A city man who viciously stabbed his girlfriend to death in June 2013 received 22 years of state incarceration on Friday but suggested life imprisonment would have been more appropriate.

William Nobles

William Nobles, who previously pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter, said his slain lover “did not deserve to be murdered like that,” adding, “I don’t deserve to be back on the street.”

Nobles, 44, armed himself with scissors and stabbed 54-year-old Celeste Pernell over 20 times inside her Southard Street home on June 1, 2013. Trenton Police arrested him two days later on murder charges and weapons offenses. 

Shackled in chains and sporting an orange jumpsuit, Nobles described himself as a “good person” when the court gave him the opportunity to speak Friday morning at his sentencing hearing. He also suggested his domestic violence was out of character, telling the court he had failed to take his medication prior to the slaying.

“I never ever meant to hurt Celeste,” Nobles said before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown. “I am not a violent person toward females. That’s not what I do. … I loved Celeste.”

Brown described the homicide as a “heinous, senseless, violent killing” and recited Nobles’ prior convictions for shoplifting, first-degree robbery and second-degree aggravated assault before sentencing the defendant to 22 years in state prison in accordance with the plea agreement.

Patricia Stokes-Combs, a longtime friend of the slain victim, admonished Nobles in no uncertain terms when she addressed the court Friday. Standing behind the podium and turning her body toward Nobles, Stokes-Combs said, “Celeste meant everything to us. … She fed you. She told me she loved you. When I first saw you, there was something about you I didn’t like.”

The bespectacled Nobles sat quietly at the defense table and looked down as Stokes-Combs spoke, prompting her to say, “Please look at me, Mr. Nobles. Mr. Nobles, be a man. Hold your head up. You’ve got to have some remorse.”

Nobles had taken the voice, air and last breath away from his girlfriend, Stokes-Combs said, adding, “I hope they bring you out of that jail in a body bag.”

After Stokes-Combs concluded her remarks, Nobles addressed the court and said, “I never met the lady who was standing here.”

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian described the June 2013 slaying as a “brutal domestic violence homicide” and mentioned the gory details of how Pernell had scissors protruding out of her neck when authorities discovered her slain body. “Ms. Pernell was killed by somebody she loved, somebody she trusted,” Gasparian said Friday at Nobles’ sentencing hearing.

If Nobles had taken his case to trial, public defender Jenna Casper would have presented a diminished capacity defense arguing that Nobles was in a temporary mental state that prevented him from forming the thought process necessary to prove he had intentionally killed his girlfriend.

At Friday’s sentencing hearing, Casper told the court her client “accepts responsibility” for the homicide, adding, “He’s extremely sorry for what happened.”

A grand jury in March 2014 indicted Nobles on murder charges and weapons offenses, but he ultimately resolved his case by pleading guilty Oct. 19 to the lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter. His plea agreement recommended a 22-year prison sentence and called for the state to dismiss the remaining charges in the indictment.

Although Nobles said, “I don’t deserve to be back on the street,” and, “If they had the death penalty I would accept it,” Judge Brown still honored the plea agreement and sentenced him to 22 years of incarceration.

Nobles must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before he can become eligible for parole and will be subjected to five years of parole supervision upon release. He received several years of jail credit for being locked up on high monetary bail while his case played out in court.

Trenton EMS

UPDATE: The victim has been identified as 45-year-old Gladys Barrera.

The capital city couldn't make it through the start of a new year without another murder.

A female was shot and killed Sunday night, marking the 24th homicide to occur in Trenton, which includes two hit-and-run deaths.

The female was shot in the 100 block of Brown Street around 11:30 p.m. and pronounced dead at the scene. A male was injured in the shooting as well, but he is expected to survive.

Of the 24 killings in 2017, 20 victims died by gunfire, two died by stabbing and two died by automobile.

Medical personnel have been so busy that The Trentonian selected all first responders working in the capital city as the newspaper's 2017 Persons of the Year.

DAVID FOSTER — THE TRENTONIAN
Blood soaks the sidewalk outside a Trenton home on the 100 block of Brown Street, where a 45-year-old female was murdered and a male suffered a gunshot wound on New Year’s Eve.

TRENTON >> A city resident had planned to go out for a beer on New Year’s Eve.

Then, a female friend invited him to church.

“I said, ‘What the hell. I’ll do the right thing. I’ll go to church. It’ll be better than going to a bar and getting drunk and this is what happened,’” the 37-year-old male resident said New Year’s Day outside the home where his female friend was shot to death the previous night at approximately 11:30 p.m.

Police identified the man’s friend as 45-year-old Gladys Barrera, of Trenton. She was pronounced dead outside the home on the 100 block of Brown Street.

The male victim also suffered a graze wound to his head but was released from the hospital.

DAVID FOSTER — THE TRENTONIAN
Blood soaks the sidewalk outside a Trenton home on the 100 block of Brown Street, where a 45-year-old female was murdered and a male suffered a gunshot wound on New Year’s Eve.

Recounting the incident, the male victim — with blood-soaked dressings wrapped around his head and abrasions on his cheek — said outside his residence on Monday that the two had just returned back to his place after purchasing some take-out chicken on their way home from church.

“I was opening the door when I heard the loud boom and she just fell right there,” the victim said, noting everything happened so quickly. “I thought I lost my eye because I couldn’t see. It was because all the blood I had in my eye that I couldn’t see. My glasses may have saved my eye.”

The man grabbed his phone and quickly called 9-1-1.

“Five minutes later, everybody was here,” the victim said. “Still it wasn’t quick enough. She didn’t make it.”

New Year’s Eve was only the second time the two had hung out.

On Christmas Eve, they also went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.

“We weren’t dating or anything,” the man said. “We’re just friends.”

He was unsure why they were targeted, but feels someone might have been after her.

“If they were out to get me, I don’t know why because I don’t have any enemies,” the mild-mannered victim said, noting he’s a nice guy. “I wouldn’t think she does either. She’s a nice girl. She doesn’t drink. She doesn’t go to bars. She only goes to church.”

However, the man said the female victim had an ex-boyfriend who was the “jealous type.”

“He wouldn’t even let her go to church,” the man said.

DAVID FOSTER — THE TRENTONIAN
Blood stains the snow outside a Trenton home on the 100 block of Brown Street, where a 45-year-old female was murdered and a male suffered a gunshot wound on New Year’s Eve.

The South Ward street where the murder occurred is known as a quiet neighborhood. Christmas wreaths and decorations were hung up on houses. Right near the murder scene, trees were decorated with red ribbon and bows.

“All the neighbors are great,” one neighbor said. “We all look out for each other here.”

In stark contrast, at least a dozen bullets riddled the Brown Street home and a neighbor’s home from the gunfire. Blood from the shooting stained the snow outside the front stairs of the home that has two rental apartments.

