A teenager charged with shooting and killing Devahje Bing at a West Ward cookout in 2013 was named in public for the first time Thursday as a juvenile who was under house arrest at the time.

Tahj Laws was 15 on May 25 last year when he allegedly left his home on Trenton’s Nassau Street and, as tracked by the security monitor on his ankle, walked to the cookout on nearby Oakland Street.

Devahje Bing

Shortly before 5 p.m., the suspect encountered Bing, 19, with whom he had previously argued. Laws allegedly pulled a handgun and shot Bing in the chest. He was dead in 20 minutes.

In addition to the evidence from the suspect’s GPS device, authorities have Laws on Roger Garden Apartments surveillance video allegedly shooting at the victim, Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Skylar Weissman said.

The prosecutor said a juvenile judge cleared Laws as an adult on murder charges. He was under house arrest and wearing the monitoring anklet for a previous conviction on drug charges, Weissman said.

Laws was represented by Assistant Mercer Public Defender Jenna Casper, who said the suspect was a high school student and had received permission to attend the cookout that day.

But that wasn’t enough to convince Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez to reduce his $1 million bail and Laws was taken back to a juvenile jail after the hearing.

A suspect who fled to Florida after allegedly fatally shooting construction worker and DJ Devon Hewitt in 2013 has been indicted on murder charges.

Robert E. Byers, 36, of Mott Street, who was nabbed in Miami in March, was indicted on first-degree murder and weapons charges after Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Kimm Lacken presented the case to a grand jury.

Byers is accused of going to a house on Phillips Avenue where native of Jamaica and popular disc jockey Hewitt, 47, was partying with friend at 4:45 the afternoon of Nov. 21, 2013.

When cops responded to shots fired along Phillips, they found the father of two dead.

Since he was hauled in with the help of fugitive task forces here and in Florida, Byers has been a resident of the Mercer jail, held on $1 million bail.

Byers is a native of Jamaica in America on an expired work visa. His victim left Jamaica 30 years ago and supported his family with a union construction job.

A city man was arrested Saturday in connection with the murder of 20-year-old Enrico Smalley Jr.

Around 1:20 a.m. on July 12, police were dispatched to the corner of Poplar Street and North Clinton Avenue, where they found Smalley lying on the sidewalk in front of La Guira Bar suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head. Smalley was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

Shaheed Brown

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force then developed enough evidence to charge Shaheed Brown, 30, in connection with Smalley’s death. And Brown was arrested Saturday in Newark.

Brown is charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon and certain persons not to possess a weapon. He is being held at the Mercer County Correction Center on $1 million cash or bond bail.

A suspect in four New Jersey murders was offered 40 years in prison Monday for guilty pleas to his two alleged slayings in Mercer County last summer.

Alton Jones, 23, appeared before Mercer Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez along with his suspected accomplice in the first murder, Dyquise Leonard, who rejected a deal giving him 13 years in prison.

Both were charged with killing Rayshawn Ransom, 19, in a hail of bullets fired at him and two friends sitting in a car along Passaic Street on June 12, 2013.

Jones is additionally charged with firing away at a group of 30 people on Passaic three days later and hitting Tiara Green, 19, in the stomach, killing her, before fleeing to Connecticut.

Assistant Mercer Prosecutor Lew Korngut made the plea offers, which both were rejected, meaning the allegations against them will be heard at trial, and each could get more than 30 years in prison if convicted.

Authorities said Jones and Leonard, 20, are gang members from the West Ward who had some kind of dispute with the crowd on Passaic Street.

A meeting about a truce was set up but as soon as the factions came face to face, Jones, Leonard, and Marquis Skillman allegedly started pumping bullets into the car. Two of Ransom’s friends were wounded in the deadly barrage.

Korngut said investigators tied Jones to the deadly shot, which came from a distinctive 10 mm automatic handgun that witnesses pointed out to street cops after it was tossed from the Cadillac Eldorado getaway car around the corner from the shooting scene.

