Avenue. The 30-year-old male victim was struck about 2 a.m. March 5. The crash pinned the victim between two vehicles near Benny’s bar, causing his leg to be severed from his body. He suffered major injuries but survived.

Staff writer Penny Ray contributed to this report.

Shawn “Squirm” Harrell

Wild shootings in a South Trenton neighborhood left two people dead, including a father of eight who was gunned down early Saturday, according to relatives at the crime scene.

Shawn “Squirm” Harrell, a loving father who would have turned 41 next Sunday, was shot and killed about 2:30 a.m. Saturday while he was standing next to his blue Dodge Durango, according to his grieving family members.

“They came to my house about 3-something in the morning and told me my brother is dead,” SAGE Coalition Director of Urban Affairs Earlie Harrell, better known on the streets as Messiah, said as police continued their homicide investigation. “My brother was a family man. He took care of his kids. He’s just dead for no reason now.”

Responding officers found Shawn Harrell suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the side of a Power Street residence in the area of Daymond Street. He was pronounced dead at the hospital, officials said.

The other homicide victim was identified as Anthony Flowers, 43, of Pemberton, who was pronounced dead at the scene after being shot multiple times on the 500 block of Lamberton Street about 9:20 p.m. Friday, authorities said. That shooting also struck and injured a woman.

Officers responded to a shooting-in-progress and found Flowers located in the vestibule hall space of 538 Lamberton St. He was unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene. The female victim was shot inside the Lamberton residence, suffering a gunshot wound to the arm. She was transported to the hospital to treat her wounds, which were not considered life-threatening, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.

Anthony Flowers

The next homicide occurred about five hours later in the same neighborhood less than half a mile away.

Shawn Harrell’s SUV appears to have sustained gunshot damage on the front window. Several hours after getting murdered, his vehicle remained parked at the end of Daymond Street near Bridge Street. Lying on the ground next to the blue Durango was a white baseball cap that family members said belonged to Shawn Harrell.

Yellow police tape blocked off the rear end of Daymond Street as detectives analyzed the scene and took photos.

Harrell’s grieving relatives displayed raw emotions on Saturday as they found themselves dealing with another family tragedy. Indeed, the shooting death of Harrell is not the first time the family lost a loved one to gun violence

Nyquan R. Owens, 20, died from gun violence on Aug. 3, 2013, in a city shooting that occurred on the 300 block of Brunswick Avenue. That case remains unsolved.

Other family members described Shawn Harrell as a “good dude” who was murdered as an “innocent bystander.”

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman - The Trentonian
Police investigate the homicide scene where a Trenton man was shot and killed Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017, off Daymond Street near Bridge Street in South Trenton.

“It’s hurtful. It’s not fair,” said Robin Green, one of Shawn Harrell’s cousins who considered him more as a sibling. “Get these guns off the street.”

Shawn Harrell had eight children and a longtime fiancée, according to his relatives. They said he liked to listen to music and have fun.

A Daymond Street resident and family friend said he was inside his house when Harrell was gunned down. He said he heard multiple gunshots and immediately started ducking for cover. “I’m debating if I should go to work,” he said about 8 a.m. Saturday, “because I didn’t get any sleep.”

In the wake of the overnight violence, Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson and Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr. participated Saturday morning in the annual prayer walk led by the Rev. Barry Vazquez, pastor and founder of Trenton-based Living by Grace Fellowship Inc.

“We prayed at the police station. We prayed at the fire department and at City Hall as well,” Parrey said in an interview with The Trentonian. “It’s about community getting together.”

The prayer walk was already planned for Saturday before the overnight slayings, with the event intended to promote peace and fellowship. “It just so happens that it coincided with the events of last night,” Parrey said, “but we had a great turnout.”

In terms of the latest bloodshed to rock the South Trenton community, “We are going to do everything in our powers to locate and arrest the offenders,” Parrey added. “We are going to be paying special attention to that area because we don’t want to see this violence escalate any more than it already has.”

The mayor and police director on Saturday afternoon were expected to participate in a “Ride for Peace” tour of the city.

Both shooting incidents are being investigated by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force. Anyone with information about either slaying is urged to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton Police Confidential Tip Line at (609) 989-3663.

Stay with Homicide Watch Trenton as this breaking news story develops.

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — The Trentonian
Police investigate the homicide scene where a Trenton man was shot and killed Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017, off Daymond Street near Bridge Street in South Trenton.