Homicide Watch Trenton

Masceo Emanuel was about 210 pounds; his 5-year-old daughter, Diamond Smith, was 33 pounds and didn’t stand a chance.

Emanuel, 27, of Trenton, charged with murder in connection with the death of his 5-year-old daughter, admitted Monday in accepting a plea deal calling for a 25-year sentence that he was caring for the child alone when he grew angry with her and struck her in the head nearly a dozen times with a hair brush.

Masceo Emanuel (left) and Dominique Smith

He testified that he repeatedly struck the girl using a belt he and his girlfriend and co-defendant Dominique Smith, 24, used to discipline the girl and her brother.

The July 2012 beating was so severe the child lost control of her bodily functions, Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Kimm Lacken said, causing the girl to urinate and defecate on herself. Read more

A Trenton man accused of fatally shooting 33-year-old Pinkey Priester entered a not guilty plea at an arraignment Monday.

Tomarkus Whitfield

Tomarkus Whitfield, 36, was indicted in December on counts of murder and weapons offenses after authorities said he pumped more than 10 rounds into Prieseter.

Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian said at a bail hearing she spoke with the victim’s family but needs more time to speak with the lead detective in the case before presenting Whitfield with a plea offer.
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One of two men charged with felony murder for the brutal beating death of a Guatemalan immigrant was offered a plea deal that calls for a 25-year sentence.

Michael Holman

Under the terms of the deal, Michael Holman, 19, of Trenton, would plead guilty to counts of aggravated manslaughter and aggravated assault. He would be required to serve a consecutive 6-year state prison term for the aggravated assault, for a combined sentence of 31 years, Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said at a status hearing Monday.
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Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, then the new leader of the Latin Kings street gang, was charismatic. He was also two-faced, a former member of the street gang testified.

Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete

Standing over the casket of Latin “Queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson, Negete and a now ex-Latin Kings gang member turned state witness Jonathan Rodriguez were paying their final respects at Dotson’s funeral. Negrete placed black and yellow rosary beads — the gang’s colors — and a yellow bandana in Dotson’s casket.

Then, growing enraged, Negrete blamed the woman’s fate on her choices. Dotson was found dead inside her home August 30, 2004, suffering from a single execution-style gunshot wound to the back of the head, after she witnessed the abduction of another gang member, Alex Ruiz. Read more

Opening statements are set for Thursday morning in the fourth murder trial of a Latin Kings gang leader accused of ordering the murder of a 23-year-old woman to ensure her silence after she witnessed the abduction of a fellow gang member.

Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete

Two weeks after attorneys began the process of selecting, whittling down and peppering a pool of more than 100 prequalified prospective jurors with questions about their thoughts on gangs and whether the defendant’s gang ties would impact their ability to serve fairly and impartially, they came away Wednesday with a panel of 16 jurors for the trial of Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, who is charged with ordering the Aug. 30, 2004 murder of 23-year-old Jeri Lynn Dotson. Read more

A Trenton man was arrested Wednesday morning in connection with a murder that occurred last month.

Naquan Green

Naquan M. Green, 26, was arrested around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday by members of the Fugitive Unit and the Counter Gang Intelligence Unit of the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Prosecutors say Green was found inside an apartment on Bellevue Avenue. He is charged in connection with the murder of 25-year-old Taquan McNeil. Read more

One of two men charged in connection with the shooting death of Chevin Burgess, whose badly charred body was found inside an abandoned burning vehicle, was offered a plea deal that requires him to serve a 25-year prison sentence and cooperate with the state against his co-defendant.

Joeryan Foreman

Joeryan Foreman, 20, charged with counts of murder, arson, robbery and weapons offenses, would be required to admit guilt to a reduced charge of aggravated manslaughter after authorities said he helped alleged triggerman Calier Samad, 27, dispose of the body.

As a part of the plea bargain, Foreman would also receive nine years for aggravated arson, which would run concurrently to the sentence imposed on the manslaughter charge, Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said during a status hearing Monday.
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(left to right) Amanda Austin holding Jakalya, one of James Austin’s twin daughters, Kim Bellamy, and Luddie Austin holding the other twin Janalya. (Contributed photo)

When Kim Bellamy was 14 years old he started street hustling to earn extra cash.

A few years later, while still in high school, Bellamy’s first child was born, and he realized that he needed to find a job that paid more than what he earned on the streets. So, Bellamy decided to transfer from Trenton Central High School to Daylight/Twilight, where he could attend morning classes, leaving him free to start work in the early afternoon. But as Bellamy tried to navigate the process of transferring schools, he decided to drop out completely so that he could work full-time and support his family.

At the time that Bellamy dropped out of high school, he was a senior and only needed five more credits to graduate. Today, at the age of 27, Bellamy still does not have a high school diploma. But he has finally enrolled in Daylight/Twilight, where he attends adult classes. He is scheduled to graduate this spring. Read more

A camouflage ski mask with traces of William Brown’s DNA.

Jailhouse informants who said co-defendant Nigel Joseph Dawson confessed he fatally shot Tracy Crews, a Bloods gang member and convicted drug dealer, in the neck with a 9 mm luger inside the kitchen of his Whittaker Avenue residence on Sept. 12, 2008.

And Crews’ dying declaration, as told by his widow, Sheena Robinson-Crews, that Brown, known as “Paperboy,” was responsible for the murder of his close friend.

Those were the state’s strongest proofs in the Crews’ murder trial.

“Everything else,” Steven Lember, the attorney for Brown, surmised during summations, “was reasonable doubt.”

But on late Friday afternoon, after two days of deliberation a jury of 12 convicted Brown and Dawson on eight counts of felony murder, murder, robbery and weapons offenses, not quite how defense attorneys boldly predicted at the outset of an action-packed trial, defined by salacious allegations of a setup by Crews’ best man and former roommate, Brown, over $40,000 in drug proceeds. Read more

Nigel Dawson and William Brown are accused of the 2008 murder of Tracy Crews. (Submitted photos)

William “Paperboy” Brown cared about one thing and one thing only. And it led him to betray his best friend, Tracy Crews, in the worst way, the prosecutor, Al Garcia, said Tuesday, summing up the drama-packed Crews murder trial.

Brown’s nickname, Garcia said during closing arguments, is “Paperboy. Not Tracyboy. Paperboy, because he’s all about the paper. And that’s what they were trying to get when they shot Tracy Crews.”

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