A forensic scientist testified Wednesday an individual named Edward Acosta was “the source” of genetic material on a Giants Snapback hat investigators recovered outside of a banquet hall where Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie was killed in 2012.
Carl Batie
For prosecutors, the DNA match to Acosta could be a red herring that confuses jurors deciding whether two Trenton men are responsible for killing Batie on Nov. 11, 2012.
The DNA results did not tie suspected killers Maurice Skillman or Hykeem Tucker to the murder of Batie. And they said less about the mystery man Acosta, other than that he was in or around the area of the Baldassari Regency banquet hall Nov. 11, 2012.
Melissa Johns from the New Jersey State Police crime laboratory testified the baseball hat was one of three items she examined for DNA, small traces of biological material unique to each individual that can be recovered from hair, saliva, blood, skin and other bodily fluids.
She said she could scientifically conclude Acosta was “the source” of the DNA on the hat because his profile is found in only one of 3.5 quintillion blacks, an astronomically high number that includes 18 zeros.
The number was higher for whites, and far above a scientific threshold of 6 trillion needed to say Acosta was the definitive DNA contributor.
Maurice Skillman
Johns’ DNA results for Skillman and Tucker? She said on cross examination there were none.
Acosta’s name emerged for the first time Wednesday, when it was revealed his DNA was a “hit” in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, a database containing a whole host of genetic profiles collected from crime scenes across the country.
Some of the DNA profiles are of convicted felons or people who have been arrested. The database is not limited to offenders, Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said.
So it is not certain Acosta is a convicted felon living in Trenton. He also shares a common last name, essentially making him a ghost in this case.
The one well-known Edward Acosta that The Trentonian found in the capital city is serving time in Trenton state prison, along with his co-defendant, Timothy Miller, for shooting a man in the face in 2013.
Prosecutors would not say after court wrapped up for day whether the DNA profile belonged to that Edward Acosta, and no references have been made to Acosta at the trial.
Johns said she also conducted tests on a black ski mask and a black winter cap investigators recovered in close proximity to the banquet hall. The baseball cap was found somewhere on Morris Avenue and could have been lost by Acosta in the frantic scene that followed Batie’s shooting.
Hykeem Tucker
Two Trenton cops who were off-duty and working security detail at the banquet hall testified earlier in the day that a number of scrums broke out after the shooting and that people were screaming and frantically running from the scene.
Skillman was actually arrested the night of the murder and charged with improper behavior and obstruction for fighting with another black man outside the club.
Johns was the last of several witnesses who testified for the state. Her testimony came after two Trenton cops, Detective Sgt. Anthony Manzo and Sgt. Jason Woodhead, who worked the front door of the banquet hall that night.
Manzo, a recognizable law enforcement figure in Trenton because of his bulging biceps, bald head and neatly trimmed goatee, said that earlier in the night he recognized the Skillman brothers as they entered the club.
He said he had “seen them around.”
It was unclear if he was referring to their known criminal proclivity in Trenton or, as Scott suggested on direct examination, because he saw the brothers grow up. He also remembered seeing Tucker, wearing a distinctive varsity jacket, which appears to corroborate the testimony of Scott Peterson, the lead detective in the murder case.
Manzo said he was scanning the crowd at the front door for “trouble or troublemakers,” when Woodhead motioned to try to get his attention over the loud music inside the banquet hall.
Shot were fired, and Manzo said he was provided a possible suspect description of two men fleeing the scene. They were dressed in gray and white hoodies.
“Sometimes it’s good,” Manzo said, referring to the suspect descriptions. “Sometimes it’s bad.”
Woodhead testified he saw a “suspicious” black man who seemed “highly excited” lurking outside on Morris Avenue shortly after shots were fired. It was Skillman.
Woodhead told Skillman to stop roaming the area but he didn’t listen. Skillman eventually headed toward Division Street, against Woodhead’s orders.
Woodhead said he saw Skillman walk behind a U-Haul in the parking lot. He checked the area to make sure Skillman hadn’t discarded anything but he didn’t find anything.
The day started with Peterson, the lead detective, back on the stand for cross examination. His testimony took on somewhat of a comedic tone that belied the seriousness of the trial.
At one point, Tucker’s attorney, Christopher Campbell, asked the detective whether it was illegal when he sparked up a cigarette for Tucker during an interrogation at Trenton Police headquarters.
Tucker had already been charged with murder.
“I see no sense in charging him with smoking a cigarette,” Peterson said.
The tone quickly turned serious, though, when Campbell asked Peterson how he got Tucker’s name. Peterson had it before he interviewed Marquis Skillman, Maurice’s twin brother, in January 2013. Marquis Skillman knew Tucker only by the nickname “Tex.”
Peterson said the information wasn’t reflected in his police report but that he had provided a photo to FBI Special Agent James McCaffery at a multi-jurisdictional violent crime meeting.
One of McCaffery’s confidential informants told him the man in the photo was Tucker.