Leonard is being represented by lawyer Diane Frost. Jones, who also faces two other murder charges in Hudson County, had defenseman Andrew DuClair.

Jones was ordered held on $1.5 million cash bail after his arrest. Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier also ordered high bail for Leonard and both appeared in shackles and prison jumpsuits for the hearings, which were attended by several members of both victims’ families.

A city man has been indicted in connection with the 2013 shooting death of 61-year-old Berkley McDaniel.

Around 8:45 p.m. on June 9, 2013, police found McDaniel lying on the sidewalk in the 400 block of Stuyvesant Avenue suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. McDaniel was pronounced dead at the scene.

In January, Dashawn Bethea, 25, was arrested in connection with McDaniel’s death. And a Mercer County grand jury returned a five-count indictment last week charging Bethea with first-degree murder, second-degree aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a handgun and certain persons not to possess a weapon.

According to arrest documents in the case, police spoke with two witnesses who said they were riding their bikes on Stuyvesant Avenue that evening when Bethea allegedly began shooting at them.

At the time of the shooting, documents state, Bethea was walking home from the store with his father Charles Boston and Berkley McDaniel. But when he allegedly opened fire on the two bicyclists, Bethea accidentally shot Boston and McDaniel.

Boston suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder and survived those injuries, documents state, and he later told police that he never saw the shooter.

But during a conversation with a witness, documents state, Bethea allegedly admitted that he accidentally shot Boston and McDaniel using a Hi-Point .40 caliber handgun that he referred to as “Big Black.”

Police found two spent .40 caliber shell casings at the scene, along with a broken cell phone, a bicycle, and an ammunition magazine, according to court documents in the case.

Bethea remains held in the Mercer County Correction Center on $1 million cash bail.

One of the three men charged in connection with the shooting death of Rayshawn Ransom pled guilty Tuesday to one count of attempted murder.

Ransom, 19, was shot and killed on June 12, 2013, while sitting in a car with two friends on Passaic Street. Authorities have said that Alton Jones, 23, and Dyquise Leonard, 20, are gang members from the West Ward who had some kind of dispute with a group of people from Passaic Street. A meeting about a truce was scheduled between the two groups, but as soon as the factions came face to face, Jones, Leonard, and Marquis Skillman allegedly started firing bullets into the car. Two of Ransom’s friends were wounded in the deadly barrage.

Although all three suspects allegedly fired into the car, prosecutors say that Jones was responsible for firing the kill shot, which came from a distinctive 10mm automatic handgun that witnesses pointed out to police after it was tossed from the getaway car around the corner from the shooting scene.

Leonard pled guilty Tuesday to one count of attempted murder after rejecting a plea deal on Monday. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Leonard will be sentenced to 12 years in prison, and he must serve 85 percent of that sentence before he is eligible for parole. A sentencing date has not been scheduled at this time.

A man accused of shooting and killing Enrico Smalley Jr. was arrested in Essex County last week after he allegedly shot a man in the face during a carjacking in Newark.

Prosecutors disclosed that information on the record Friday at Shaheed Brown’s bail hearing, and said that Brown was not charged with the Newark shooting because the victim, who is a Trenton resident, chose not to press charges.

“The victim didn’t want to move forward with pressing charges,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley said.

Around 1:20 a.m. on July 12, police found 20-year-old Smalley lying on the sidewalk in front of La Guira Bar at the corner of Poplar Street and North Clinton Avenue. Smalley suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head, and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

The Mercer County Homicide Task Force then developed enough evidence to charge Brown in connection with Smalley’s death. And Brown was arrested last week in Newark after allegedly shooting an unnamed Trenton resident in the face during a carjacking. Those charges were dropped, though, because the victim decided not to file a complaint. After Brown was arrested in Newark, he was transported to Trenton to face charges alleging that he killed Smalley.

