Judge pulls Trenton murder trial into closed session

Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson appears committed to trying the case of two men accused of fatally shooting convicted drug dealer Tracy Lamont Crews at sidebar and in judge’s chambers.

The murder trial of William Brown and Nigel Joseph Dawson was stalled this week by undisclosed evidentiary issues significant enough that Smithson suspended proceedings until Tuesday, when a jury is expected to resume hearing evidence in the Sept. 12, 2008 slaying of Crews inside his Whittaker Avenue home.

This came a day after Smithson dismissed the jury early and later notified jurors that they weren’t required to return to court until Friday.

All that changed Thursday morning, when Smithson summoned Assistant Prosecutor Al Garcia and defense attorneys Steven Lember and Edward Hesketh into his chambers.

The attorneys emerged from chambers shortly before noon. They were ordered to return to court at 1:30 p.m. to put on record in open court issues they discussed at a closed-door session with Smithson.

Members of Crews’ family were present with a victim advocate to hear why the case has ground to a halt but left disappointed when Smithson convened another sidebar to discuss the issues. Moments later, he announced court was in recess until next week.

Attorneys could be overheard arguing with court staff inside the courtroom. Minutes later, Lember emerged from the courtroom and threw up his hands in exasperation.

Neither Lember nor Garcia would specify the reason for the delay. Garcia was asked specifically about a possible mistrial but declined comment.

One possible explanation is that attorneys cannot agree whether a jury should be shown footage captured by a city resident’s surveillance system that shows two men, later identified by authorities as Brown and Dawson, fleeing the crime scene shortly after Crews was shot.

Police have testified they discovered a fresh set of footprints and grooves in the ground that were made when someone pushed open a gate enclosing a construction site in the rear of Crews’ residence.

Garcia hasn’t connected the footprints to Brown or Dawson, nor offered any evidence linking tread marks to shoes they owned.

He said in his opening the defendants stashed a 9 mm handgun on a nearby garage, then disposed of a camouflage ski mask and a tan jacket on nearby city streets near Crews’ home.

The ski mask was traced to Brown, Crews’ close friend, former roommate and the best man at his wedding, after his DNA was discovered on it. Brown’s attorney maintained that’s isn’t unusual because his client, a Bloods gang member, owned the mask.

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