The victim said the shots came from the direction of Stanton Street.

Video surveillance cameras were fitted to the home where the murder occurred, but they were not recording at the time of the incident.

One neighbor said fireworks were going off because of New Year’s Eve so he really didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary with the gunfire commotion.

The victim said he and his female friend were at church for two and a half hours before they left to get chicken. When they were at the chicken place, a car pulled out in front, but nobody got out, he said, hinting they may have been followed.

“I could never imagine this happening,” the victim said after cleaning the blood from his front steps. “It’s not something you want to go through.”

Sunday night’s murder marks the 24th homicide to occur in Trenton in 2017, which includes two hit-and-run deaths.

Of the 24 killings in 2017, 20 victims died by gunfire, two died by stabbing and two died by automobile.

Medical personnel have been so busy that The Trentonian selected all first responders working in the capital city as the newspaper’s 2017 Persons of the Year.

Trentonian staff writer Penny Ray contributed to this report

The bloody aftermath of a New Years Eve homicide in the capital city. (David Foster - Trentonian)

After an ambush-style New Year's Eve slaying, the capital city concluded 2017 with 24 homicides, which includes the deaths of Lea Pringle and Rodney Taylor, whom both were killed by hit-and-run drivers.

That number does not include the “suspicious death” of Lillian Duran, whose body was found wrapped in a trash bag on the side of Lamberton Street. A medical examiner ruled Duran’s death inconclusive, but law enforcement sources believe she died from a drug overdose after being forced to take a “hot bag” of dope, then later dumped on the side of the road as a warning to others.

That number also excludes the suspicious death of Gregory Wright Jr., who was found unresponsive in his Lexus in the area of Spring Street and Kafer Alley. Prosecutors await an official autopsy report and have not publicly announced his death as a homicide, but police sources with knowledge of the investigation believe he was assaulted before being placed in his car, where detectives later found him.

According to the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit, death by autos are considered manslaughter and are not reported as a homicide statistic. Therefore, NJSP will report Trenton’s official 2017 homicide toll as 22.

The Trentonian, however, includes vehicular homicides in its yearly homicide count.

The 22 murders that will be officially reported to the FBI is the seventh highest number of homicides in a single calendar year to occur within this 7.5-square-mile capital city in the past 17 years (that ranking does not include vehicular homicides and justifiable police shooting deaths from previous years).

Using 2016 census data and the 22 killings state police will report to the FBI, Trenton’s 2017 murder rate is 26.17 homicides per 100,000 residents.

September was the deadliest month of last year, largely because of a three-day span during which three people died by gunfire and a fourth person was killed by a hit-and-run motorist. Three people were killed in each of the months of March, May, June, July and December. There were no homicides in April and November.

Nineteen victims were male; five were female.

Eleven homicides occurred in the North Ward, more than any other ward.

Six victims were in their 30s at the time of their death, and six victims were in their 40s when they died. Two teenagers were murdered last year as well.

The oldest victim was 61-year-old Rodney Taylor, killed by auto on Chambers Street. The youngest victim was 15-year-old Kyler Bragg, who was shot in the head during a shootout near the intersection of Division and Hewitt streets.

Nineteen victims were black, four were white and one was Hispanic.

Shootings killed 20 people in the capital city, more than any other homicide method. Two people were stabbed to death: 48-year-old Brenda Garzio and 35-year-old Christopher Johnson.

Nine victims were pronounced dead at the scene and 15 died at the hospital.

Twelve suspects were arrested in connection with homicides that occurred in 2017; two of them are juveniles and one is a female.

The majority of homicides happened between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. Eight killings occurred between 12 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The man accused of shooting and killing 26-year-old Tisheen Mack in a summertime crime of passion has been indicted on manslaughter charges.

Jihad Jenks

Jihad “Jay” Jenks, 23, of Ewing, remains free on electronically monitored home detention as he awaits post-indictment arraignment, according to court records. He is accused of gunning down Mack near the intersection of East State Street and Chambers Street in Trenton July 23.

A grand jury handed up an indictment last Wednesday charging Jenks with second-degree manslaughter committed in the heat of passion resulting from a reasonable provocation, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun without a permit, court records show. 

Law enforcement failed to produce a detailed police report against Jenks in a timely fashion this summer, which prompted the state to withdraw its detention motion in the case. The indictment, however, indicates that a grand jury found sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against Jenks.

The indictment also suggests that the state’s case against Jenks is strong, considering the grand jury handed up homicide-based charges rather than dismissing them with a no bill.

Jenks maintains his innocence and denies any knowledge of the crime, according to his attorney. An affidavit of probable cause provided no substantive information in the case, but the homicide victim Tisheen “Booda Black” Mack of Trenton may have engaged or attempted to engage his killer in a gunfight.

Tisheen Rasheen Mack (Facebook photo)

Mack had a gun in his possession on the night he was killed, according to police sources, who said medical personnel discovered the weapon upon stabilizing Mack at the scene. He suffered numerous gunshot wounds on the 800 block of East State Street and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Police arrested Jenks and charged him with manslaughter in the heat of passion about two weeks after the slaying. The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion Aug. 5 seeking to keep Jenks locked up without bail on pretrial detention, but the state ultimately withdrew its detention motion Aug. 29 after a judge blasted the state’s initial handling of the case.

“This is a 23-year-old man with absolutely no prior record from what I can tell, and you are asking me to detain him today based on an affidavit of probable cause which doesn’t even mention him by name let alone give me any meaningful detail about what happened other than a recitation of the fact that the victim was shot,” Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw said at Jenks’ Aug. 29 detention hearing. “I don’t know where the idea that this is an acceptable showing of probable cause comes in and in terms of the reporting, I don’t even know where to start with that.”

At the detention hearing, Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian told Warshaw that neither the Mercer County Homicide Task Force nor the Trenton Police Department had completed an investigative report that would have explained Jenks’ alleged involvement in the slaying of Mack. She said the state, however, had a three-hour recorded statement from an eyewitness who saw the gun violence. She then invited Warshaw to watch the video.

“And because nobody in your office or the Trenton Police Department has written any sort of report, my only choice is to watch all of this stuff? …” Warshaw said, adding it was “absolutely ridiculous” that the state failed to produce a timely police report. Authorities filed manslaughter charges against Jenks Aug. 2 but failed to produce any substantive charging documents before his Aug. 29 detention hearing.

With the state withdrawing its detention motion amid heavy judicial criticism, Warshaw ordered Jenks to be released from the county jail onto electronically monitored house arrest. Jenks remains confined to home detention at his grandfather’s house on the 1600 block of 12th Street in Ewing and must refrain from committing any new criminal offenses as a condition of his pretrial release.

