Prosecutors hoping to secure forensics tying a Trenton man charged with the 2011 murder of a North Trenton pharmacist to the robbery of a Hamilton convenience store that occurred days later were dealt a roadblock Tuesday when the defendant refused to provide a DNA swab.
Assistant Prosecutor Lewis Korngut must now make a formal application to the court in order to compel Jamar Myers to submit a DNA swab, known as a buccal swab, taken from the inner cheek.
One of Myers’ attorneys called the request a “fishing expedition.”
“It’s all a fishing expedition because if they had this proof going in, they would not have hesitated to try and get the DNA,” said Edward Hesketh, who represents Myers in the murder case where he is accused of fatally shooting Trenton pharmacist Arjun Reddy Dyapa.
Ron Garzio, one of Myers’ attorneys, met with his client in a conference room at the courthouse and relayed prosecutors’ request for a DNA sample but Myers refused to provide one.
Prosecutors are hopeful small traces of genetic material unique to each individual can be matched to a DNA profile found on an item in evidence. Biological material can be recovered from hair, saliva, blood, skin as well as other bodily fluids.
Prosecutors did not disclose the item they plan to compare Myers’ DNA sample with at a hearing Tuesday, which was scheduled for a judge to hear oral argument on a separate evidentiary issue.
Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier adjourned the hearing due to a scheduling conflict that prevented Hesketh from attending.
Attorneys were supposed to address a matter related to the murder of Dyapa, who was shot and killed April 29, 2011, when he allegdly refused Myers’ demand for prescription pills during a botched armed heist of the Brunswick Avenue pharmacy.
Myers is also charged along with two men in the May 2011 robbery of a 7-Eleven in Hamilton days after Dyapa’s murder.
One of the codefendants, 24-year-old Peter Nyema, was recently arrested on new charges for attempting to hit a police cruiser during a car pursuit last month in Trenton.
Prosecutors wanted to try the murder and robbery cases together because they believed they are related. But Billmeier said he would deny prosecutors’ request to try the matters together.
Nyema, who is in being held in lieu of $100,000, was not implicated in the robbery of the pharmacy but prosecutors could potentially use him as a witness. Korngut said he could not say whether that’s the case.
Keith Massey, Nyema’s attorney, said he believed his client does not have any information about the pharmacy heist.