Trenton men get life for murder of Mercer corrections officer

Former Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie had a “heart as big as this world” and the swagger of a GQ model, his colleagues and family members said. Elaine Batie, Carl’s mother, daubed her eyes while remembering the moment her second-oldest son was placed into her arms on March 3, 1985. She smiled so much … Read more →

Trenton men convicted of killing Carl Batie in 2012

Elaine Batie clutched her son’s former co-worker outside a Mercer County criminal courtroom. They hugged for what seemed like minutes, swaying back and forth in unison. “It’s over,” the woman told Elaine. Carl Batie, a former Mercer County corrections officer with an infectious personality and generous spirit, was killed in a hail of bullets Nov. … Read more →

Defense: Trenton detective looked to ‘nail’ wrong men for Batie murder

Carl Batie and his brother, Karshawn, were leaving the Baldassari Regency banquet hall in the early-morning hours of Nov. 11, 2012. They stepped out on the deck to get some fresh air, when Carl noticed a familiar face standing on a wooden stoop at the edge of the balcony, gazing over the crowd. It was … Read more →

Judge won’t dismiss murder charges in Batie slaying, cop testifies about threat

Citing the “powerful” case prosecutors finished putting on Tuesday, a Superior Court judge refused to throw out murder charges against two men suspected of killing off-duty corrections officer Carl Batie in 2012. Judge Andrew Smithson said a third-party guilt defense offered by suspected triggerman Maurice Skillman was “fanciful.” Skillman is being tried a second time … Read more →

Tex’ was identified by FBI agent’s confidential informant

A city police detective caught a “big break” while investigating the murder of off-duty Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie. Trenton Police detective Scott Peterson testified under cross examination Thursday that, until he got a phone call from someone from the FBI, he didn’t know the government name of a man who was later charged … Read more →

Suspected Batie killer to detective: ‘Kiss my black a—’

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 … Read more →

Trenton detective tells tale of the tapes in Batie murder retrial

Veteran city police detective Scott Peterson believes he has a keen eye for criminals. But will jurors in the second murder trial of two men suspected of killing off-duty Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie see what the Trenton Police detective sees on surveillance tapes? Peterson, the husky homicide investigator, remarked with an air of … Read more →

Batie murder suspect’s brother mostly mum on witness stand

The tantrum-throwing, paper-tossing twin brother of a suspected killer behaved a bit better on the witness stand the second time around. The last time he was on the stand a few months ago, Marquis Skillman, the twin brother of suspected killer Maurice Skillman, tossed the written statement he gave Trenton detectives to the ground and … Read more →

Crime scene detective goes over finer details in Batie murder retrial

A crime scene detective testified Tuesday about some of the finer details of an investigation that led to the arrest of two city men who are suspected of killing off-duty Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie. Marcellos Rosa Delgado, a crime scene technician with Trenton Police, described combing the murder scene for evidence outside of … Read more →

Asking jurors about ‘Making a Murderer’ in Trenton homicide retrial a bad idea, experts say

Lady Justice is supposed to be blind. Prosecutors and Mercer County Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson, however, may be slipping off the blindfold and tipping the scales in an upcoming murder trial, legal experts said. Smithson has indicated he will allow prospective jurors in the murder retrial of two Trenton men accused of gunning down … Read more →

Making a Murderer’ making it tough for Mercer County prosecutors

Call it the “Making a Murderer” effect. When jury selection kicks off next week in the second murder trial of two men accused of killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie, prosecutors will ask prospective jurors whether they watched the popular true crime Netflix docuseries and if it impacted their views on police, prosecutors and … Read more →

No success in murder trials could impact nomination of Mercer County prosecutor

Shaheed Brown is shaping up to be the new “Boom Bat” of Mercer County. Brown’s murder case has drawn comparisons to convicted murderer and Latin Kings leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete because of the difficulties prosecutors have had trying the cases. It has also shined a bright light on a spate of mistrials and acquittals … Read more →

Trenton murder trial ends in hung jury, third recently in Mercer County

Carl Batie’s family, friends and colleagues dutifully showed up to court day after day over four weeks as prosecutors laid out the case against two men suspected of killing the Mercer County corrections officer in 2012. They must do it all over again. Prosecutors have tried three murder trials in the last four months. Less … Read more →

Odd question highlights jury deliberations in Batie murder trial

“Making a Murderer,” anyone? The hit Netflix series that spawned a legion of Internet sleuths may be encroaching upon the thinking of a Mercer County jury, which appears divided about whether two men are guilty of killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie in 2012. Judge Andrew Smithson met privately with one of the jurors … Read more →

Jury continues deliberations in corrections officer’s murder trial

A jury deliberated for a full day Wednesday without reaching a verdict in the murder trial of two men suspected of killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie at a banquet hall in 2012. The 12-member panel reviewed surveillance footage that captured some of the action outside of the Baldassari Regency banquet hall on Nov. … Read more →