Jenks is represented by private defense attorney John Furlong and is scheduled to appear before Warshaw on Jan. 5, 2018, for a post-indictment arraignment.

To convict Jenks on the manslaughter count, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he killed Mack in the heat of passion as a direct result of being provoked. Jenks faces five to 10 years in state prison if convicted.

Cops guard the murder scene of Trenton’s first homicide of 2018.

TRENTON >> A man was shot and killed early Tuesday morning on the 1100 block of West State Street, officials confirmed.

The Homicide Task Force continues to investigate the circumstances of the murder, Trenton’s first of the year.

The fatal shooting happened shortly after 1 a.m., prosecutors said, next to the Mercer Street Friends preschool at the intersection of West State Street and South Eastfield Avenue.

Authorities this morning identified the victim as 46-year-old Terrence McKinney, who was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in the back parking lot of 1115 West State Street, prosecutors said in a news release.

Terrence McKinney

Police had responded to a call around 1:16 a.m. after the city’s Shot Spotter system detected gunfire.

Sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the ongoing investigation said McKinney was shot in the head.

McKinney, who posted to his Facebook pages in the hours and days before he was gunned down, was pronounced dead at the scene, prosecutors said.

Those who knew McKinney took to Facebook to mourn his loss.

"I was just talking to him and making him laugh yesterday," a man who identified himself as Frank Brown wrote on Facebook. "Another great childhood friend gone to this f---in' black on black violence. This s--t is never gonna stop. And we still don't love or support each other."

McKinney was an engineer at the Hyatt Regency Princeton and attended Trenton Central High School, according to his Facebook page.

He cut a fun-loving image on his page, posting goofy videos and cracking jokes.

"Have you ever left your phone home, turned around and went and got it ... but ever forget your wallet and just drove safe?" McKinney wrote in one post, adding smiley-face emoticons.

Friends didn't immediately respond to messages left with them through Facebook messenger.

Cops early Tuesday morning were still on scene guarding the large three-story housing complex, which was roped off by yellow crime scene tape.

Vehicles in a parking lot in the back of the complex were not being allowed to leave the complex and were enclosed inside the crime scene. No one came out of the complex, and there didn’t appear to be any activity inside.

Students walked by the murder scene on the way to school at Trenton Central High School West campus, which was about a block away. Buses shuttled others to school.

Terrence McKinney

A man who lives in the area said he didn’t hear any commotion last night but awoke this morning to the police presence. He described the neighborhood near Cadwalader Park as quiet and low-key where cops routinely patrol.

The capital city has experienced at least one murder every January dating back to at least 2013.

Those with information about the killing are asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-989-6406 or the Trenton police confidential tip line at 609-989-3663.

Staff writer Penny Ray contributed to this report

This is a developing story.

An accomplice who facilitated the September 2016 shooting death of 19-year-old Lance Beckett has pleaded guilty while the alleged triggerman in the case is being tried on murder charges.

Quashawn Emanuel, 19, has admitted his role in the homicide under a plea deal that requires he testify against alleged triggerman Mada Eoff, 18, of Trenton, whose murder trial kicked off Tuesday with opening statements.

Lance Beckett (Facebook photo)

Eoff, who is 6-foot-4 and 195-pounds, appeared calm when a prosecutor emphasized the defendant’s height and braided hairstyle. He looked confident when a public defender suggested the state has no scientific or physical evidence to win a conviction.

“Mada Eoff shot Lance Beckett three times,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Tim Ward told the jury in his opening salvo. “Mada Eoff murdered Lance Beckett.” 

The slaying occurred during the afternoon of Sept. 18, 2016, with Trenton Police arriving on the scene about 2:50 p.m. to discover Beckett’s dying body lying face down in the grass along East Stuyvesant Avenue. One shot struck him in the neck, another shot struck him in the left shoulder and the kill shot entered through his back and exited through his chest, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Surveillance footage in the area shows Beckett and three other individuals interacting with one another minutes before the grisly murder, according to Ward. Prosecutors say the three culprits were co-defendants Eoff, Emanuel and Omar Kennedy, 36, of Trenton, all of whom have been indicted on murder charges and weapons offenses in connection with the homicide.

Police arrested Eoff and Emanuel several days after the slaying and arrested Kennedy three weeks later. Eoff was initially prosecuted as a 17-year-old juvenile, but authorities waived him to adult court last April and placed him on pretrial detention. He turned 18 last July.

Public defenders Amber Forrester and Jessica Lyons represented Eoff as his trial commenced Tuesday with opening statements before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier.

Forrester described her client as an “innocent young man accused of murder” and said the state’s “entire case relies on one witness” — co-defendant Quashawn Emanuel — who she painted as an unreliable witness.

“Mada Eoff was innocent when he woke up this morning,” Forrester told the jury in her Tuesday opening, adding her client will be exonerated as an innocent man if and when the jury returns a verdict of not guilty.

Eoff’s jury of nine men and five women is diverse, but none of the jurors appear to be black. Eoff, an African-American, is the tall young male with braids in a blue sweatshirt caught on video mingling with Beckett minutes before the murder, prosecutors said.

A grand jury indicted the trio of Eoff, Emanuel and Kennedy on June 29, 2017. Eoff and Kennedy maintain their innocence, while Emanuel has pleaded guilty Dec. 13, 2017, to a downgraded count of second-degree manslaughter committed recklessly.

The plea deal requires Emanuel to testify against Eoff. In return, the state will dismiss Emanuel’s weapons offenses and ask a judge to sentence him to eight years of incarceration under the No Early Release Act.

Emanuel and Kennedy both remain locked up at the Mercer County Correction Center on $1 million full bond or cash bail, while Eoff is being held without bail on allegations he unlawfully possessed a handgun and used it for the purpose of murdering Beckett.

Kennedy is represented by pool attorney Steven Lember and is scheduled for a pretrial conference 1:30 p.m. Jan 29 before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw.

Emanuel is represented by private defense attorney Ross Gigliotti and is scheduled to be sentenced March 23 before Warshaw.

Police investigate a murder in Trenton Monday afternoon. (L.A. Parker - The Trentonian)

Two people were killed and another was injured Monday during an afternoon shooting in the Chambersburg section of the city.

The incident happened around 2:30 p.m. near the intersection of Ashmore Avenue and Washington Street.

One victim suffered gunshot wounds to his head and chest while in a vehicle with another victim who was shot in the neck. Both of them were later pronounced dead at the hospital.

The third victim was in a separate vehicle, which was driven to the hospital after the shooting. The severity of that man's injuries is not known at this time.

Investigators say it's too early to say what motivated the shooting, but detectives believe the incident may have been a shootout between the occupants of those aforementioned cars.

Detectives also found two guns that may have been dumped at the scene during the aftermath of the shooting.

