Hykeem Tucker took a drag from the cigarette a police detective sparked up for him. It was all “bullsh--,” he exclaimed.
Offering to take a lie-detector test, he said the “rats” feeding city police detective Scott Peterson bad information about his alleged involvement in the murder of off-duty corrections officer Carl Batie in 2012 could “kiss my black a--.”
Hykeem Tucker
“Wherever you go the information … I didn’t kill nobody,” Tucker said. “I’m getting charged with something I didn’t do.”
During an interview with police in January 2013, after he had already been charged, a defiant Tucker repeatedly told detectives he had nothing to do with the murder of the Mercer County corrections officer.
The interrogation was played for jurors Thursday, prior to defense attorneys beginning their cross examination of Peterson.
Tucker was charged with Batie’s murder Jan. 24, 2013. Maurice Skillman, the alleged gunman, was also charged in the slaying. They are being tried together a second time after their first trial earlier this year ended with a hung jury.
Tucker was interrogated by Peterson, the lead detective assigned to the case, the same day he was charged.
After pouring over hours of surveillance tapes, Peterson has testified “Varsity Jacket,” referring to Tucker, and “Tall Guy,” the nickname for Skillman, were responsible for Batie’s death.
He said he drew his conclusions after tracking the men’s movements from numerous camera angles that showed the exterior and interior of the banquet hall.
The surveillance tapes are the cornerstone of prosecutors’ case.
Relevant portions of the tapes were culled from more than 50 hours of footage and shown to jurors on an overhead projector screen.
The gritty images have been fleeting, forcing jurors and those in the courtroom gallery to strain their eyes to try to see what the detectives said he saw.
Peterson referred to the tapes several times during his interrogation of Tucker.
He told Tucker he knew he was involved with Batie’s murder, and that if he wasn’t, he needed to stop offering “half-assed answers.”
“You’re on video,” Peterson told Tucker. “You cut through the bulls---. … You know what you’re looking at? 60 years.”
The shooting happened around 1:15 a.m.
Tucker is accused of acting as a lookout while Skillman fired the fatal shot that struck Batie. Batie was with his brother, Karshawn, attending a party celebrating the re-election of President Barack Obama.
About 50 people were on the balcony, while hundreds were also inside the banquet hall at the time of the shooting.
But only two said they got a glimpse of the shooter, a man in a gray hoodie.
Feliciano, a convicted felon who along with his brother worked security at the club, was standing on a wooden stoop overlooking the crowd on the balcony when gunshots rang out.
He testified at both trials that the shooter, clad in a gray hooded sweatshirt, was on the hood of a car in the parking lot below when he opened fire. He did not get a look at the shooter’s face.
Maurice Skillman
Peterson showed Tucker pictures from the club, some of them of a man closely resembling Tucker.
“That’s you,” the detective thundered.
Tucker placated the police detective but later in the interview said he was not agreeing that he was the man depicted in the photos.
But Peterson knew better. He had interviewed Marquis Skillman, Maurice’s twin brother.
Marquis told the detective that he drove his brother and a man he knew as “Tex” – Tucker’s nickname – to the banquet hall in his girlfriend’s blue Chevrolet Impala.
Maurice Skillman’s attorney has acknowledged he was at the club with his brother to have fun and ended up wrongfully accused of murder.
Tucker told the detective he wouldn’t have stuck around Trenton if he killed Batie.
“I would be somewhere else, hiding,” he said. “I wouldn’t be outside waiting for no officer to come pick me up.”
Defense attorney Nicole Carlo began what is expected to be a lengthy cross examination of Peterson.
As part of a third-party guilt defense, she focused on other unsavory characters who were at the club the night of the shooting and who she surmised were more likely suspects.
She mentioned a city man named Shaquel Rock, an alleged Bloods gang member who was enraged when he had been denied entrance to the club that night.
She also asked questions about Edward Acosta, a Trenton man who is serving a 6-year prison sentence for shooting a man in the face. His DNA turned up on a New York Giants that was found on city streets surrounding the banquet hall.
He was with another man, Timothy Miller, who was shot by Trenton Police Officer George Wilson after he drew down on him during a foot chase May 2, 2013.
Rock, however, was a person of interest early on in the Batie slaying.
He threatened a police officer and club bouncer when they didn’t let him in the club and confiscated his ID.
Rock was charged with terroristic threats for threatening to shoot up the club. But he was never charged in Batie's murder.
Carlo pointed out the club was shot up about 40 minutes after the confrontation with Rock and his associates. Rock threatened off-duty cop Jason Woodhead along with bouncer Luis Feliciano, Alexis' brother.
Peterson said he eliminated Rock as a suspect in Batie’s murder because he didn’t match a description of the shooter.
He said Rock, a slender man standing about 5 feet 6 inches tall, was captured by video at the front entrance in light-colored clothing.
At least two people told the detective the shooter wore a gray hoodie.
Carlo pointed out that her client, Maurice Skillman, was arrested for fighting outside the club following the shooting. He was wearing a black hoodie with a red emblem rather than a gray hoodie.
He also did not have a gun on him when he was arrested.
The detective agreed.
She also asked Peterson about results of a lie-detector test given to Rock, which showed he acted deceptively with detectives. Rock also apparently lied about having an alibi.
Because they are considered notoriously unreliable, lie-detector tests are not admissible as evidence in New Jersey courts.
Peterson is expected to testify the rest of the day. This story will be updated.