Law enforcement investigate a murder in the 100 block of Walnut Avenue. January 20, 2016. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)
Last October, SAGE Coalition aimed to uplift the community and inspire East Ward residents by painting murals on various abandoned properties located in a portion of the city’s Wilbur Section.
That inspiration was shattered Wednesday night when 21-year-old Tyquise Timmons was gunned down while on a porch in the 100 block of Walnut Avenue.
Witnesses say they heard about eight gunshots, and several crime scene evidence placards littered the street and sidewalk outside of the home from where Timmons was removed. Police have not confirmed how many times Timmons was shot, but sources say he was struck at least once in the head.
Just before police removed the body bag off of the porch, law enforcement officers noticed media personnel standing nearby and turned off the street lighting. It was a gesture of compassion for Timmons’ family, his friends and the deceased himself.
“The last few months on that block has been pretty hectic,” SAGE Coalition artist Will “Kasso” Condry said Thursday morning. “I offer my condolences to his family, and hopefully this violence can stop before there’s any more deaths.” Read more
Law enforcement investigate a murder in the 100 block of Walnut Avenue. January 20, 2016. (Penny Ray - Trentonian)
UPDATE: The victim has been identified as 21-year-old Tyquise Timmons
Just before police removed the body bag out of a home on Walnut Avenue, law enforcement officers noticed media personnel standing nearby and turned off the street lighting.
It was a gesture of compassion for the victim’s family, his friends and the deceased himself.
The man, whose identity is being withheld pending family notification, was shot and killed around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 100 block of Walnut Avenue. At least eight crime scene evidence placards littered the street and sidewalk outside of the home from where the man was removed. But authorities have not said whether the shots were fired from inside or outside of the house.
Witnesses say they heard about eight gunshots, but police have not confirmed how many times the man was shot. Sources say he was struck at least once in the head. Read more
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.
Carl Batie
A large contingent of family, friends and colleagues of slain corrections officer Carl Batie are expected to attend different stages of the trial of Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker, who are charged with Batie’s murder.
The off-duty corrections officer was shot in the head Nov. 11, 2011 at the Baldassari Regency banquet hall in Chambersburg while he was attending a re-election party for President Barack Obama.
He was not the intended target and was struck in a random hail of gunfire. For that reason, prosecutors are barred from mentioning his occupation in their opening and closing remarks to jurors, although Batie’s brother is expected to testify that his brother was a corrections officer.Read more
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 the arduous process of selecting a jury this week following years of waiting behind bars for a chance to rebut murder allegations.
Maurice Skillman
They are charged in the slaying of Carl Batie, an off-duty corrections officer who was shot in the head Nov. 11, 2011 at the Baldassari Regency banquet hall in Chambersburg while he was attending a re-election party for President Barack Obama.
Jury selection is expected to take several days and openings arguments will likely commence late this week or early next week.
Skillman is represented by public defenders Nicole Carlo and Jason Charles Matey while Tucker is represented by defense attorney Christopher Campbell. Read more
Talaya Greenfield sits before a Trentonian cafeteria table with documents and papers related to her slain son on Nov. 6, 2015 during an interview. (Scott Ketterer - The Trentonian)
Talaya Greenfield scooped a handful of documents and pictures from her purse and spread them out across a small table.
This was all that is left of her son, 23-year-old Jamer, who was fatally shot in Trenton on July 14, 2014. His killer remains on the prowl.
Talaya is left with questions she says the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office has not satisfactorily answered. She wrote to Acting Attorney General John Hoffman last year.
He couldn’t help, so now she’s suing the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
It’s an unfair fight, a single mother who was forced to drop out of high school after she became pregnant with her first son, pitted against a powerhouse of attorneys with law degrees from a plethora of prestigious schools, decades of experience and resources galore.
This is David vs. Goliath, captioned Greenfield v. Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, et al. Read more
Two men were arrested in the shooting death of Elvin Kimble, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said Friday.
According to a release, the pair were arrested on Friday morning in connection with the 19-year-old’s death.
Jermaine Johnson
Jermaine Johnson, 40, of Ewing and Gary M. Spears, 33, of Trenton by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and the U.S. Marshals. Johnson was arrested at his home, and Spears was taken into custody at a relative’s home, the prosecutor’s office said.
Both men are currently charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon. Each man had his bail set at $1 million.
The charges are the result of an investigation by prosecutor’s Detective Nancy Diaz and the homicide task force.
The victim, Elvin Kimble, died of a single gunshot wound to the back the release said. His body was discovered near a parked van behind a home on Division Street on Nov. 24, 2015 around 6:15 a.m.
A probation violation on a drug conviction was the least of Zihqwan “Woodiey” Clemens’ problems. He is also facing murder charges for allegedly being an accomplice in the 2013 slaying of a Trenton man.
Zihqwan Clemens
On Thursday, the probation violation became a big problem for Clemens when things didn’t go the way he planned.
Clemens pleaded guilty in October to violating probation for not paying fines and missing appointments with his probation officer.
Last year co-defendant Keith Wells-Holmes was tried and acquitted of the shooting death of graffiti artist Andre Corbett. Following the acquittal Clemens, the alleged getaway driver, had his bail was reduced to $250,000 from $1 million. Read more
A wheel-chair-bound Edna White had suffered a stroke and the elevator from the holding cell leading to Courtroom 2C was out of commission, forcing a cadre of sheriff’s officers to maneuver her past reporters in the courtroom gallery and shuffle chairs to get her situated for sentencing.
Edna White
“We played musical chairs,” one of the sheriff’s officers said. “You won, Ms. White.”
That wasn’t the only prize for White, 58, on Thursday inside Mercer County Superior Court.
While she didn’t win her freedom, she effectively beat murder charges, and with it, a life sentence.
White pleaded guilty in November to a lesser count of aggravated manslaughter for fatally stabbing her former boyfriend and father of her child, Dwelle Jerome Clark, on Feb. 14, 2014, during an argument over $20 at his mother’s boarding home.Read more
A Trenton teenager accused of fatally shooting another teen during a botched drug deal has a new attorney.
Alberto Lopez, 18, is now represented by defense attorney Mark Fury. He was being represented by public defender Jason Charles Matey.
Lopez was 16 when he allegedly shot 17-year-old Shamere Melvin in the head during a botched robbery in December 2013 on the 300 block of North Clinton Avenue.
Lopez has been transferred from a juvenile detention center in Burlington County to the Mercer County corrections center and is being held on $750,000 bail.Read more
A Trenton man charged with killing two people days apart in 2013 may have his murder cases tried together at a single trial if prosecutors have their way.
Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Katz said she will file court papers, known as a
Alton Jones
joinder, in the coming weeks asking to try Alton Jones together for the murders of Rayshawn Ransom and Tierra Green.
She said Jones used the same handgun to mow both Ransom and Green on Passaic Street in June 2013. Green was fatally shot in the stomach three days after Ransom was gunned down in a deadly, gang-related shootout that led to convictions of two other Trenton men.
A judge has scheduled oral arguments in Jones’ case for Feb. 16. Jones is expected to oppose prosecutors’ request for a joint trial.
Regardless of the outcome, Jones plans to fight both murder charges. Clad in a green jumpsuit, he nodded to supporters at the back of the courtroom, telling them to “Be safe” when a woman told him to keep his head up as he was led away in shackles from the courtroom. Read more