A 50-year-old woman who only gave her first name as Vivian said she found herself caught up in the crossfire on the way home from Food Bazaar Supermarket.

“I was one of them that almost got shot. The guys were just pulling up from around the corner, I think, and the next you know, ‘pow,’” Vivian said, mimicking the sound of gunfire. “I thought it was a firecracker, but when I saw he threw [something] out the window, I looked on the ground and saw a gun. I’m over here touching myself, searching to find any bullet [holes] on me.”

The woman said she didn’t get a good look at the shooters because she was busy taking cover.

“They shot towards me," Vivian said. "I don’t know if they were just shootin’ for the hell of it. Next thing you know, they threw the gun out. I was scared."

The killings mark the second and third homicides to occur in the capital city so far this month.

Trentonian staff writers Penny Ray and Isaac Avilucea contributed to this report.

One of the victims in a January 22 shooting drove this vehicle to the hospital after fleeing the scene. (L.A. Parker - Trentonian)

The second man who was killed Monday afternoon has been identified as 19-year-old Ivan Rodriguez, of Philadelphia.

Rodriguez and 25-year-old Jerard Perdomo-Santana, who was identified Tuesday, were in a car near the intersection of Ashmore Avenue and Washington Street around 2:30 p.m. when gunfire rang out. Both of them were later pronounced dead at the hospital.

A third victim who survived the shooting drove a separate vehicle to the hospital, where he was later questioned by detectives.

Ivan Rodriguez (Facebook photo)

A witness previously told The Trentonian she barely escaped being shot after finding herself caught in the crossfire on the way home from the grocery store. She said she saw at least one shooter drop a weapon out of a car window before fleeing the scene. The woman said she didn’t get a good look at the suspect because she was busy taking cover.

“They shot towards me,” the woman whose first name is Vivian said. “I don’t know if they were just shootin’ for the hell of it. Next thing you know, they threw the gun out. I was scared.”

Law enforcement sources say an alert broadcast immediately after the shooting advised assisting police units to be on the lookout for a green car believed to be the suspect's vehicle. That car later arrived at the hospital occupied by the surviving gunshot victim.

Investigators say it’s too early to say what motivated the shooting, but detectives found two guns that were dumped at the scene during the aftermath.

So far this year, three people have been murdered in the capital city.

Trentonian staff writers Penny Ray and Isaac Avilucea contributed to this report.

Police investigate a murder in the Chambersburg section of Trenton Monday. (L.A. Parker - The Trentonian.)

Lance Beckett (Facebook photo)

A jury has found 18-year-old Mada Eoff guilty of murdering Lance Beckett, who suffered fatal gunshot wounds in Trenton in September 2016, but the jury also found the city teen not guilty of brandishing a handgun for an unlawful purpose.

The jury’s mixed verdict, handed down Thursday morning, prompted public defender Jessica Lyons to argue for the Superior Court to overturn the murder conviction, saying it is “inconsistent” for her client to be convicted of murder while simultaneously being exonerated of the weapons offenses.

“Under case law, mixed verdicts are generally permitted,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Tim Ward told the court. “As a general rule, they are permitted.”

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier said he would need some time to make a decision on whether to uphold or overturn the murder conviction. The defense and prosecution have each been asked to submit written briefs articulating their positions, and Billmeier suggested he will make a decision by mid-February.

If Billmeier upholds the mixed verdict, then Eoff is looking at 30 years to life in prison. After the court went into recess Thursday, Ward said he expects that “the murder verdict is going to stick.”

It is clear that the jury “spent a lot of time deliberating,” Ward said, “and they reached the verdict that they believe was correct.”

The state won a murder conviction in the case against Eoff despite having no DNA evidence, no murder weapon and no fingerprints linking the defendant to the crime. But what the state did have, however, was a co-defendant in the case who testified under oath that Eoff shot and killed 19-year-old Lance Beckett.

The testimony of Quashawn Emanuel, 19, who pleaded guilty in the case to a downgraded count of second-degree manslaughter committed recklessly, proved to be “very important in the case,” Ward said.

Eoff murdered Beckett during the afternoon of Sept. 18, 2016, with Trenton Police arriving on the scene about 2:50 p.m. to discover Beckett’s body lying face down in the grass along East Stuyvesant Avenue in the capital city. One shot struck Beckett in the neck, another shot struck him in the left shoulder and the kill shot entered through his back and exited through his chest, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Surveillance footage in the area shows Beckett and three other individuals interacting with one another minutes before the grisly murder, according to Ward. Prosecutors said the three culprits were co-defendants Eoff, Emanuel and Omar Kennedy, 36, of Trenton, all of whom have been indicted on murder charges and weapons offenses in connection with the homicide.

Count one in the indictment charged all three defendants with purposeful murder; count two charged the defendants with unlawful possession of a handgun without first having obtained a permit to carry; and count three charged the defendants with possession of a handgun with the purpose to use it unlawfully against the victim.

Emanuel’s plea deal required him to testify against Eoff. In return for his cooperation, the state will dismiss Emanuel’s weapons offenses and ask a judge to sentence him to eight years of incarceration under the No Early Release Act for reckless manslaughter. Emanuel did not pull the trigger but played a role in luring Beckett to the scene to get murdered.

Emanuel and Kennedy both remain locked up at the Mercer County Correction Center on $1 million full bond or cash bail, while the convicted murderer Eoff is being held without bail. Kennedy is represented by pool attorney Steven Lember and is scheduled for a pretrial conference 1:30 p.m. Jan 29 before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw.

Emanuel is represented by private defense attorney Ross Gigliotti and is scheduled to be sentenced March 23. Eoff, if his murder conviction is upheld, is also scheduled to be sentenced March 23.

After the jury announced its mixed verdict, Eoff’s defense attorney told The Trentonian she had no comment.

With Eoff being found guilty of first-degree murder, “I’m glad for Lance’s family,” Assistant Prosecutor Ward told the press corps Thursday morning. “I hope this brings them some measure of relief. It can’t make things right, but hopefully it will help them move on a bit.”

Philadelphia rapper Elmii Problema, whose real name was Jerard Perdomo-Santana, (left) and Ivan Rodriguez (right) were both murdered in Trenton on Monday in a double slaying. This still image comes from a Facebook video of the two men driving around and listening to music on Jan. 12.

A man murdered this week in a capital city double slaying was an up-and-coming rapper.

Elmii Problema, whose real name was Jerard Perdomo-Santana, had just released his debut mixtape, Maxima Seguridad, last year.

Tragically, Perdomo-Santana, 25, and his friend, 19-year Ivan Rodriguez, both of Philadelphia, were gunned down Monday afternoon while in a car near the intersection of Ashmore Avenue and Washington Street.

