Jury convicts Trenton man in 2015 Donnelly Homes slaying

The man accused of fatally stabbing 43-year-old Edward Nock at a city housing complex in 2015 is now facing 30 years to life in prison as a convicted felon.

Edward Kevin Nock (contributed photo)

Edward Kevin Nock (contributed photo)

Isaac Grey, 35, of Trenton, has been found guilty of murder, tampering with a witness, bribery and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose for allegedly killing Nock at the Donnelly Homes on June 30, 2015, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Handing down its swift verdict on Wednesday, the trial jury actually acquitted Grey of unlawful possession of a weapon. The alleged killer, however, still faces decades behind bars on the murder conviction alone, authorities said.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Stacey Geurds prosecuted the case against Grey, who allegedly attacked Nock at a Donnelly Homes apartment off Beakes Street.

When police were dispatched to that apartment on the night of the murder, they found Nock lying on the floor suffering from a stab wound to the abdomen. Medics rushed Nock to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The killer fled from the murder scene, but authorities tracked down Grey and arrested him for the crime in Philadelphia two days after the homicide.

In a statement Wednesday, Geurds and Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Eugene expressed satisfaction with the verdict, saying they are “so very pleased that they could help get the victim’s family justice,” the prosecutor’s office said.

“It’s a disappointing verdict,” defense attorney Mark Davis said Wednesday evening. “It’s what we call an inconsistent verdict. It’s not the first. It won’t be the last.”

Davis said his client “will be appealing the verdict and challenging a lot of issues” that arose in the trial. Davis was not sure whether the inconsistent verdict would be a basis for appeal, he said, adding, “I think we have much bigger fish to fry.”

“Juries sometimes confuse us in their decision-making process,” he said, “but I still applaud the jury. They took their time. They pored over the evidence. They disagreed with our defense.”

“We believe the killer of Edward Nock is still out there and has not been apprehended,” Davis said. “They never recovered the weapon Mr. Nock was killed with. We submit it’s still with the killer. I don’t think it’s hard to connect those dots, but the jury disagreed.”

Grey is scheduled to be sentenced March 29 before Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier.

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