Murder suspect Isiah Greene rejected a plea offer and asked for a trial Wednesday before a prosecutor disclosed that a key witness in his case was killed recently.
Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Jim Scott said there was no indication of a link between locked-up Greene and the slain man, whose name was not disclosed in court.
Greene is charged with murder, attempted murder and a slew of drug offenses for allegedly shooting 24-year-old Quaadir “Ace” Gurley as he sat on a porch along Rossell Avenue at 1:30 the morning of July 21, 2013.
Investigators learned after the shooting that two weapons were used in the apparent gangland assassination and that victim Gurley had not been armed when gunned down.
After weeks on the lam, Greene was arrested on Nov. 18 and charged in the slaying of Gurley. Held on $500,000 bail, Greene appeared before Mercer Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier in a prison jumpsuit wearing a smile for his girlfriend in the courtroom.
In an earlier hearing, it came out that prosecutors had witnesses saying two gunmen had taken part in the slaying of Gurley. The name of the second gunman, nor if he was ever arrested, was never disclosed by authorities.
So now there are two mysteries surrounding the execution of Gurley: Who was Greene’s accomplice and which witness to the slaying was murdered recently?
Whatever cops find out for future court hearings, Greene, 21, faces the rest of his useful life in prison if convicted of the murder of Gurley at trial.
On Wednesday, before noting the murder of the witness to the Gurley killing, Scott said Greene could plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter in return for a 25-year term, with sentences for his other crimes to run concurrent to the 25.
But Greene’s lawyer, Assistant Mercer Public Defender Nicole Carlo, said Greene wants a trial and Billmeier said that “certainly is his prerogative.”