“Tremendous composer, tremendous artist, a young man of just 25 years old with so much talent and so much life ahead,” one of his friends in the music industry wrote on social media. “He could have achieved fame and riches. But as many as he did not resist the temptation of the street ... death is one of the great possibilities”

Possibly foreshadowing his own death, a day before he died, Perdomo-Santana posted a picture of himself on Facebook and wrote in Spanish, “I have a simple question for God. Do you believe that when I die I still use my canenas in heaven.” Cananas, the closest derivative of the word, is a Spanish term that means gun belt.

Philadelphia rapper Elmii Problema, whose real name was Jerard Perdomo-Santana, was murdered in Trenton on Monday in a double slaying.

On Jan. 12, Perdomo-Santana, who called himself a Dominican Latin rap artist, posted a Facebook live video of him and Rodriguez driving around in a car together, listening to music. He posted a similar video on the morning that he died.

A third man was also struck by gunfire during Monday’s shooting. He drove a separate vehicle to the hospital, where he was later questioned by detectives.

One of Perdomo-Santana’s friends claims the rapper was a victim of a robbery.

The authorities would not confirm this information.

Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio said Monday in an email that there were no updates in the case and no arrests have been made.

So far this year, three people have been murdered in the capital city.

Aspiring rappers in the Trenton region have been victims of violent crime in recent years.

Devon Green, 23, whose rapper name was Savy G, was shot and killed in the carport of his Lanning Street home in Ewing on Oct. 19. Four men were arrested for the murder.

Trenton rapper Young Farr, 26, was gunned down on Middle Rose Street in August 2013 in the capital city. Wayne Bush received a 7-year prison sentence for the death of the rapper, whose name was Jafar Lewis, in December.

(From left) Douglas Mathis, Ronderrick Manuel, Andrew Alston, Kasey DeZolt and Dominique Richter

Three of the five people charged in connection with the grisly November 2016 murder of Lyft rideshare passenger Amber Dudley have pleaded guilty.

The triggerman in the case, Ronderrick Manuel, 44, of Trenton, admits he shot and killed 27-year-old Dudley during a robbery in Trenton’s North Ward. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree aggravated manslaughter in a deal that calls for him to cooperate with the state and serve 30 years of prison time, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. 

Co-defendant Andrew Alston, 40, of Trenton, who was originally charged with accomplice liability murder, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree robbery and weapons offenses in a deal that calls for him to cooperate with the state and serve 16 years behind bars, the prosecutor’s office confirmed Wednesday via email.

As previously reported first by The Trentonian, co-defendant Dominique Richter, 32, of Hamilton, who was originally facing a possible 30 years to life in prison on accomplice liability murder charges, pleaded guilty last year to third-degree conspiracy to commit theft. Richter has been released from jail on her own recognizance since Sept. 11, 2017, and must cooperate with the state in the case. Her plea deal calls for her to receive a five-year prison sentence, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The remaining defendants in the case are Kasey DeZolt, 33, of Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and Douglas Mathis, 53, of Trenton. Both of them are maintaining their innocence as of Wednesday but could potentially reach a plea bargain if they decide against taking their case to trial.

DeZolt remains jailed on $500,000 cash bail on accomplice liability murder and robbery charges. She is scheduled for a March 5 pretrial conference before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta and is represented by public defender Amber Forrester.

Mathis remains in jail on pretrial detention on accomplice liability murder charges and is also scheduled to appear for a March 5 pretrial conference before Pereksta. He is represented by defense attorney Steven Lember.

Dudley, a Collingswood resident, suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest as a rideshare passenger caught in the middle of a grisly robbery-turned-homicide plot. Richter admits she was involved in the conspiracy to lure a Lyft rideshare vehicle into the capital city for the purposes of promoting a theft scheme. Prosecutors say DeZolt also played a role in luring the occupants of the rideshare vehicle into Trenton.

Amber Dudley

On the evening of Nov. 30, 2016, a Lyft vehicle arrived in the area of Mechanics and East Trenton avenues and was confronted by Manuel, who attempted to rob a male passenger at gunpoint. Manuel’s weapon discharged during the confrontation, wounding Dudley with lethal injuries that eventually led to her death, prosecutors said.

Mathis is accused of transporting Manuel to the scene of the homicide. Alston admits to being armed and dangerous and playing a role in the robbery scheme that led to Dudley’s violent death.

The homicide victim’s younger sister, Brittney Dudley, said her family was “devastated by this loss” in a GoFundMe campaign. The family was lacking funds for Amber Dudley’s funeral and ended up raising $3,125 in a GoFundMe call for help, exceeding the initial $2,000 goal.

Several weeks after the slaying, police in December 2016 arrested Richter and DeZolt on accomplice liability murder charges. Police arrested Alston in January 2017; a regional U.S. Marshals task force arrested Manuel in March 2017; and Mathis got placed on pretrial detention not long after a grand jury handed up an indictment in April 2017 that charged all five co-defendants in connection with the shooting death of Dudley.

Mathis, Alston and Manuel all remain jailed without bail on pretrial detention. Alston is represented by defense attorney Stephen Slaven and is scheduled to be sentenced March 9. Manuel is represented by defense attorney Mark G. Davis and is also scheduled to be sentenced on March 9 before Pereksta.

Richter is the only co-defendant in the case who has been freed from jail pending sentencing. She is represented by private defense attorney Raymond C. Staub and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 23, although her sentencing date could once again get postponed.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Grillo negotiated the plea agreements with Richter, Alston and Manuel. The plea agreements require Richter, Alston and Manuel to cooperate with the state, which means they could potentially each be called to testify against DeZolt or Mathis if DeZolt or Mathis takes the case to trial.

(From left) Mack Edwards, Abdutawab Kiazolu, Danuweli Keller, Phobus Sullivan and William D. Brown

The family of slain U.S. Army veteran Dardar Paye, whose body was stuffed inside the trunk of a car after being murdered execution style in 2011, is close to getting full and total justice for their loss.

In addition to Danuweli Keller being convicted in the case and sentenced to 61 years of incarceration, three other co-defendants have recently pleaded guilty for their roles in the crime and the fifth co-defendant is already serving a 50-year prison sentence for killing another victim in an unrelated case. 

Phobus Sullivan, 34, and Mack Edwards, 32, both pleaded guilty Dec. 8, 2017, to first-degree kidnapping and were each sentenced last Friday to 11 years of incarceration to be followed by five years of parole supervision. The remaining counts of the indictment against Sullivan and Edwards, including the murder and robbery charges, were dismissed. Both of them were awarded several years of jail credit going back to their arrests on Jan. 16, 2011, according to court records.

Sullivan was already in state prison serving a 20-year aggravated manslaughter sentence for shooting and killing 21-year-old Andrew Leonard in December 2010, and Edwards took his case to trial last year and got no resolution as a jury deadlocked on all charges against him and failed to reach any verdicts.

