Admitted Trenton killer now says he didn’t do it
Grady Blue was done being told to shut up and take the deal.
Grady A. Blue III
In accepting a plea offer earlier this year, Blue III admitted gunning down 23-year-old Naquan Ellis as he was stood with a group of people outside of the North 25 housing complex in June 2014.
He was being sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter, for the shooting that claimed Ellis and injured another woman.
But Grady told the judge he wanted to take back his guilty plea. He accepted responsibility for a gun charge that called for a concurrent 7 years but not for the “body.”
“I ain’t taking no 12 years because I ain’t kill him,” Blue ‘said.
Assistant Prosecutor Kathleen Petrucci asked the judge to move forward with sentencing, noting Ellis family was in the courtroom.
Judge Thomas Brown admonished Blue for taking back his plea at the “eleventh hour,” pointing out he admitted killing Ellis when he pleaded guilty in September.
But in the end, the judge gave him time to file court papers outlining why he should be allowed to take back the deal, which was negotiated by public defender Jamie Hubert.
The divide between Hubert and Blue was evident as the suspect blasted his attorney for encouraging him to take the deal and “shut up.”
Hubert didn’t address Blue’s accusations, only saying another attorney would represent him going forward.
Prosecutors had sweetened their offer to Blue, who was previously floated a deal that called for him to serve 30 years for murder.
An alternative deal called for Blue to spend 25 years in prison if he cooperated with prosecutors in another case.
Blue is expected back in court in December.
