Dante Martin | Homicide Watch Trenton

Co-defendant who robbed 2014 homicide victim gets 7 years

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 15:42:59 -0400

A co-defendant charged in connection with the 2014 homicide of Julio Cesar Cruz has been sentenced to seven years of imprisonment for robbing the victim while the other defendant in the case is currently incarcerated in state prison for causing the man’s death.

Dante Martin (left) and Michael Holman

Dante Martin, 22, was originally charged with murder during the commission of a crime but pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery in September and on Friday received his formal punishment.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier on Friday sentenced Martin to seven years of incarceration. The city man must serve 85 percent of the term behind bars and will be subjected to three years of parole supervision upon release.

The other defendant in the case, Michael Holman, 22, pleaded guilty earlier this year to first-degree aggravated manslaughter and is currently serving out a 15-year prison sentence at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility.

Authorities arrested Martin and Holman on Feb. 27, 2014, charging both with murder in connection with the robbery-turned-homicide of 18-year-old Julio Cesar Cruz.

The incident occurred on Feb. 15, 2014, when Holman approached Cruz in the first block of Rusling Street in Trenton and slammed the victim on the ground as Martin robbed him. Cruz suffered a mortal head injury during the attack and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Prior to being sentenced, Martin and Holman were both being held at the Mercer County Correction Center on high monetary bail. They both received about 1,300 days of jail credit. Holman is scheduled to be released from state prison on Nov. 27, 2026, while Martin is projected to be released on parole in less than three years.

Trenton man gets 50 years for murder, another gets 15 for deadly attack

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 17:02:53 -0400

Recent court sentencings in Trenton show that trial-by-jury convictions generally lead to significantly more prison time than negotiating a guilty plea.

Dante Alexander, 33, of Trenton, this week received 50 years of imprisonment for shooting and killing 26-year-old Brandon Nance outside a city bakery in 2013. He pleaded not guilty in the case and took it to trial, where a jury of his peers convicted him in May of first-degree murder for slaying Nance in cold blood on Aug. 29, 2013, in front of the Italian People’s Bakery on Butler Street in broad daylight.

Dante Alexander

Alexander will have to serve at least 85 percent of his term behind bars and will be subjected to five years of parole supervision upon release, according to his defense attorney Christopher T. Campbell.

Meanwhile, self-confessed killer Michael Holman received 15 years of imprisonment for fatally injuring 18-year-old Julio Cesar Cruz in 2014. Holman, who turns 22 later this month, approached Cruz in the first block of Rusling Street and slammed the victim on the ground Feb. 15, 2014. Cruz suffered a mortal head injury during the attack and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Holman was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty earlier this year to first-degree aggravated manslaughter. He could have received 30 years to life in prison if he had been convicted at trial, but Holman averted that by fessing up to his crimes under a negotiated plea agreement.

Michael Holman

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier sentenced Holman on Aug. 30 to 15 years of incarceration in the Trenton homicide case and seven years of incarceration in a separate aggravated assault case involving an incident that occurred Aug. 27, 2014, when Holman was jailed at the county lockup in Hopewell Township on high monetary bail. He pleaded guilty in both cases and will concurrently serve out his sentences.

Dante Martin, 21, of Trenton, a co-defendant in Holman’s homicide case, was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning for a status conference.

Attorney for suspect in Latino man's murder says detective misidentified client

Isaac Avilucea — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 16:10:04 -0400

The two men who beat Julio Cesar Cruz Cruz to death in February 2014 during a robbery wore a green jacket and a black jacket, witnesses told police.

A detective said the witnesses were partially right.

The clothing was a critical point of contention at a pretrial hearing Wednesday for Michael Holman, one of the men who was arrested and charged with Cruz’s murder.

Dante Martin is also charged for his role in the fatal beating. The men have rejected plea offers from prosecutors and may go to trial.

Michael Holman

Holman’s attorney, Jack Furlong, has challenged on several constitutional grounds whether a statement his client gave police is admissible at trial.

Prosecutors said Holman’s own words, admitting he was in the area of the murder, are incriminating and they want jurors to hear that at trial.

A judge listened to testimony most of Wednesday but has not ruled on the matter and will issue a written decision in the future.

Carhartt jacket

Jason Snyder, a detective with the Mercer County Homicide Task Force, testified that the face of a man who resembled Holman was captured “pretty good” on surveillance purchasing Newport cigarettes at Fernandez Supermarket on Whittaker Avenue about 30 minutes before the murder on Rusling Street, which is blocks away from the grocery mart.