Abdutawab Kiazolu, 29, pleaded guilty Dec. 22, 2017, to a one-count accusation charging him with second-degree accomplice liability in disturbing or desecrating human remains. He was sentenced last Friday to 10 years of incarceration and awarded 2,567 days of jail credit for being in custody from his arrest on Jan. 16, 2011, to Jan. 25, 2018, without any gaps in time. Kiazolu “has no history of prior delinquency or criminal activity or has led a law-abiding life for a substantial period of time before the commission of the present offense,” Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier said in his judgment of conviction.

Billmeier sentenced Sullivan, Edwards and Kiazolu to state prison last Friday after accepting their negotiated plea agreements, which he said appeared to be “fair and in the interest of justice” in his judgment of conviction.

The case remains active against co-defendant William D. Brown, 33, who is already serving a 50-year sentence in state prison for murdering 23-year-old Tracy Crews in September 2008. Brown is scheduled to appear in court 1:30 p.m. Feb. 23 before Billmeier for a status conference.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian has handled the case on behalf of the state. She won the jury trial murder convictions against Keller, 30, last summer. The jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and robbery as well as second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, third-degree resisting arrest, fourth-degree tampering with physical evidence and third-degree witness tampering. Billmeier sentenced Keller on Sept. 7, 2017, with 61 years of incarceration for his vicious crimes against the U.S. military veteran.

Paye, 33, was an Army vet, father of two sons and a Liberian immigrant. One of his sisters, Elizabeth Paye, spoke at Keller’s sentencing last year and talked about the hurt of losing her brother while also expressing that she forgives Keller.

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.”

Keller 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 the other guilty co-defendants were arrested in Pennsylvania, with Trenton Police Sgt. Jason Astbury finding Paye’s body in the trunk on Jan. 16, 2011.

Brown was arrested on a later date on allegations he aided Keller in the grisly murder plot.

Elvin Rivera

Police are searching for a hit-and-run motorist who killed a pedestrian earlier this year.

Elvin Rivera, a 37-year-old tattoo artist born in the capital city, was struck by a hit-and-run motorist in the first block of Morris Avenue around 3:30 a.m. on January 11. He died at the hospital later that night.

“Elvin had a passion for art and drawing,” his obituary states. “His creativity and talent for permanent art as a tattoo artist was inspiring to many.”

Officials released a screenshot from surveillance footage of that night which shows a red Ford Focus cops believe was involved in the fatal crash.

If the driver of the vehicle is apprehended, he or she will likely be charged with death by auto.

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

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

Police are searching for this Ford Focus, which investigators believe was used in a hit-and-run fatality. (submitted photo)

Police are also investigating two other fatal pedestrian accidents that happened on the same day Rivera was killed.

Shawn Hurley, 47, and Mark Zachary, 59, were also struck by motorists while walking in the capital city on Jan. 11; they both later died at the hospital.

Officials say the drivers involved in Hurley and Zachary’s death remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. At this time, neither of those drivers have been charged with criminal offenses, though both cases remain under investigation.

If the drivers in those latter two fatalities are charged with death by auto, Hurley and Zachary’s death will be added to this newspaper’s 2018 homicide toll.

Anyone with information regarding the driver or the car involved in Rivera’s death is asked to call police at 609-989-4167. Information may also be left on the confidential tip line at 609-989-3663.

Elvin Rivera

One suspect remains at large in the slaying of intellectually disabled Trenton man Rodney Burke, but a larger degree of justice has been served in the murder case.

Three co-defendants who participated in the deadly November 2014 robbery-turned-homicide are serving state prison sentences after admitting their roles in the violent crime.

(From left) Alexandria Gomez, Kenneth Hines and Jaquan Dallas

Jaquan Dallas, 22, of Trenton, fired the fatal shots that took Burke’s life and is serving a 25-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter. 

Self-confessed killer Alexandria “Alexa” Gomez, 33, of Trenton, also known as Alexandra Gomez, is serving 15 years of hard time at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women after pleading guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter for directing Burke into harm’s way.

Kenneth Hines, 38, of Trenton, is serving 17 years of incarceration after pleading guilty to first-degree armed robbery as the getaway driver in the plot.

Dallas, Gomez, Hines and a fourth perpetrator who has not yet been captured or identified all conspired to commit an armed robbery that turned into a homicide of 48-year-old Burke, who was gunned down about 2 a.m. Nov. 4, 2014, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Police found the victim inside his apartment on the 1000 block of South Broad Street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Medics rushed Burke to Saint Francis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

Burke, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 18, had been repeatedly robbed during the last three years of his life, according to The Trentonian’s award-winning reporting on his life and death. “Around the first of the month when he got his disability check, they would take his money from him,” his mother Gloria Burke told The Trentonian in a November 2014 interview. “He never told me who was doing it; he was scared. They took his money all of the time.”

Rodney Burke

Burke was originally from New Brunswick but resided in Trenton during the last few years of his life, according to his family. He was often victimized at his former city residence on Hamilton Avenue, prompting him to seek safer housing in another part of Trenton. Greater Trenton Behavioral Healthcare, however, relocated Burke to a troubled South Broad Street apartment that was known to be a hotspot for illegal activity, and Burke was shot and killed several weeks later, according to his family.

The prosecution

A few weeks after the slaying, police arrested Hines Nov. 18, 2014, charging him with accomplice liability murder. Police arrested Gomez the following day as an accomplice to murder and eventually nabbed Dallas on March 31, 2015, charging him with accomplice liability murder, according to court records.

A grand jury handed up an indictment on Aug. 12, 2015, charging the trio with armed robbery, murder and weapons offenses.

Dallas pleaded guilty Sept. 19, 2016, to first-degree aggravated manslaughter, a downgraded offense from the original murder charges. The other charges against Dallas were dismissed when he received his 25-year prison sentence on Nov. 18, 2016. He must serve 85 percent of his sentence behind bars and will be subjected to five years of parole supervision upon release, according to court records.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown resentenced Dallas on Dec. 1, 2017, hammering him with the same quarter-century length of incarceration. Brown signed a new judgment of conviction on Jan. 24, amending the record to properly reflect that Dallas has 611 days of jail credit and 378 days of prior service credit. Dallas is currently incarcerated at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility and is scheduled to be released on June 15, 2036, according to the New Jersey Department of Corrections.

Hines pleaded guilty to first-degree armed robbery on May 9, 2017. The other charges against him got dismissed on July 7, 2017, when Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw sentenced him to 17 years of incarceration to be followed by five years of parole supervision, court records show.

Pursuant to the No Early Release Act, Hines must serve 85 percent of his sentence behind bars before he can become eligible for parole. He is currently incarcerated at Mid-State Correctional Facility and is scheduled to be released on April 29, 2029, according to the DOC.

