Residents gather for a prayer service on the steps of Shiloh Baptist Church on May 1, 2014, in observance of the National Day of Prayer.
Like biblical verses, Rev. Lukata Mjumbe can recite the names of the city’s murder victims, the date they were killed and where.
In an attempt to humanize the victim, the executive director of Urban Mission Cabinet Inc. has made it his mission to learn what he can about the lives that ended too soon.
“I know these names because we pray about them by name when we come together,” Mjumbe said in an interview last week with other community religious leaders. “They’re no longer statistics for us.” Read more
A man accused of fatally stabbing 49-year-old Keisha Alexander last year has been indicted in connection with the case.
Jorge Rodriguez
Jorge L. Rodriguez, 21, is accused of breaking into Alexander’s Edgewood Avenue apartment to commit a burglary and then stabbing her in the process.
According to prosecutors in the case, sometime before 8 a.m. on June 21, 2014, Rodriguez reached through a rear window to Alexander’s apartment and unlocked the back door. He then physically and sexually assaulted Alexander, and then stabbed her with a knife.
Police were dispatched to the apartment after a neighbor called emergency 911 and reported hearing a woman scream. Alexander was pronounced dead at the scene. Read more
TRENTON >> The attorney for an admitted drug dealer charged as an accomplice to murder rhapsodized at a Tuesday bail hearing about injustice. But prosecutors needed only point to the man’s previous rap sheet in order to convince Judge Robert Billmeier to leave bail unchanged.
Daniel McCargo
Daniel McCargo, 29, who is being held on $300,000 cash-only bail, appeared to have everything going in his favor. His attorney, Maleika Montgomery, argued her client was not as “culpable” as alleged gunman Curtis Grier for the fatal shooting death of 24-year-old Jahmir Hall in April 2014.
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TRENTON >> Prosecutors had offered a Trenton man charged with murder a plea deal that would have led to murder charges being dropped if he agreed to cooperate and testify against his co-defendant, The Trentonian has learned.
Daniel McCargo
The deal undermines Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley’s previous assertion after a status hearing earlier this year that Daniel McCargo, 28, is “equally culpable” for the fatal shooting death of 24-year-old Jahmir Hall.
McCauley confirmed such a deal was “floated” to McCargo, who was indicted as an accomplice on counts of first-degree murder, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and second-degree certain persons not to possess a firearm.
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A man who suffered burns during a house fire last month died in the hospital Sunday and his death has been ruled a homicide.
The man, whose identity is still not known, suffered extensive burns during a March 12 house fire that occurred in the 200 block of Elmer Street.
“He passed away on Sunday and a post-mortem examination was conducted Wednesday, but he is still a John Doe,” Lt. Steven Varn said. Read more
Accused killer Wayne Bush locked eyes with the mother of slain hip-hop artist Jafar Lewis and allegedly mouthed two words: “F– you.”
This was a man who had once attended holidays and family gatherings. So naturally, Lewis’ mother, Jacqueline, lashed out, launching into an expletive-laced tirade. Sheriff’s officers had to remove her from the courtroom when she interrupted the proceedings.
That was the divisive backdrop of this evidentiary hearing Wednesday in a case that has wrenched a family apart. Bush was engaged to the victim’s cousin, Ghadah, when he allegedly killed Lewis on Aug. 23, 2013 over a drug debt. Read more
A city man accused of fatally shooting Naquan Ellis must decide whether cooperating with the state in an unrelated case is worth getting five years shaved off his sentence as part of a plea package presented by prosecutors Monday.
Grady A. Blue III
Grady Blue III, 22, was indicted in February on counts of murder, aggravated assault and weapons offenses in connection with the June 2014 death of 23-year-old Ellis, who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest after he was struck in a parking lot of the North 25 housing complex. A woman was also hit by gunfire but did not sustain serious injuries.
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The moment a jury foreman pronounced Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete guilty of ordering the killing of a gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and the near-strangulation of a gang turncoat Alex Ruiz in 2004, a single question danced in the minds of all those involved in what has become a decade-long ordeal.
Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete
Now that the whodunit aspect is settled, again, will this guilty verdict stand? It’s a fair question considering more than 10 years have elapsed since Negrete and several of his co-conspirators, holed up in his Brunswick Avenue residence, were rounded up by authorities in February 2005. In that time, Negrete had four trials, a span encompassing two Mercer County prosecutors.
Retired prosecutor Joe Bocchini was around for Negrete’s first three trials, which resulted in a hung jury and a guilty verdict, sandwiched around a trial that was scrapped shortly after jury selection. He was at Myrtle Beach Thursday when he received news of the guilty verdict.
“We went through one conviction, and we had the retrials,” Bocchini said, reflecting on the journey to get to this point. “The conviction here is very warranted; it was warranted the first time.
“It was nerve-wracking only to the extent that we knew he was guilty. We knew he deserved to be in jail. It was frustrating to go through the retrials. Negrete is where he belongs and should stay for the remainder of his days.”
While Bocchini had to settle for dialing up his former right-hand man, Acting Prosecutor Angelo Onofri had a firsthand look, seated a row behind Dotson’s family, keeping watch over them as the verdict was read. Read more
Latin Kings leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete was convicted Thursday for his role in the summer 2004 slaying of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt of gang turncoat Alex Ruiz, drawing a presumed close to a case that spanned more than a decade and required several jury panels to decide a verdict.
Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete
Security was tight with a dozen sheriff officers on hand as Dotson’s family and several members of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, including Acting Prosecutor Angelo Onofri, crammed inside the Mercer County courtroom to listen as a jury of eight women and four men who had deliberated for three days returned guilty verdicts to counts of conspiracy, murder and attempted murder against Negrete, the Latin Kings Inca who was on trial for the fourth time for ordering the killing of Dotson to ensure her silence.
The jury also agreed Negrete was guilty of attempted murder related to the near-strangulation of Ruiz, who was ordered handed over by Negrete to the rival Ñetas after his defection to the Latin Kings sparked a war between the factions.
Linda Dotson, the victim’s mother, gasped and embraced a family member as the jury foreman read the guilty verdict. It was a moment the family had lived in 2009 when Negrete was convicted on all charges only to see the appellate court overturn an 80-year sentence because of jury misconduct. They left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.
Negrete remained seated next to his attorney, Jack Furlong, as the verdict was read. Furlong said after the verdict was read he would file a motion for a new trial which will delay sentencing. Judge Pedro Jimenez revoked Negrete’s $2 million bail and set a hearing on the new trial motion for May 29.
If the motion is denied, Furlong plans to appeal. Read more
TRENTON >> The attorney for a Latin Kings leader on trial for murder did not step foot in a Mercer County courtroom Wednesday, leaving the reins to his young, baby-faced associate, Andrew Ferencevych.
In retrospect, it was as good an indication as any that no verdict was coming in the fourth murder trial of Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, who is accused of ordering the 2004 murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt on gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.
The 12-member panel, which received the case Tuesday, was locked in deliberations most of Wednesday, breaking only for lunch. Jurors resume deliberations Thursday morning.
Prosecutors have tried in vain for more than a decade to convict Negrete, who was portrayed at trial as a ruthless leader whose goal was to grow the Trenton tribe of the Latin Kings from a feeble, loosely associated organization into a feared street gang.Read more