At the hearing Friday, prosecutors said witnesses identified Brown as Smalley’s killer. Prosecutors also said they “pieced together” surveillance footage from multiple video cameras, and that the sequence of events leading up to the shooting are “quite chilling.”

According to prosecutors in the case, video footage shows Brown “lurking” outside of La Guira Bar minutes before the shooting. Prosecutors say Smalley was inside the bar at the time, and that Brown asked him to step outside after grabbing his attention from a section of the bar’s entrance located in front of the metal detector.

“The defendant never walked into the bar per se, because he never went through the metal detector,” McCauley said.

Brown and Smalley then walked to the corner of the building and out of the surveillance camera’s view, McCauley said. And moments later, gunshots rang out.

“Mr. Brown was aware of the distance between where the camera stopped working and the location of the shooting,” McCauley said.

McCauley said Brown then went home, packed a bag, and fled from the city in an attempt to elude law enforcement. But Brown’s defense attorney Edward Heyburn said his client fled “for his own protection and not to avoid detection by the police department.”

“At no time is there a depiction of my client shooting the victim,” Heyburn said.

After the bail hearing, Heyburn spoke with a Trentonian reporter outside of the courtroom and said that a week prior to Smalley’s murder, Brown was the target of an attempted shooting outside of La Guira Bar.

A week before Smalley’s murder, Heyburn said, Brown had a physical altercation with a group of men. And during that altercation, someone pulled out a gun and chased Brown down the street. But the gun jammed, Heyburn said, and Brown escaped unscathed.

Brown then returned to the bar a week later. And according to Heyburn, Smalley initiated contact with Brown inside the bar and asked to speak outside. The purpose of the meeting at the corner, Heyburn said, was to clear the air of any misunderstanding or disagreement between the two men. But moments after the two arrived at the corner, gunshots rang out.

“It sounds like Smalley wanted to squash any beef between them and distance himself from the previous shooting attempt,” Heyburn said. “My client didn’t perceive a problem with the meeting because Smalley asked to see him, and he didn’t think Smalley was involved in the attempted shooting. My client was not trying to avoid detection, he was well aware of the video cameras because he had been there before.”

Heyburn said Brown then fled from Trenton because he believed that someone was out to kill him. Heyburn also said he is in the process of personally reviewing surveillance footage, and that he thinks video will show that the gunshots were fired by someone else.

“Police charged my client because they think he had a motivation because of the incident that happened a week prior,” Heyburn said. “I think they want to see if they can shake my client for information.”

Judge Thomas Brown declined to lower Shaheed Brown’s bail Friday, and he also removed the bond option. Brown is now being held on $1 million cash bail.

A city man who is serving an 18-year sentence in Northern State Prison in Newark was charged last week in connection with the 2005 shooting death of Omar Murphy.

Around 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 30, 2005, police found 30-year-old Murphy near the intersection of Stuyvesant and Ellsworth avenues suffering from gunshot wounds to his left arm and chest. Murphy was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

Mayleek McInnis

According to prosecutors in the case, during recent months, witnesses have come forward with information identifying Mayleek McInnis as the person who shot and killed Murphy.

McInnis, 27, has been incarcerated in Northern State Prison in Newark since 2010 serving an 18-year sentence for aggravated manslaughter.

On Aug. 18, prosecutors charged McInnis with first-degree murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon in connection with Murphy's death. McInnis was notified of the charges Friday.

Bail on the homicide charges is set at $1 million cash or bond.

A judge rejected a plea Tuesday to take nine years off the 39 the admitted triggerman got for the drive-by killing of 13-year-old Tamrah Leonard on June 7, 2009.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Mark Fleming said an appeals court panel might have mistakenly ruled that the gun charge Lamar Warren also pleaded guilty to should have been merged with the murder for sentencing purposes.

“There are no free crimes,’’ said Fleming.

