Homicide Watch Trenton

Alleged killer Isiah Greene is scheduled to be retried this summer on murder charges.

Greene, 23, of Trenton, is accused of shooting and killing 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013. The slaying occurred at Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex.

Isiah Greene

The upcoming murder trial is slated to begin with jury selection on July 17. It will be the third time prosecutors seek to win a conviction against Greene, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case. The first trial in October 2015 and the second trial in January 2017 each ended with a hung jury. Read more

Tyleeb Reese surrenders to police after a 35-hour standoff in Trenton. (submitted photo)

The standoff that lasted close to 35 hours in Trenton has ended peacefully.

Trenton standoff suspect Tyleeb Reese surrendered to police just after 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Reese, the suspected triggerman, engaged U.S. Marshals in a gunfight that left a civilian dead and three officers wounded. Reese then retreated to his family’s home on the 300 block of Centre Street and barricaded himself inside as police attempted to negotiate a peaceful resolution the past two days.

“Go Tyleeb!” people shouted when a shirtless Reese exited his home about 5 p.m. Thursday with his hands on his head.

Earlier in the day, with 35-year-old Tyleeb Reese still holed up inside the house and a large police presence surrounding the neighborhood, one resident urged police to hurry up and end the standoff, saying, “They are taking too long.”

The standoff began about 6:45 a.m. Wednesday when members of a U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force served a sexual assault warrant at Reese’s home on the 300 block of Centre Street. Police say officers entered the home and were engaged in gunfire by the suspect. Read more

A city man with a history of sexual assault snapped when he saw police at his doorstep, leading to a standoff that left an innocent bystander dead. Read more

After deliberating for several days, a 12-member jury on Tuesday unanimously found Trenton gunman Masiyah “Chicken” Howard guilty of unlawful possession of a handgun but could not reach a verdict on whether he was guilty of murder or manslaughter.

Defendant Masiyah Howard listens to closing arguments in Mercer County Superior Court on Wenesday, May 3, 2017.
(Gregg Slaboda Photo)

The jurors unanimously agreed that the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Howard possessed a firearm without a permit to carry, but they could not all agree on whether Howard used that gun for the purpose of committing murder.

Prosecutors have accused Howard, 21, of shooting and killing 25-year-old Louis Bryan Alvarez over a $20 dispute involving an Xbox video game system. The victim suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest inside his Chambersburg home on the night of Feb. 26, 2013. The lethal shot was fired from outside the Fulton Street residence and shattered through a front glass window before striking Alvarez. Read more

Defendant Masiyah Howard listens to closing arguments in Mercer County Superior Court on Wednesday, May 3, 2017.
(Gregg Slaboda Photo)

Going to trial without any eyewitness reports or direct evidence, the state’s murder case against Masiyah “Chicken” Howard relies primarily upon the sworn testimony of three so-called 793 Bloods street gang members.

Howard, 21, of Trenton, is accused of shooting and killing 25-year-old Louis Bryan Alvarez over a $20 dispute involving an Xbox video game system.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Heather Hadley on Wednesday conceded the state does not have any surveillance video, eyewitness accounts or direct evidence linking Howard to the February 2013 murder of Alvarez in Trenton’s Chambersburg neighborhood, but she said the state can prove Howard committed the brazen murder by assessing his alleged words of self-incrimination.Read more

The alleged gunman who shot and killed Emilio Lopez during a 2012 robbery in Trenton’s Chambersburg neighborhood is gearing up for a post-indictment arraignment.

Emmanuel Cruz, 29, of Hamilton, is scheduled to appear in court 9 a.m. next Monday before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta. A grand jury indicted him last month on six counts, including murder, robbery and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose on allegations he fatally gunned down Lopez on the night of Nov. 16, 2012, near the intersection of Kent and Division streets. Read more

William “Bill Bill” Mitchell

One of the city men accused of murdering 23-year-old Daquan Dowling in a brazen 2012 drive-by shooting along Route 29 is about to be retried in a court of law.

William Mitchell’s second murder trial is scheduled to begin Thursday before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi. His initial trial ended last October in a hung jury.

Dowling was driving on Route 29 near the War Memorial in Trenton when perpetrators drove alongside him and fired a shot that struck him in the head, killing him instantly on Jan. 30, 2012.

Mitchell, 29, is one of the five people to be indicted in connection with the slaying of Dowling. Another defendant in the case, Andre Romero, 25, was found not guilty last October of all charges.

Co-defendant Anthony Marks, 28, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a handgun in 2015; co-defendant Jamar Square, 24, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a handgun in 2013; and co-defendant Louis Alvardo, 26, pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property in 2014.

In the initial trial, Marks and Square testified as cooperating witnesses against Mitchell and Romero. Marks and Square have not yet been sentenced for their guilt in the case, while Alvardo received a four-year prison sentence for admitting he had received the stolen Chrysler Sebring that was later connected to the drive-by shooting.

As Mitchell awaits retrial, he remains incarcerated at the Mercer County Correction Center on $1 million cash bail. Defense attorney Mark Fury is representing Mitchell; Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor James Scott is trying the case on behalf of the state.

