2017: Trenton’s homicides by the numbers

The bloody aftermath of a New Years Eve homicide in the capital city. (David Foster - Trentonian)

The bloody aftermath of a New Years Eve homicide in the capital city. (David Foster - Trentonian)

After an ambush-style New Year’s Eve slaying, the capital city concluded 2017 with 24 homicides, which includes the deaths of Lea Pringle and Rodney Taylor, whom both were killed by hit-and-run drivers.

That number does not include the “suspicious death” of Lillian Duran, whose body was found wrapped in a trash bag on the side of Lamberton Street. A medical examiner ruled Duran’s death inconclusive, but law enforcement sources believe she died from a drug overdose after being forced to take a “hot bag” of dope, then later dumped on the side of the road as a warning to others.

That number also excludes the suspicious death of Gregory Wright Jr., who was found unresponsive in his Lexus in the area of Spring Street and Kafer Alley. Prosecutors await an official autopsy report and have not publicly announced his death as a homicide, but police sources with knowledge of the investigation believe he was assaulted before being placed in his car, where detectives later found him. Read more

One year in, New Jersey’s bail reform still a contentious issue

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Bail reform has provoked no shortage of reactions since it was implemented a year ago. Some New Jerseyeans thunderously applauded it as a boon for the poor and minorities who were once trapped in a bail system that gave wealthy, sometimes more dangerous defendants a leg up.

Others in the bail industry, often demonized as unscrupulous people who took advantage of downtrodden and disenfranchised defendants, called reform efforts in the Garden State and elsewhere one of the most “outrageous, irresponsible government boondoggles ever created.”

“A bad idea on steroids,” is how the Professional Bail Agents of the United States, an industry trade group, described it in a nearly five-minute spot on its website. Read more