Attorneys focus on Trenton detective, but murder trial boils down to tapes

Inspector Clouseau sat in the front row of a Mercer County courtroom, listening as defense attorneys painted him in closing arguments as an incompetent investigator with tunnel vision who fingered two men for a murder at a banquet hall in 2012 they didn’t commit. The man sitting in the front row was actually Trenton Police … Read more →

Judge keeps murder charges, throws out lesser counts in Batie murder trial

A judge with a history of taking decisions out of jurors’ hands on Friday dismissed two counts of aggravated assault, but left untouched more serious counts of murder brought against two Trenton men suspected of killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie in 2012. Judge Andrew Smithson said there was insufficient evidence – what he … Read more →

TEC-9 guns discussed at Trenton Murder trial

Marquis Skillman knew Hykeem Tucker by the nickname “Tex.” When it is spelled another way, it can refer to a TEC-9 handgun. So it was peculiar when a firearms expert testified Thursday he believes Carl Batie’s killer used a TEC-9 to shoot him in the head Nov. 11, 2012, while he stood on the balcony … Read more →

DNA evidence discussed at Trenton murder trial for killing of corrections officer

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. For prosecutors, the DNA match to Acosta could be a red herring that confuses jurors deciding … Read more →

Trenton murder suspect’s interrogation played for jurors, brother of other suspect quiet on the witness stand

When Hykeem Tucker was told inside an interrogation room at Trenton Police on Jan. 24, 2013 that he was being charged with the murder of Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie, he repeatedly told detectives it was all “bulls—” and they had the wrong man. “I didn’t pull no trigger,” he said. “Why the f– … Read more →

Trenton detective testifies Maurice Skillman fatally shot Mercer County corrections officer

TRENTON >> “Tall Guy” and “Varsity Jacket” are names a detective assigned to two men he said are responsible for killing Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie outside a city banquet hall in 2012. Scott Peterson, the Trenton Police detective who led the investigation into the Nov. 11, 2012 slaying of Batie at the Baldassari … Read more →

Trenton man charged in Mercer County corrections officer’s slaying was arrested night of murder

Maurice Skillman was arrested for fighting with another black man outside of Trenton banquet hall on the same day a Mercer County corrections officer was gunned down there while attending a re-election party for President Barack Obama, according to testimony. Trenton Police Officer Timothy Long said he pulled up to a panicked scene outside of … Read more →

Brother of slain Mercer County corrections officer: ‘He’s not gonna live’

Twenty shots, in rapid succession. Like they were fired from a semi-automatic weapon. That’s what 28-year-old Karshawn Batie told a jury he heard. He testified Wednesday before a packed courtroom, on the opening day of the murder trial of Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker, two Trenton men charged with the November 11, 2012 murder of … Read more →

‘Sea’ of supporters for slain corrections officer questioned for murder trial

A judge expressed reservations Tuesday about a “sea” of uniformed supporters packing the courtroom for the murder trial of two city men accused of fatally shooting a Mercer County corrections officer in 2011. A large contingent of family, friends and colleagues of slain corrections officer Carl Batie are expected to attend different stages of the … Read more →

Trenton men to go on trial for murder of Mercer County corrections officer

Delayed by a month when prosecutors were late in turning over hundreds of pages of discovery, the murder trial of two men suspected of killing a Mercer County corrections officer in 2011 is expected to go forward this week. Maurice Skillman, the brother of oft-arrested Marquis Skillman, and Hykeem Tucker and their attorneys will begin … Read more →

Murder trial delayed for Trenton men, second one this week

Trust me, Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said, those hundreds of pages of discovery in this murder case do not contain new information. “Or if there is new information, it’s minor new information,” Scott said at a pretrial hearing Wednesday. That was easy for Scott to say. He has been assigned the murder case of Maurice … Read more →

Two Trenton men will face trial for shooting death of corrections officer

Two city men charged in the fatal shooting death of an off-duty Mercer County corrections officer are being tried in the fall, a judge said Friday. Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker, both 28, are expected to be tried together starting Nov. 30, for the slaying of Carl Batie, a 27-year-old corrections officer who was gunned … Read more →

City sued over 2012 murder of corrections officer

Businessman Eddie Baldassarri is being sued, along with the city, for the shooting murder at his nightclub of a Mercer County jail guard celebrating the reelection of President Obama in 2012. The Chambersburg entrepreneur is targeted in a suit filed by attorney Robin Lord, who argued in legal papers just filed that Baldassarri and Trenton’s … Read more →

Man joins twin brother as murder suspect

A pair on twins now stand accused of murder, with each twin being charged in separate homicides. On Monday, the U.S. Marshals New York New Jersey Regional Task Force arrest Marquis Skillman, 27, in Trenton. He is charged with murder and weapons offenses related to the death of 19-year-old Rayshawn Ransom last week, Sgt. Tim … Read more →

Hykeem Tucker

  • Arrested: Jan. 24, 2013
  • Age: 26
  • Gender: Male
  • Race: Black

Convicted by jury in the Nov. 11, 2012 death of Carl Batie.