He said the man depicted in the tape is Holman, wearing a tan Carhartt jacket, blue jeans with distinctive stitching on the back left pocket and tan Timberland boots.

That is the man the detective identified and traced using a patchwork of surveillance tapes as the individual who ran away from Rusling Street after the murder.

“We have a face but we don’t have a name,” Snyder said.

Snyder said he saw a man wearing the same clothing walking through Chambersburg about two weeks later.

The detective’s testimony contradicted the description Cruz’s housemates gave of the suspects.

The housemates said they saw the men beat Cruz, and chased them through the city streets.

The suspects broke off in opposite direction while fleeing.

The four witnesses were interviewed by police and each said the suspects wore green and black jackets.

“If wearing a Carhartt jacket is a crime there’s an awful lot of felons walking around Trenton,” Furlong said.

Snyder grew frustrated under cross examination and didn’t explain the discrepancy or himself well at certain points.

He had Furlong bearing down on him about whether he had probable cause to arrest Holman and charge him with murder.

Initial suspects

Cruz returned home around 6:40 p.m. Feb. 15, 2014, when he was jumped, beaten and robbed, prosecutors said, in a murder that outraged the Latino community in Trenton.

Snyder received a call from an anonymous woman who passed along information about someone nicknamed B.I. – Borne Intelligence – who robbed crackheads, prostitutes and Guatemalans in Chambersburg.

Police gathered surveillance from nearby businesses and used the footage to try to identify suspects and track people who were in the neighborhood at the time of the murder.

Before arresting and charging two men, police identified suspects other than Holman and Martin early in the investigation.

The initial suspects’ names were mentioned in court, but The Trentonian is withholding them because they were never charged with Cruz’s murder.

Witnesses identified the men after scouring through mug shot books containing 2,000 photos.

Snyder wrote in his report that one of the men “bore a striking resemblance” to the man on the supermarket video.

The man who was picked out was not Holman.

“You recognize identification is a chancy business,” Furlong said.

The detective agreed.

Dante Martin

Snyder said he went looking for one of the initial suspects at a warehouse in Piscataway, where the man worked.

While there, he noticed employees in Carthartt jackets and tan work boots.

Snyder frisked, handcuffed, transported the man to a police station. He had the man’s truck towed for safe-keeping, he said, to preserve evidence. Snyder later interrogated the man.

He didn’t stop interrogating him after the suspect told him he was tired of talking.

Snyder also interrogated a second man who was a suspect.

The suspect was represented by Arun Levine and asked to have her present for the interrogation.

Coincidentally, that turned out to be the same defense attorney who would represent Martin.

Snyder admitted he started the interview before Levine arrived.

“Why are you interviewing him without his lawyer?” Furlong asked.

The detective said the suspect waived his Miranda rights before Levine got there.

“He didn’t mind talking to us, but he didn’t want to be fingerprinted,” Snyder said.

The men were cleared.

“We were back to square one,” Snyder said.

‘I was 100 percent’

Snyner and another detective went to delis in Chambersburg with suspect photos.

About two weeks after the murder, Snyder and a partner patrolled Chambersburg and spotted Holman wearing the exact same clothes as the man in the grocery mart.

Snyder said the face and clothing of the man from the supermarket was burned into his memory after watching the surveillance about 200 to 300 times over two weeks. He said he immediately recognized him as Holman on the street.

“I saw his face, and he looked exactly like who I had been looking at,” Snyder said. “I was 100 percent positive.”

If that was the case, Furlong wanted to know why the detective originally thought the initial suspect he interrogated was the man from the grocery mart.

“We don’t just arrest people based off looks,” Snyder said.

“Isn’t that what you did with Michael Holman?” Furlong said.

Interrogations

Holman was interrogated twice on Feb. 26, 2014, the first time around 9:30 p.m. after he waived his Miranda rights.

Snyder told Holman he had information that he was involved with an “accident” in Chambersburg.

Furlong told the detective he lied to his client because he knew what happened to Cruz wasn’t an accident.

“I didn’t lie to him,” Snyder said. “He may have been able to provide an explanation. Maybe it wasn’t murder. I don’t want to be like, ‘You murdered him.’ It could have been accident. It could have been murder. It could have been something fell outside of the sky and [Holman] was standing there.”

Julio Cesar-Cruz

The interview ended when Holman told detectives he was on juvenile probation, had an ankle bracelet that monitored his whereabouts and asked police to verify that with his probation officer and attorney.

“My curfew is 7,” Holman said. “I’m usually home or with my daughter. I don’t really get into nothing.”

After the first interview ended, Snyder met with supervisors to decide whether to charge Holman.

A crime scene detective was called in to collect Holman’s clothes.