Lamar Warren

He said his reading of the law permitted him to approve a plea deal giving Warren 30 years for the aggravated manslaughter of the girl, plus an additional nine years on the weapon charge.

He noted that Warren agreed to the plea deal before he was formally sentenced on Oct. 22 amid screams from Leonard’s family that 39 years wasn’t nearly enough for “animal” Warren, who is now 23.

Fleming said he was asked to review the sentence after the “excessive sentencing panel’’ of the New Jersey Supreme Court sent it back to him for possible resentencing.

Assistant Mercer Prosecutor Doris Galuchie called it a technicality that shouldn’t shorten the 39-year term, despite defense lawyer Frank Gleason’s argument that the gun case should have been merged into a manslaughter charge downgraded from murder.

With the judge’s rejection of Gleason’s appeals-court-inspired plea, shackled Warren jangled out of the courtroom under escort for the trip back to prison, where he’s slated to stay until about age 48.

New Jersey’s “excessive punishment panel’’ of learned judges couldn’t get Tamrah Leonard’s killer, Lamar Warren, a break on his 39-year sentence.

Superior Court appeals judges Paulette Sapp-Peterson, Trenton’s own, and Jack Sabatino sent the Warren case back to Mercer County Superior Court Judge Mark Fleming for “reconsideration.’’

The panel affirmed the judgment of the trial court. “However, we remand to the trial court for reconsideration of whether the conviction for possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose merges with the aggravated manslaughter conviction.’’

In other words, maybe the charge for possession of the handgun that killed 13-year-old Leonard in a drive-by gang shooting on June 7, 2009, shouldn’t have been counted for sentencing purposes in this case.

“There are no free crimes,’’ Fleming said, adding that his reading of sentencing rules permitted him to give Warren 30 years for the reduced murder charge, plus another nine for the weapons offense.

The judge also noted that 30 years on aggravated manslaughter plus nine more for the gun was the deal worked out between the Mercer prosecutor and Warren lawyer Frank Gleason, whose client could get out by age 55 with good behavior.

Across America, most states have “excessive punishment’’ panels intended to reverse, typically, terms of life or near life given to non-violent, if repeat, offenders. Jersey’s was set up in 1987.

In Jersey, any convict can appeal saying the punishment was too harsh and the appeals-court judges assigned to the panel will give them a hearing.

Jersey convicts also are entitled to “post-conviction relief’’ on a variety of grounds other than the sentence was too severe.

A recent ACLU report said “thousands of prisoners are serving life without parole sentences in the United States for nonviolent drug and property crimes.’’

But the judge and Assistant Mercer Prosecutor Doris Galuchie decided Warren was no poster boy for the campaign against excessive judicial punishment.

Robert Bartley apologized and pleaded guilty Thursday to shooting and killing James Austin, son of a veteran Trenton cop, in the doorway of the victim’s home on Feb. 26, 2013.

In return for his plea to aggravated manslaughter, Bartley, 23, will be sentenced to 25 years in prison, with no chance for parole until he’s done 21 years and three months.

“I want to apologize to the family,” Bartley said as he turned to the audience in the courtroom of Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier.

“I know I’ve caused a lot of pain to his family and friends and those who cared about him,” Bartley said as he nodded to his own relatives seated on the opposite side of the courtroom from Austin family members.

James Austin’s sister Precious screamed out and ran from the courtroom as Bartley started addressing the families. Outside on the courthouse steps she said Bartley should have gotten “life!”

“My brother is not here because of him. When Bartley gets out he’ll be 48. He’ll have a chance to have a wife and children. My brother has two little girls, twins, who were the love of his life. They are going to turn two on Sunday. He didn’t get to be there for their birthday.”

Slain Austin’s mother, Yvonne Maxwell, then emerged from the courthouse with tears in her eyes, voicing loud complaints about “plea bargaining! It’s not right. He should be getting life, or maybe 50 or 60 years.”