A former Bloods gangster who pleaded guilty in 2014 for his role in a large-scale racketeering case testified Thursday at Masiyah Howard’s murder trial, saying the alleged killer had talked to him at the county jail about having shot someone.

When Kenneth Williams was incarcerated in the same jail pod with Howard three years ago, “He asked me for a suit,” Williams said Thursday on the witness stand. “He said he was in there shooting somebody and he’s basically trying to fight the case. … He didn’t tell me who he shot.”

Howard, 21, of Trenton, is accused of shooting and killing 25-year-old Louis Bryan Alvarez in the city’s Chambersburg neighborhood on Feb. 26, 2013. Police arrested him days later on unrelated robbery charges and then gained probable cause to charge him with murder and weapons offenses.

Louis Bryan Alvarez

Authorities say Howard went to Alvarez’s Fulton Street residence to confront him and then fired a shot through a glass window after the victim had slammed the door shut about 9:50 p.m. Trenton cops arrived on scene to find Alvarez unresponsive, suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso. Medics rushed Alvarez to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he died about an hour later that evening.

Howard was 17 at the time of his arrest but is being tried as an adult.

Williams has decided to come forward and testify against Howard, but he struggled on Thursday to give a clear explanation on why, exactly, he is cooperating with the authorities in the murder case.

Ex-gangster’s testimony

Williams, 25, of Trenton, was one of 20 defendants indicted in 2014 on racketeering and gang criminality charges in connection with an alleged criminal enterprise involving Bloods gang members who sought to gain money and power for the enterprise.

In June 2014, Williams took a plea deal in the Operation Checkmate racketeering case that allowed him to plead guilty to one count of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. The deal called for him to serve a minimum of three years but no more than seven years in prison and required him to cooperate against some of his co-defendants in the racketeering case.

Shortly after reaching the plea deal, Williams was conditionally released from the Mercer County Correction Center with an electronic-monitoring device placed on his ankle pending sentencing. While out on bail, he was re-arrested on several additional occasions but remains free pending sentencing for his crime of possessing a firearm for an unlawful purpose.

Steven Lember, Howard’s defense attorney, during cross-examination on Thursday questioned Williams about his criminal history and asked him if he had cleaned up his act.

“Yes, sir,” Williams responded shortly after acknowledging he had pleaded guilty in 2012 to lying to a police officer.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Heather Hadley on Thursday asked Williams about his 2014 jail interaction with Howard, who was known by the nickname Chicken.

“He said he shot him,” Williams said of Howard. “I don’t know where he said he shot him at, but he said he shot him. He didn’t give no description, but I know it was over some type of Xbox and I know some other dude was there, so I don’t really know who did what. You feel me? He said dude got shot.”

“Did he say he shot the man?” Hadley asked.

“Yeah,” Williams responded.

Howard has pleaded not guilty to all counts. His murder trial is scheduled to resume 11 a.m. next Tuesday before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson.

A man accused of murdering two men during a crime spree rejected a plea deal on Friday.

Randy Kareem Washington is set to face trial in June for the murder of 64-year-old Silas Johnson. It is alleged that Washington was gunned down Johnson near the intersection of Market Street and the Route 1 overpass on the morning of Oct. 29, 2014.

Randy Kareem Washington

The terms of the plea deal offered to 35-year-old Randy Washington would have him serving 30 years on each of the murders. Those sentences would run consecutively for a 60 year prison sentence. Friday’s rejection could set Washington up for a life sentence if convicted.

Washington is accused in a litany of offenses that occurred from July to October of 2014. Included in those offenses is the Oct. 29 slaying of Silas Johnson and the July 30 shooting death of George Jamison, 43. He is also facing charges in five robberies that occurred in the city during the crime spree.

On Friday Assistant Prosecutor Stacey Geurds outlined some of the evidence that will be presented at trial including text messages from Washington to his girlfriend, eyewitness testimony and a bloody sweatshirt found at Silas Johnson murder scene. In 2014 Geurds referred to Washington as a “terror” and cited his criminal record indicating five prior convictions, including ones for second-degree aggravated assault and making threats of violence, prosecutors said.

His current attorney Diane Lyons said at Friday’s hearing she intended to file suppression motions with regard to a warrantless search, and a search where a warrant was obtained in a bid to exclude evidence at trial.

Jury selection is set to begin on June 6.

Two teens have been indicted in the murder of Ricardo Montalvan Jr., the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said on Friday.

Ricardo Montalvan Jr.

Prosecutors said that Divon Ray, 17, and Zakeem Brown, 18, were each indicted on one count of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree felony murder, one count of first-degree robbery, one count of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.

In 2016, the pair were waived up to adult court from juvenile, the Prosecutor’s office said.
Montalvan was shot in a parking lot in the 200 block of Whittakter Avenue on May 11, 2016 around 9:50 p.m.
The 23-year-old victim was found inside of a silver Toyota Camry with at least one gunshot wound.

Montalvan was transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 10:15 p.m.
Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Ward presented the case to the grand jury.