What happened next is in question.

Detective Sgt. Christopher Doyle emerged from the interview room and told Snyder that Holman asked to speak a second time.

The exchange between Doyle and Holman was not caught on tape, which is why Furlong has challenged whether the second statement was voluntary.

During the second interview, Holman admitted being near the murder scene, prosecutors said.

The hearing resumes in August.

Trenton murder suspect offered plea deal in case of beating death

Isaac Avilucea — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 13:56:15 -0400

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.

Holman was charged alongside Dante Martin, 19, for the Feb. 14, 2014 death of Julio Cesar Cruz which caused uproar in the city’s Latino community. He would have to serve 85 percent of his sentence as a condition of the No Early Release Act.

Martin’s offer has not been made public, Scott said.

Cruz was walking home from a bakery on Whittaker Avenue when he was attacked, authorities have said. The defendants allegedly forced Cruz, who was seeking a better life and had been in the U.S. only a little more than a month, to the ground. Holman rifled through his pockets while Martin kicked Cruz in the head several times, authorities have said. Cruz later was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Surveillance footage showed Holman and Martin in the area of Rusling Street before the murder. They were arrested weeks after the killing. Holman’s next court appearance is scheduled for June while Martin is due back in May

Holman and Martin indicted in connection with beating death of Julio Cesar Cruz

Penny Ray — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 18:49:24 -0500

Two city men have been indicted in connection with the murder of 18-year-old Julio Cesar Cruz.

On the evening of Feb. 15, Cruz was returning home from a shopping trip with groceries in hand when two people tried to rob him. The incident occurred in the first block of Rusling Street, and according to prosecutors investigating the case, Cruz was able to bang on the front door of the home where he was living and call for help.

Another resident of the home then looked outside and witnessed the robbers throw Cruz to the ground. Other people inside of the home then rushed outside to help Cruz, but the suspects fled in different directions.

Cruz suffered a fatal head injury during the attack and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Michael Holman and Dante Martin, both 18, were arrested about two weeks after the killing and charged with felony murder and robbery in connection with Cruz’s death. They remain held in jail on $1 million bail.

Citizens help catch suspects in murder of Julio Cruz

Trentonian Staff — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 17:44:56 -0500

: Michael Holman

: Dante Martin

By CARLOS AVILIA cavila@trentonian.com

Michael Holman and Dante Martin, both 18-year-olds from Trenton, were charged with first-degree felony murder and robbery Thursday in the beating death of Julio Cesar Cruz.

The Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini Jr. and Trenton Police Director Ralph Rivera Jr., among other county and state authorities, announced the arrests in connection with Cruz’s death on Feb. 15.

Felony murder carries a penalty of 30 years to life in state prison.

Holman and Martin were taken into custody and charged early Thursday morning by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force. Holman was arrested in close proximity to where the homicide occurred. Martin was charged at the prosecutor’s office.

The arrests are result of a tenacious investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force. Through witness interviews, neighborhood canvassing, and viewing hours and hours of surveillance video downloaded from local businesses, officers were able to identify and locate the suspects.

“The arrest made in this case are in very large part due to the assistance offered by local businesses through access to their video systems, and the willingness of concerned citizens to step up and be heard,” Prosecutor Bocchini said. He also praised the tireless efforts of the homicide task force and its use of old fashioned police work in developing information to identify and charge Holman and Martin.

“I commend the outstanding efforts put forth by members of the Mercer County Homicide Task Force identifying and bringing to justice those individuals responsible for this senseless act,” TPD director Rivera said. “As police director of the city of Trenton, I reaffirm my commitment to the community by continuing to work with the residents of the city. Together, we can bring forth positive change and improve our quality of life so we can all live without fear.” Rivera added.

Nineteen-year-old Julio Cesar Cruz was returning to his Rusling Avenue home in South Ward Trenton at approximately 6:45 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15, when he was approached by two assailants in an apparent robbery attempt.

The victim was able to bang on the front door and call for help. Another resident of the home immediately looked out a window and saw the two assailants throw the victim to the ground, causing what would become a fatal head injury. When other people inside of the home came out to assist Cruz, the assailants fled in different directions. Both Holman and Martin are being held in the Mercer County Correction Center in lieu of $1 million bail.

The task force has been operating since November 2013. Under the command of Mercer County Prosecutor’s Captain Robert Dispoto and Lieutenant Rich Frascella, the task force is comprised of officers with the prosecutor’s office, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, the New Jersey State Police, and the Lawrence, Trenton and West Windsor police departments. Assistant Prosecutor James Scott is prosecuting the case.