When Hykeem Tucker was told inside an interrogation room at Trenton Police on Jan. 24, 2013 that he was being charged with the murder of Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie, he repeatedly told detectives it was all “bulls—” and they had the wrong man.
Hykeem Tucker
“I didn’t pull no trigger,” he said. “Why the f– am I under arrest? I don’t got nothing to do with nothing.”
Tape of Tucker’s dramatic denial, played for jurors Tuesday, was the explosive beginning to an action-packed day in the murder trial of two men suspected of killing Batie on Nov. 11, 2012, in what the authorities billed at the time as a gang-related shooting that claimed an innocent bystander.
The brother of accused triggerman Maurice Skillman also testified, and trial wrapped up for the day as Skillman’s attorneys began a withering cross examination of Scott Peterson, a Trenton Police detective who led the investigation into Batie’s death.
Skillman’s third-party guilt defense started to take shape as defense attorney Nicole Carlo asked Peterson questions about a man named Shaquel Rock, an alleged Bloods gang member who was arrested for threatening an off-duty police officer who worked security the night Batie was shot in the head while talking to a security guard on the balcony of the banquet hall.
Peterson testified he focused on Rock as a suspect in Batie’s death after he learned Rock threatened to shoot up the banquet hall when bouncers stopped him at the door and didn’t allow him in because they believed his ID was fake.
Maurice Skillman
Rock was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats but was cleared of any involvement in Batie’s death.
Peterson eliminated Rock as a suspect because he did not match a physical description of the shooter. Rock wore a white sweater and was shorter than the killer.
Peterson previously testified under questioning from prosecutors he positively identified Skillman as the gunman, referring to him during portions of the trial Monday as “Tall Guy,” after reviewing more than 30 hours of surveillance footage from five camera angles on the interior and exterior of the banquet hall.
Peterson referred to Tucker as “Varsity Jacket,” referring to a distinct jacket he was captured wearing the night Batie was murdered.
Jurors were shown a taped statement Marquis Skillman, Maurice's twin brother, gave to investigator in 2013 in which he said Tucker wore a “basketball team jacket” the night of Batie’s murder.
Carlo seized on that in her cross examination, asking Peterson about a vehicle search four days after Batie was murdered. Investigators obtained a search warrant to scour a champagne-colored vehicle belonging to Edgar Williams, Rock’s cousin.
Inside the vehicle, investigators found a varsity jacket, a gray hooded sweatshirt and a blue hooded sweatshirt. Photos of the jacket and hoodies were shown to jurors.
It was crucial for the defense because Alex Feliciano, a convicted felon who was working security and speaking to Batie on the balcony when shots rang out, testified last week the shooter wore a gray hoodie.
Marquis Skillman
By contrast, Skillman, who was arrested for fighting outside the banquet hall the night Batie was killed, wore a black hoodie and gray pants, said Timothy Long, the Trenton Police officer who made the arrest.
Peterson “vaguely” remember the search of Williams' vehicle.
Carlo also focused on differences between Peterson’s notes and what made it into his 33-page police report.
Peterson remembered interviewing a security officer after arriving on the scene. The security guard told him he saw two individuals in white and gray hoodies running from the banquet hall after gunfire erupted.
Peterson also acknowledged investigators came up empty when they searched Skillman’s home.
“You didn’t find anything of evidentiary value that would connect him to the crime?” Carlo asked.
“Correct,” Peterson said.
Carlo suggested investigators did not do their due diligence when they failed to search a blue Chevrolet Impala the Skillman brothers and Tucker drove to the club. The vehicle remained parked at the banquet hall until police released the murder scene. Someone picked it up later.
Carlo asked the detective why investigators did not search the Chevy Impala when it was parked in the lot. Peterson said he had not yet connected it to Batie’s murder.
“I didn’t have probable cause to go rooting through someone’s vehicle,” he said.
Skillman’s twin brother, Marquis, whom Peterson interviewed as part of his investigation, also took the stand earlier in the day but he was mostly unresponsive to questions posed to him by prosecutors and defense attorneys.
After testifying at a hearing outside the jury’s presence, Marquis Skillman did not want to testify before jurors. Attorneys wanted Marquis Skillman held in contempt.
When Marquis Skillman was brought into the courtroom, he told Judge Andrew Smithson, “I’m not saying nothing. Take me back to my cell.”
He kept his word.
Keeping his head down and never looking at jurors, a recalcitrant Marquis Skillman responded 57 times that he either didn’t know or didn’t remember what attorneys were talking when they asked him questions about a statement he gave to detectives in January 2013.
Assistant Prosecutor James Scott handed him his statement to review. Marquis Skillman tossed it across the room.
“I’m not taking a look at nothing,” he said. “Take me back to my cell.”
Prosecutors had little choice but to show jurors Marquis Skillman taped interview. He acknowledged driving his brother and Tucker, whom he knew only by a nickname, to the banquet hall.
Peterson showed Marquis Skillman photos and had him place an X on Tucker.
As Marquis Skillman was led out of the courtroom in shackles, he whispered something to his brother. It was the most he said all day.