Homicide Watch Trenton

Wayne Bush (left) and Jafar “Young Farr” Lewis

The gunman who shot and killed Trenton hip-hop lyricist Jafar “Young Farr” Lewis over four years ago has now fessed up, abruptly ending his presumption of innocence in a lingering homicide case that previously ended in a mistrial.

Wayne Bush pleaded guilty last Friday to second-degree reasonable provocation manslaughter for slaying the 26-year-old rap artist on Aug. 23, 2013.

“He still wanted to go to trial, but his family was very much in favor of him taking the offer,” defense attorney John Furlong said of his client Bush. Read more

Jihad Jenks

A suspect has been arrested in connection with the July 23 shooting death of Tisheen Rasheen Mack and then was released from jail on electronically monitored home detention after a judge blasted the state’s handling of the case.

Jihad “Jay” Jenks, 23, of Ewing, has been charged with second-degree provoked manslaughter and weapons offenses on allegations he shot and killed 26-year-old Mack “in the heat of passion” on the 800 block of East State Street.

Mack had a gun on him on the night he was slain, according to police sources. Police charged Jenks on Aug. 2 but failed to justify the charges in an affidavit of probable cause — a mind-boggling omission that prompted Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw to denounce the state’s prosecutorial practices.

“The only place where this defendant’s name appears in this complaint is in the portion of the complaint that lists the name of the defendant. How do I find probable cause based upon an affidavit of probable cause which doesn’t even mention the defendant?” Warshaw said at Jenks’ Aug. 29 detention hearing. “This is completely and totally unacceptable.”Read more

Wilma Rutledge (Facebook Photo)

A 58-year-old woman who died Friday afternoon from senseless gun violence outside the North 25 housing complex has been identified as Wilma Rutledge, who lived on Carver Lane where the shooting occurred.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office on Saturday had no additional updates on the shooting that also left a 14-year-old city girl injured with gunshot wounds that were not considered to be life-threatening.

The incident occurred about 3:10 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Carver Lane and North Willow Street. Both shooting victims were transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center by private means. Rutledge was pronounced dead at the hospital while the teenager was last reported to be in stable condition, officials said.
Read more

TRENTON >> Talaya Greenfield might finally know who killed her son.

Talaya Greenfield grasps a portrait of her son, taken when he was young boy. (Isaac Avilucea - The Trentonian)

Sworn court papers filed this month in the ongoing lawsuit the Trenton woman brought against the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and city police last year suggest authorities are close to making arrests.

James Scott, an assistant prosecutor who heads the homicide unit, said in a certification there are “potentially identifiable suspects” in the murder of Jamer Greenfield, who was gunned down in Trenton in July 2014.

The unsolved case has dragged on for more than three years but is drawing to a close as the county homicide task force appears close to nabbing its targets.

“It is necessary for the MHTF to conduct additional interviews before the case will be in a position for review and potential issuance of arrest warrants and subsequent presentation to a grand jury for indictment(s),” Scott wrote. Read more

Convicted murderer Randy K. Washington has filed a federal lawsuit against Mercer County sheriff’s officers and corrections officers, alleging they subjected him to “cruel and unusual punishment” and failed to provide him with timely medical treatment after he attacked his former lawyer in court.

Randy K. Washington

“Now on Thursday, June 29, 2017, I hit my attorney, but when I hit her, I did not advance toward her, I just waited for the sheriff to come handcuff me,” Washington says in his lawsuit filed Sept. 19. He then accuses the sheriff’s officers of tackling him on a table, slamming him to the ground and breaking a bone in his hand.

“I did not receive treatment until about six weeks after it was noted my hand was broken,” Washington says in his lawsuit, “causing further psychological harm from the pain and mental anguish, emotional distress caused by insomnia from disputes with prison officers about pain medication, violating my Eighth Amendment rights.”Read more

Convicted murderer Randy K. Washington did not want to witness justice being served on Friday when Mercer County Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta sentenced him to 70 years of incarceration for stalking, shooting and killing 64-year-old Silas Johnson.

Randy Kareem Washington

Pereksta sentenced Washington in absentia to serve 85 percent of his term — nearly 60 years behind bars — before he can become eligible for parole.

The sentence was consistent with what prosecutors recommended, although Johnson’s family members wanted Washington to get hammered with the maximum penalty of life imprisonment without parole, which New Jersey state law defines as 75 years of incarceration.Read more

Two men who played a role in the 2015 shooting death of 19-year-old Elvin Kimble have been sentenced to state prison after pleading guilty to downgraded criminal offenses.

Originally arrested on heavy murder charges, Gary Spears, 35, of Trenton, pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter and has been sentenced to 10 years of incarceration while co-defendant Jermaine Johnson, 41, of Ewing, pleaded guilty to third-degree hindering prosecution and has been sentenced to five years behind bars.

Gary Spears (left) and Jermaine Johnson

Read more

The pedestrian who was killed by a motorist Sunday night has been identified as 61-year-old Rodney Taylor. Read more

Tyrone King

Tyrone “Big Face” King was known by friends and family as a “good dude.”

Tragically — like a far too common theme recently in the capital city — King was the victim of gun violence this past weekend.

The 51-year-old Ewing resident was fatally shot Sunday outside a store on the 900 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard about 20 minutes before noon. King was pronounced dead a short time later at Capital Health Regional Medical Center, Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio said Monday in an email.

Police say the MLK shooting appears to be an isolated incident not connected to the shootings in South Trenton that claimed two lives on Friday night and Saturday morning. Read more

A pedestrian was struck and killed by a motorist Sunday night and police are searching for the driver.

This is the second hit-and-run accident to occur in Trenton this year.

Officials say a vehicle struck a 61-year-old man in the 400 block of Chambers Street around 10:20 p.m. Sunday.

“The victim was in the roadway when a vehicle struck him and continued without stopping,” Lt. Stephen Varn said.

Officials say the victim was in the middle of the westbound lane when the vehicle, which was traveling west, struck him.

The victim suffered severe injuries and later died at the hospital.

If the driver of the vehicle is apprehended, he or she will likely be charged with death by auto because they fled the scene after the accident.

According to the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit, vehicular homicides are considered manslaughter and are, therefore, not reported as a homicide statistic.

The Trentonian, however, includes death by auto and justifiable police shootings in its yearly homicide count.

Earlier this year, 39-year-old Lea Pringle was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in the 600 block of North Olden Avenue. A 17-year-old unlicensed city girl was arrested last week and charged with death by auto and related offenses in connection with Pringle’s death.

Anyone with information about Sunday’s fatal hit-and-run is asked to call police at 609-989-4155.