Also present for the hearing was the retired Trenton police sergeant Luddie Austin, who stood up in court to protest in June when prosecutors offered Bartley’s alleged accomplice, Raheem Currie, a 10-year plea deal.

Luddie Austin also confronted Currie as the accused accomplice stepped outside the courthouse that day, telling the young man to stay off the streets. Currie’s mother stepped between them and told the cop “Get out of my face.”

Currie’s lawyer, John Furlong, also was lambasted by the Austins that day. He noted that his client hadn’t shot Austin and thought the plan was to spray the cop’s house with bullets when he drove Bartley to the 900 block of East State Street that day.

In answer to questions from Assistant Mercer Public Defender Caroline Turner, Bartley admitted walking up to the front door of the Austin home that afternoon and shooting James Austin in the chest when confronted at the entry.

It also came out at the hearing that Bartley has agreed to testify against Currie if the accomplice wants to go to trial with the defense that he didn’t know Bartley was going to personally confront Austin that day.

A scholar-athlete who was ready to start college at Bloomsburg University, James Austin was the son of a veteran city street cop and detective who served two Army tours in the Middle East. He’s also counted as a hero for facing down Trenton gang members.

A suspected killer rolled the dice Tuesday by rejecting a 24-year prison term and deciding to go to trial for murder which carries a 63-year sentence if convicted.

Kevin Boone is accused of gunning down and killing David Lewis III during a dice game the evening of July 17, 2012, along East Paul Avenue in Trenton’s North Ward.

David Lewis Jr., father of the 21-year-old victim, said he was glad the suspect rejected the plea offer from prosecutors because he thinks Boone will be convicted and get almost three times 24 years when sentenced.

Some thought Boone, 23, was prepared to plead guilty to the deal offered by Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Lew Korngut. But Boone, who appeared in an orange prison jumpsuit, signed papers rejecting the deal after consulting with his lawyer, Tina Frost.

Billmeier told Boone he could get 75 years if convicted of the murder and that it would be 63 years, or age 86, before he’d be eligible for parole.

But Boone stood up and told the judge he wanted a trial, to roll the dice. Before setting up the trial, Billmeier said he would first consult with the opposing lawyers before deciding to try Boone with or separately from codefendant Allan Q. Brookins, 23, the accused getaway driver of the getaway car.

TRENTON – Zihqwan Clemens was offered 30 years in prison Wednesday for his alleged role as getaway driver in the shooting murder of father of 10 Andre Corbett in January 2013.
Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Tom Meidt said authorities have video and eyewitness evidence linking Clemons, 25, and the suspected triggerman, 23-year-old Keith Wells-Holmes.


He allegedly met the victim on Oakland Street and walked briefly with him before turning and firing a handgun at Corbett five times, including while he already was on the ground.
The victim’s mother, Theresa Corbett, cried softly when Meidt brought out the details at a hearing before Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier. She said Andre Corbett had several grandchildren by age 35 and that he was expecting another grandchild when slain at 3 in the afternoon on Jan. 21, 2013.
Billmeier, as he often has to from the bench, warned the suspect that he faces up to 75 years if found guilty as an accessory to the murder at trial.
Clemons, who appeared in court in an orange prison jumpsuit and shackles, was represented by lawyer George Somers, who made no comment on Meidt’s 30-year offer.
After the proceedings, Corbett met the suspect’s mother in the courthouse hallway and they expressed condolences to each other with a hug.
“She’s lost a son, too,” said Corbett. “But at least hers is alive.”

A gangster whose .45 misfired during a robbery-murder was sentenced to the same 22 year prison sentence Tuesday as the accomplice who emptied his gun into the victim that day in 2007.

Taariq Miller, 23, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter for his failed role in the killing of Naquan Archie, 18, who was hit with bullets fired by accomplice Willie Yeager on March 26 more than seven years ago.

Miller and his lawyer, Andrew Duclair, said he should get less prison time than the 22 years Yeager got in August because his gun didn’t actually shoot when they both opened fire on gang rival Archie.