Gomez pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter on April 18, 2016, and had her other charges dismissed when she received a 15-year prison sentence on Aug. 4, 2017. Judge Brown ordered Gomez to serve 85 percent of the sentence behind bars pursuant to the No Early Release Act to be followed by five years of parole supervision.

Brown found mitigating factors that could explain why Gomez got the least amount of incarceration in the case. “The imprisonment of the defendant would entail excessive hardship to herself or her dependents,” Brown said in his judgment of conviction. “The willingness of the defendant to cooperate with law enforcement authorities” is also one of the mitigating factors Brown cited in finding Gomez’s negotiated sentence to be “fair and in the interest of justice.”

Gomez has a history of violent crime. She previously committed first-degree Trenton robberies on Jan. 7, 2003, and Jan. 8, 2003, and got arrested on Jan. 9, 2003. She pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced in May 2004 to 10 years of incarceration to be followed by five years of parole supervision, according to court records.

Gomez served time in state prison from May 14, 2004, to June 19, 2012. She served another stint of incarceration from March 15, 2013, to Aug. 14, 2014, after violating parole. Then she killed Burke three months later by setting him up to get shot. She is currently incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women and is scheduled to be released Oct. 28, 2028, according to the state DOC.

Hines, Gomez and Dallas are serving hefty prison sentences, but a fourth suspect remains unidentified and at large. Authorities urge anyone with information on the at-large murder suspect to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406 or the Trenton Police Department’s Confidential Tip Line at (609) 989-3663.

Douglas Mathis saw the writing on the wall.

When several co-defendants pleaded guilty in the November 2016 murder of Lyft rideshare passenger Amber Dudley, Mathis realized his best course of action was to confess his role in the plot.

(From left) Douglas Mathis, Ronderrick Manuel, Andrew Alston, Kasey DeZolt and Dominique Richter

Mathis, 53, of Trenton, pleaded guilty last Friday to one count of second-degree robbery in a deal that calls for him to cooperate with the state and receive seven years of prison time subject to the No Early Release Act, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. His accomplice liability murder charges will be dismissed when he is sentenced later this year. 

A grand jury handed up an indictment on April 12, 2017, charging Mathis and four co-defendants with murder in connection with the slaying of Dudley.

The 27-year-old Collingswood resident suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest as a rideshare passenger caught in the middle of a grisly robbery-turned-homicide plot.

Amber Dudley

Ronderrick Manuel, 44, of Trenton, admits he shot and killed Dudley and has pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter in a deal that calls for him to cooperate with the state and serve 30 years of prison time, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Co-defendant Andrew Alston, 40, of Trenton, pleaded guilty last month to first-degree robbery and weapons offenses in a deal that calls for him to cooperate with the state and serve 16 years behind bars, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Co-defendant Dominique Richter, 32, of Hamilton, who was originally facing a possible 30 years to life in prison on accomplice liability murder charges, pleaded guilty last year to third-degree conspiracy to commit theft. Richter has been released from jail on her own recognizance since Sept. 11, 2017, and must cooperate with the state in the case. Her plea deal calls for her to receive a five-year prison sentence, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The remaining co-defendant in the case is Kasey DeZolt, 33, of Morrisville, Pennsylvania, who maintains her innocence but could potentially reach a plea bargain if she decides against taking her case to trial. The four co-defendants who’ve pleaded guilty in the case could potentially testify against DeZolt, and she faces 30 years to life imprisonment if convicted on her heaviest charges.

DeZolt remains jailed on $500,000 cash bail on accomplice liability murder and robbery charges. She is scheduled for a March 5 pretrial conference before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta and is represented by public defender Amber Forrester.

Richter admits she was involved in the conspiracy to lure a Lyft rideshare vehicle into the capital city for the purposes of promoting a theft scheme. Prosecutors say DeZolt also played a role in luring the occupants of the rideshare vehicle into Trenton.

On the evening of Nov. 30, 2016, a Lyft vehicle arrived in the area of Mechanics and East Trenton avenues and was confronted by Manuel, who attempted to rob a male passenger at gunpoint. Manuel’s weapon discharged during the confrontation, wounding Dudley with lethal injuries that eventually led to her death, prosecutors said.

Mathis admits he transported Manuel to the scene of the homicide. Alston admits to being armed and dangerous and playing a role in the robbery scheme that led to Dudley’s violent death.

The homicide victim’s younger sister, Brittney Dudley, said her family was “devastated by this loss” in a GoFundMe campaign. The family was lacking funds for Amber Dudley’s funeral and ended up raising $3,125 in a GoFundMe call for help, exceeding the initial $2,000 goal.

Several weeks after the slaying, police in December 2016 arrested Richter and DeZolt on accomplice liability murder charges. Police arrested Alston in January 2017; a regional U.S. Marshals task force arrested Manuel in March 2017; and Mathis got arrested April 10, 2017, according to court records.

Mathis, Alston and Manuel all remain jailed without bail on pretrial detention. Alston is represented by defense attorney Stephen Slaven and is scheduled to be sentenced March 9. Manuel is represented by defense attorney Mark G. Davis and is also scheduled to be sentenced on March 9 before Pereksta.

Richter is the only co-defendant in the case who has been freed from jail pending sentencing. She is represented by private defense attorney Raymond C. Staub and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 23, although her sentencing date could once again get postponed.

Mathis is represented by defense attorney Steven Lember, who had advised his client to take the plea deal once the guilty pleas of the other co-defendants started piling up.

Lance Beckett (Facebook photo)

A jury has found 18-year-old Mada Eoff guilty of murdering Lance Beckett, who suffered fatal gunshot wounds in Trenton in September 2016, but the jury also found the city teen not guilty of brandishing a handgun for an unlawful purpose.

The jury’s mixed verdict, handed down Thursday morning, prompted public defender Jessica Lyons to argue for the Superior Court to overturn the murder conviction, saying it is “inconsistent” for her client to be convicted of murder while simultaneously being exonerated of the weapons offenses.

“Under case law, mixed verdicts are generally permitted,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Tim Ward told the court. “As a general rule, they are permitted.”

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier said he would need some time to make a decision on whether to uphold or overturn the murder conviction. The defense and prosecution have each been asked to submit written briefs articulating their positions, and Billmeier suggested he will make a decision by mid-February.

If Billmeier upholds the mixed verdict, then Eoff is looking at 30 years to life in prison. After the court went into recess Thursday, Ward said he expects that “the murder verdict is going to stick.”

It is clear that the jury “spent a lot of time deliberating,” Ward said, “and they reached the verdict that they believe was correct.”

The state won a murder conviction in the case against Eoff despite having no DNA evidence, no murder weapon and no fingerprints linking the defendant to the crime. But what the state did have, however, was a co-defendant in the case who testified under oath that Eoff shot and killed 19-year-old Lance Beckett.

