TRENTON – A trial date has finally been set in the case of the witness allegedly killed for testifying against a boyfriend, who, officials charge, arranged her retaliation assassination from behind prison bars in 2005.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson said alleged mastermind Anthony Kidd, his brother Henry Kidd Jr. and suspected triggerman and cousin Darrell Scott will go on trial on Sept. 23.
Anthony Kidd
Smithson ruled after Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Lew Korngut disclosed that a codefendant had given cops a full statement about what happened and why, and that he’s prepared to testify for the state at the trial.
The prosecutor also said he has a cell-phone mapping expert who will trace all the calls between Trenton and Alabama in which the ambush murder of Kendra DeGrasse was set up eight years ago on the night of March 24.
On hand for the hearing were DeGrasse’s mother and sister, who have been waiting for justice all these years. Smithson noted, indeed, that he’d been taken out of retirement to help Mercer clear a backlog of major cases awaiting trial.
“This whole murder case stems from witness tampering and intimidation, and it happens daily,” Mercer Prosecutor Joe Bocchini said back when the arrests were made.
It all started when Anthony Kidd and DeGrasse, 33, were dating in 2001. One night that year, Kidd took a shot at Trenton cops during a traffic stop. DeGrasse told the police and Kidd, now 41, sent her and another key witness threatening letters demanding they recant their statements.
Convicted of shooting at cops and witness tampering, Kidd ended up sentenced to 47 years in prison.
In the indictment for DeGrasse’s slaying, it’s alleged that the convict was behind bars at Trenton’s state prison when he used a smuggled-in cell to call his brother Henry Kidd to arrange her murder.
In addition to records of calls between the Kidds and Scott, an alleged Alabama hitman, investigators say they also have cell phone mappings showing DeGrasse was lured to the death scene with a cell call.
Anthony Kidd is being represented by Patrick O’Hara. His brother has retained Andrew Duclair and cousin Scott is being defended by Steve Slavin.