TRENTON — A tearful Ivelis Turell took the stand yesterday to defend herself against murder charges by telling of life with two little boys and a boyfriend fascinated by a gun that ended up killing him.
Ivelis Turell, on trial for allegedly killing her boyfriend Michael Whitaker, tries to avoid having her picture taken at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse.
“I was like, ‘Mike, I love you,’ ” she testified in a cracking voice to telling victim Mike Whitaker after she gunned him down with the 9mm Ruger in the bedroom of their Ferry Street home the night of March 30, 2007.
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TRENTON – A judge has refused to toss out the murder case against Ivelis Turell, ruling against defense arguments that the prosecution didn’t prove its case against the suspected boyfriend shooter.
Ivelis Turell, on trial for allegedly killing her boyfriend Michael Whitaker, tries to avoid having her picture taken at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez made the decision after Assistant Prosecutor Skylar Weissman rested the state’s case and defense lawyer Steve Slaven said not enough evidence was introduced to convict Turell of murdering Michael Whitaker on April 30, 2007.
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TRENTON — Mike Whitaker, slain in a domestic violence incident, purchased the apparently hair-triggered gun that killed him under Pennsylvania’s easy rules for getting deadly weapons.
Ivelis Turell, charged with killing him, said in an audio tape played in court Thursday that Whitaker showed his Pennsylvania driver license and had no trouble coming home with the silver 9mm Ruger.
Some weeks before the gun took his life, according to testimony at Turell’s trial, the automatic handgun had gone off accidentally when in the hands of her 6-year-old and the bullet passed through the shirt her 2-year-old was wearing.
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By Paul Mickle
TRENTON – Another Trenton cop testified today that Ivelis Turell admitted to him that she shot her boyfriend after blaming her six-year-old son for the fatal gunning on April 30, 2007.
Trentonian Photo/PAUL MICKLE
Ivelis Turell (left), on trial for murder, walks to the courthouse with her mother on Wednesday.
Detective Scott Peterson said Turell made the admission at a city hospital not long after telling him from the stoop of her Ferry Street home that her little boy “Eddie” had accidentally shot Michael Whitaker.
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Police are looking for a suspect in the city’s second homicide in 24 hours and sixth on the year.
At 9:52 p.m. Tuesday, roughly 10 hours after James Austin was gunned down on East State Street, a man went to a home on the 200 block of Fulton Street and started banging on the door. The victim, Louis Bryan Alvarez, 25, of Trenton, answered the door and exchanged words with the man. The suspect tried to force his way into the home when the victim slammed the door and retreated further into the home. The suspect fired a single shot through the first floor window, striking the victim in the torso, Lt. Stephen Varn said.
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Less than 24 hours after James Austin, the son of retired Trenton Police Sgt. Luddie Austin, was murdered, Trenton police and the U.S. Marshals made two arrests in the case on Wednesday.
James Austin with his twin daughters.
James Austin was gunned down while allegedly fighting with another man on the 900 block of East State Street Tuesday afternoon. His vehicle was found at the scene with the rear windshield shattered. The suspects allegedly fled the scene in a silver Honda Civic that suffered extensive damage to the windshield.
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The 18-year-old son of retired Trenton police Sgt. Luddie Austin was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon.
Multiple sources told The Trentonian around 1:45 p.m. that James Austin was involved in a fight with an unknown individual in a residence on the 900 block of East State Street when a third party shot Austin in the chest.
James Austin with his twin daughters.
He was rushed to the Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
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By PAUL MICKLE
TRENTON – Ivelis Turell told the first cop on the scene her six-year-old son Eddie had shot and killed her boyfriend when the man’s silver 9 mm Ruger accidentally went off the night of April 30, 2007.
Ivelis Turell, on trial for allegedly killing her boyfriend Michael Whitaker, tries to avoid having her picture taken at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse.
A former Trenton street cop told the story in court yesterday soon after the jury heard an audio tape of the suspect admitting to detectives that she shot Michael Whitaker in a tussle for a gun she feared he was about to use on her.
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By PAUL MICKLE
TRENTON — Both sides think a jury will finally be selected in time to start opening arguments Friday in the trial of a camera-shy mom claiming she killed her boyfriend in self-defense.
Ivelis Turell, on trial for allegedly killing her boyfriend Michael Whitaker, tries to avoid having her picture taken at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse.
In the fourth day of a search for 12 jurors and two alternates, the judge ordered another few dozen potential jurors brought in for screening to fill the last spots on the panel to decide the fate of Ivelis Turell.
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By PAUL MICKLE
pmickle@trentonian.com
TRENTON — Another 50 prospects were brought Tuesday afternoon in a bid to find the last few jurors for the trial of a long abused woman claiming she killed her boyfriend in self-defense.
Soon after they were brought before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Pedro Jiminez, most members of the jury pool were lining up to talk to the judge about why they couldn’t serve.
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