The testimony of Quashawn Emanuel, 19, who pleaded guilty in the case to a downgraded count of second-degree manslaughter committed recklessly, proved to be “very important in the case,” Ward said.

Eoff murdered Beckett during the afternoon of Sept. 18, 2016, with Trenton Police arriving on the scene about 2:50 p.m. to discover Beckett’s body lying face down in the grass along East Stuyvesant Avenue in the capital city. One shot struck Beckett in the neck, another shot struck him in the left shoulder and the kill shot entered through his back and exited through his chest, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Surveillance footage in the area shows Beckett and three other individuals interacting with one another minutes before the grisly murder, according to Ward. Prosecutors said the three culprits were co-defendants Eoff, Emanuel and Omar Kennedy, 36, of Trenton, all of whom have been indicted on murder charges and weapons offenses in connection with the homicide.

Count one in the indictment charged all three defendants with purposeful murder; count two charged the defendants with unlawful possession of a handgun without first having obtained a permit to carry; and count three charged the defendants with possession of a handgun with the purpose to use it unlawfully against the victim.

Emanuel’s plea deal required him to testify against Eoff. In return for his cooperation, the state will dismiss Emanuel’s weapons offenses and ask a judge to sentence him to eight years of incarceration under the No Early Release Act for reckless manslaughter. Emanuel did not pull the trigger but played a role in luring Beckett to the scene to get murdered.

Emanuel and Kennedy both remain locked up at the Mercer County Correction Center on $1 million full bond or cash bail, while the convicted murderer Eoff is being held without bail. Kennedy is represented by pool attorney Steven Lember and is scheduled for a pretrial conference 1:30 p.m. Jan 29 before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw.

Emanuel is represented by private defense attorney Ross Gigliotti and is scheduled to be sentenced March 23. Eoff, if his murder conviction is upheld, is also scheduled to be sentenced March 23.

After the jury announced its mixed verdict, Eoff’s defense attorney told The Trentonian she had no comment.

With Eoff being found guilty of first-degree murder, “I’m glad for Lance’s family,” Assistant Prosecutor Ward told the press corps Thursday morning. “I hope this brings them some measure of relief. It can’t make things right, but hopefully it will help them move on a bit.”

Gregory Wright Jr.

The death of a Lawrence man who was found unresponsive in his car last year has been ruled a homicide.

Gregory Wright Jr., 27, died from blunt force trauma to the head, according to an autopsy performed by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office. The ME ruled Wright’s manner of death a homicide.

Police sources with intimate knowledge of the investigation believe the motive behind the killing revolved around the fact that Wright dressed as a woman.

Police sources believe the suspect punched Wright, who was dressed as a woman, and then placed him inside his Lexus. Sources believe the suspect may have even sat in Wright’s Lexus for a short period of time, hoping he would regain consciousness, but then fled when Wright didn’t revive.

Police found Wright unresponsive in his car around 10:30 p.m. in the area of Spring Street and Kafer Alley on November 28. He was taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Also known as "Lil' Greg", Wright graduated from Nottingham High School in 2008 and attended Mercer County Community College for performing arts. His death will be considered a 2017 homicide statistic by the prosecutor’s office and TPD officials are expected to update their numbers with state police.

Counting Wright, 25 people were killed in Trenton last year, which includes the deaths of Lea Pringle and Rodney Taylor, whom both were killed by hit-and-run drivers.

That number does not include the “suspicious death” of Lillian Duran, whose body was found wrapped in a trash bag on the side of Lamberton Street. A medical examiner ruled Duran’s death inconclusive, but law enforcement sources believe she died from a drug overdose after being forced to take a “hot bag” of dope, then later dumped on the side of the road as a warning to others.

At this time, no arrests have been made in connection with Wright’s death. Anyone with information about the murder is asked to call the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-989-6406. Or use the Trenton police confidential tip line at 609-989-3663.

(From left) Zion Williams, Rahein McInnis and Togbah Kpehe

Three city men have been indicted on murder charges in connection with the October 2017 North 25 housing complex shooting that killed a city woman and injured a 14-year-old girl.

Zion Williams, 19; Rahein McInnis, 32; and Togbah Kpehe, 24, have each been indicted on one count of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree attempted murder, one count of second-degree aggravated assault and numerous weapons offenses on allegations they participated in the afternoon shooting that killed 58-year-old Wilma Rutledge and wounded the teenage victim.  

Meanwhile, two juveniles arrested in the case could potentially be charged as adults. The juvenile defendants were both 16 at the time of their arrests last October. Motions to waive them up to adult criminal court are pending, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

A grand jury last Friday handed up the 14-count indictment that named Williams, McInnis and Kpehe as defendants, according to court records. McInnis and Togbah are convicted felons who have each previously pleaded guilty to drug distribution charges. As such, last week’s indictment also charged McInnis and Togbah with one count of certain persons not to possess a firearm.

The fatal North 25 shooting incident occurred about 3:10 p.m. on Oct. 6, 2017, at the intersection of Carver Lane and North Willow Street in Trenton. Both gunshot victims were transported to the hospital by private means. Rutledge, a local grandmother, was pronounced dead at the hospital while the teenager sustained non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

Wilma Rutledge (Facebook Photo)

Police arrested Williams and both juvenile defendants on or about Oct. 20, 2017. Williams is represented by private defense attorney Robin Lord. Prosecutors say Williams and both juveniles were armed to the teeth when Kpehe dropped them off near the North 25 housing complex on the date of the murder.

Kpehe is represented by private defense attorney Andrew Ferencevych and has been in custody since his arrest on Nov. 6, 2017. McInnis is represented by private defense attorney Mark Fury and has been in custody since his Oct. 25 arrest.

The three adult defendants in the case remain incarcerated without bail on pretrial detention.

Brian Ficzko

A 14-year-old city male was arrested last week in connection with the murder of Brian Ficzko.

The teen, who’s name was not released because he is a juvenile, is charged with murder, felony murder, robbery and related weapons offenses.

Law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case believe Ficzko was in the capital city to purchase drugs. Sources say he was shot during the course of a drug buy when the other party in the transaction decided to rob him.

Police found Ficzko behind the wheel of his car after it crashed into a utility pole and another vehicle outside the Fast Trac Mini Mart along the 300 block of Mulberry Street around 6 p.m. on December 21.

After being rushed to the hospital, medical professionals learned Ficzko suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

Ficzko, 40, from Flemington, worked as an HVAC technician and graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School, according to his Facebook page. Public records show he has served time in jail for violating probation.

He previously pleaded guilty in Hunterdon County Superior Court to burglary and defrauding the administration of a drug test.

The city teen arrested for Ficzko’s murder is being held at the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center.