U.S. Army soldier Wendy Dean, who was to become Archie’s mother-in-law, made a statement to Mercer County Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez supporting the punishment and condemning Miller as a symptom of what’s wrong in America.

“He is the problem,” she said, gesturing to the audience, “he and the people he brings to court today. He’s gets to smile at you. He gets to see his children when they visit him.”

She turned to face Miller, seated feet away in jail shackles, and said: “You kill people who look like you, and now you want luxuries in prison? You get to breathe.”

As Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Lew Korngut Miller said at the sentencing hearing, Miller and Yeager were part of the Sex-Money-Murder set of the Bloods who thought they could get credibility among other Trenton gang members if they killed someone.

Another Archie relative told the court the suspects robbed him of the single dollar bill he was carrying at the time. Everyone said Archie was the kind of guy who would have just given them the money.

Miller told the court he was “not a monster, not a murderer,” which prompted an Archie relative to laugh, then burst into tears and run from the courtroom. Miller and Duclair also wanted credit for about 17 months of jail he’s served for an earlier unrelated gun charge.

But Jimenez ruled against that and gave Miller the 22 years negotiated by Duclair and Korngut. Under the sentence, Miller won’t be eligible for parole until almost 19 years behind bars, meaning he could get out by age 45.

Two city men have been indicted in connection with the 2013 shooting death of 19-year-old Devahje Bing.

Bing was gunned down at the Oakland Park apartment complex around 5 p.m. on May 25, 2013. He was shot several times in the upper torso, police say, and he later died at the hospital. Court documents in the case say that two witnesses identified the shooter, and that the shooting was captured by surveillance cameras.

According to court documents, Kareem McNeil, 23, allegedly handed a gun to the shooter moments before the shooting, and that exchange was captured on video as well. A 15-year-old suspect, later identified in court as Tahj Laws who is now 17, was arrested a couple days after the shooting and charged in connection with Bing’s death.

Prosecutors say that Bing and Laws had a verbal argument, and that Laws shot Bing after McNeil handed him a gun. Laws, who was on house arrest and wearing a GPS monitoring device at the time of the shooting, then walked back to his home, according to prosecutors in the case.

Last week, a grand jury indicted both McNeil and Laws on charges of murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a handgun.

McNeil remains in jail on $500,000 bail. Laws is being held on $1 million bail.

Ex-con William Marshall was offered a 30-year prison term Wednesday for a guilty plea to running a former girlfriend’s car off the road so he could shoot her dead in the street.

William Marshall

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier told Marshall “has a lot to think about” because if he goes to trial and gets convicted in the murder of Ruschell Fireall he could get 63 years before eligibility for parole, maybe more.

Marshall, 46, who has a record for assault and burglary, allegedly chased 42-year-old Fireall in his car as she was trying to escape with her mother in her car along Pennington Road on Nov. 16, 2012.

When her car crashed, Marshall allegedly jumped from his vehicle and fired repeatedly at Fireall as the victim’s mother watched.

Billmeier gave Marshall and his lawyer, Christopher Campbell, until Oct. 24 to decide on the plea offer, which was made by Assistant Mercer Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian.

In shackles and orange, Marshall appeared for the hearing, as did a couple of his friend and relatives of slain Fireall.

The suspect has been locked up since 10 days after the slaying, when he was arrested in Atlanta following an attempt to run thwarted by a Taser.

Shawn Marinnie didn’t respect Emil Fennell enough to put on a mask before he allegedly pulled a gun to rob him, at least that’s how Fennell saw it.

So Fennell put on a mask days later and shot Marinnie dead.

The illustration of the mentality of Trenton’s gang members came out in Mercer County Superior Court Thursday during a sentencing hearing that saw Fennell get a 20-year prison term.

