Darryl Boone | Homicide Watch Trenton

Violent Mercer County inmate gets 25 years for killing cellmate

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 19:54:03 -0400

(Left) Darryl Boone, (Right) Lamar Gaines

A Trenton man who admitted to killing his cellmate at the Mercer County Correction Center has been sentenced to 25 years in state prison.

Lamar Gaines, 22, must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence behind bars for strangling and beating 38-year-old Darryl Boone to death in 2013.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta sentenced Gaines last Friday to a quarter-century in prison for the homicide, 10 years in prison for a carjacking and five years of incarceration for an aggravated assault. He will serve out his sentences concurrently.

Gaines killed Boone at the county jail in Hopewell Township on Oct. 5, 2013. Court documents state that Gaines told correction officers he used a torn bed sheet to strangle Boone while he slept. The documents also say that while Boone was unconscious, but still breathing, Gaines filled a plastic cup with toilet water and poured it over Boone’s face multiple times in an attempt to drown him. Gaines then used the torn bed sheet to strangle Boone a second time, documents state, and he then slammed Boone’s head into the concrete floor several times. Gaines was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter earlier this year.

Three days before Boone’s death, Gaines assaulted another inmate named James Colman by choking him unconscious and attempting to drown him in a slop sink. Gaines pleaded guilty to that aggravated assault about two months ago.

Gaines was previously arrested on Feb. 1, 2012, for a carjacking incident that occurred on that date in Trenton. He pleaded guilty to first-degree carjacking on May 9.

Gaines as of Wednesday morning had not yet been transferred to the state prison system. His days at the county jail are coming to an end, for the state Department of Corrections is expected to soon book him at a state prison.

Accused jailhouse killer indicted on murder charges

Penny Ray — Fri, 30 May 2014 13:10:26 -0400

HOPEWELL - A Trenton man who allegedly admitted to killing his cellmate at the Mercer County Correction Center last year has been indicted in connection with the case.

Lamar Gaines, 19, was indicted Wednesday on one count of first-degree murder in connection with the strangulation and beating death of 38-year-old Darryl Boone.

Around 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 5, Boone was found dead at the Mercer County Correction Center after corrections officers saw water flowing from under the door of a cell in the receiving and detention area. Prosecutors allege that Boone’s cellmate, 19-year-old Lamar Gaines, is responsible for the murder, and that Gaines admitted to the killing by telling correction officers, “I killed him.”

Court documents state that Gaines told correction officers he used a torn bed sheet to strangle Boone while he slept. The documents also say that while Boone was unconscious, but still breathing, Gaines filled a plastic cup with toilet water and poured it over Boone’s face multiple times in an attempt to drown him. Gaines then used the torn bed sheet to strangle Boone a second time, documents state, and he then slammed Boone’s head into the concrete floor several times.

Then, as Boone laid on the floor, the documents state, Gaines stomped on Boone’s head until he thought he was dead.

At the time of Boone’s murder, Gaines was being held in connection with a February 2012 robbery and carjacking. And Boone was in jail awaiting trial on charges of vehicular homicide in connection with the June 2013 death of 22-year-old Jamere Cullers, who was a passenger in a car driven by Boone that hit a utility pole in the 100 block of Pennington Avenue in Trenton.

According to court documents, three days before Boone’s death, Gaines assaulted another inmate named James Colman by choking him unconscious and attempting to drown him in a slop sink. And Gaines was charged with aggravated assault and conspiracy in connection with that incident.

Gaines is now being held at New Jersey State Prison on $2 million cumulative bail for allegedly killing Boone and allegedly assaulting Colman.

If convicted of the murder charge, Gaines could face a prison sentence of 30 years to life.

Driver in Monday's fatal crash charged with homicide

Brian Dzenis — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:43:01 -0400

The driver involved in the crash on the 100 block of Pennington Avenue is being held responsible for the death of 22-year-old Jamere Cullers.

Darryl Boone, 37, of Trenton, was allegedly drunk behind the wheel early Monday morning when the vehicle he was driving crashed into a pole, killing Cullers and left Boone's other passenger injured. Police did not say if the vehicle Boone was driving was reported stolen, but it was taken without consent, Sgt. Timothy Thomas said.

The third man in the vehicle remains in stable condition.

Boone has been charged with death by auto, vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident, leaving the scene of an accident with injury and driving under the influence. With the fatal accident ruled a vehicular homicide, Cullers becomes the city's 18th homicide victim this year.