The robbery and resulting “respect” murder occurred in December of 2011 after, as Assistant Mercer Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian explained, 20-year-old Marinnie showed no fear about robbing Fennell to his face.

So days later Fennell, 26, put on a mask and hoodie and walked up on Marinnie in the 800 block of Stuyvestant and shot him to the ground with three bullets, then pumped another into him to make sure he was dead.

Whatever the “disrespect,” it was avenged. But Fennell will have to pay for it with at least 17 years in prison under the plea deal worked out earlier between the prosecutor and his lawyer, Chris Campbell.

With credit for the two years he’s already served in the Mercer jail, Fennell could get out 15 years from now, at age 40, if he stays out of trouble in prison.

Mercer Superior Court Robert Billmeier told Fennell he’s lucky he’ll still be relatively young when he gets out of prison. Until then, Billmeier said he’ll have plenty of time to think about the point he supposedly made the day he gunned down and killed “S-Money” Marinnie.

A suspected murder accomplice is insisting on going to trial with the gunman charged in the shooting death of Andre Corbett in January 2013.

The prosecutor and Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier said trying Zihqwan Clemens, who is charged as the getaway driver, at the same time as alleged triggerman Keith Wells-Holmes could pose judicial problems.

Billmeier and Assistant Mercer Prosecutor Tom Meidt said such a trial is fraught with the problem of conflicting suspect statements and seems a set up to create avenues for appeal.

Clemens, who is being represented by lawyer George Somers, last month was offered 30 years in prison for his guilty plea to being the getaway driver the day Holmes allegedly shot Corbett to death in the street.

Billmeier again warned him Monday that if he goes to trial and gets convicted he could get up to 75 years in prison at sentencing. But Clemens elected to roll the dice.

Billmeier asked the opposing lawyers to submit legal arguments to him about why the suspects should or should not be tried together.

If the case goes to trial, it will make for a busy 2015 for Meidt, who already has the retrial of alleged killer gang leader Carlos Negrete set for February.

A man accused of stabbing his housemate to death last year has been indicted on murder charges in connection with the case.

Fredy Gonzalez, 21, was indicted last week on charges of murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon in connection with the death of 24-year-old Raul Cruz.

Around 12:30 a.m. on September 29, 2013, a witness called police and reported a stabbing inside a house in the 800 block of South Clinton Avenue. When police arrived on-scene, they found Cruz suffering from a stab wound to the chest caused by a large kitchen knife. People who lived in the house with Cruz were restraining Gonzalez and accused him of the stabbing.

Cruz later died from his injuries at Capital Health Regional Medical Center.

Gonzalez remains in jail on $1 million bail.

Two and a half months of relative calm was shattered early Sunday morning after a shooting left one man dead.

According to Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, police were called to the area of Mulberry Street and Nottingham Way on report of a person shot around 1:19 a.m.

When police arrived they found the victim, 22-year-old Rodney Sutphin of Trenton, dead behind the wheel of a still running minivan, DeBlasio said.

No suspects have been identified and the murder remains under investigation. The New Jersey State Police Crime Scene Unit is processing the van.

Rodney Sutphin

The 22-year-old’s death is the first to hit the city since July 30 when Tyshawn Goodman and George Jamison were gunned down in separate incidents. Those incidents were believed to have been robberies gone awry.

The city saw a record number of murders last year, and in the first seven months of this year saw 23 murders.

Police have not yet determined a motive in Sunday’s slaying.

Rodney Sutphin was arrested in September along with Lawrence Sutphin, who threatened to shoot up the Trentonian newsroom after his photo was placed on the cover in connection with the Galilee Baptist Church shooting. The pair were arrested following an alleged drug deal out of a minivan in the 800 block of Greenwood Avenue. Both were charged with possession of crack cocaine and related drug distribution charges. The relationship between the Sutphins is unknown by police.

Anyone who may have information is asked to contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406. Or use the Trenton police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663.

Tipsters may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tipline at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.