Raheem Currie | Homicide Watch Trentonhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/suspects/raheem-currie/Latest news about Raheem Currieen-usMon, 06 Mar 2017 19:10:28 -0500Trenton man kills ex-Trenton cop’s son, gets 25 years behind barshttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2017/03/06/trenton-man-kills-ex-trenton-cops-son-gets-25-years-behind-bars/<a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-859" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg" alt="Robert Bartley" width="480" height="600" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg 480w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg 240w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Robert Bartley</p> <p>A city man who shot and killed a retired Trenton cop’s son in cold blood has been sentenced to 25 years in state prison. <span id="more-5329"></span></p> <p>Admitted killer Robert Bartley, 26, received the expected quarter-century sentence last Friday before New Jersey Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier. In September 2014 Bartley pleaded guilty to firing a lethal gunshot into the chest of 18-year-old James Austin.</p> <p>Austin was the father of two children — twin daughters — and he was also the son of former Trenton Police Sgt. Luddie Austin. Bartley armed himself with a weapon and gunned down James Austin during the afternoon of Feb. 26, 2013, on the 900 block of East State Street in Trenton.</p> <p>Bartley previously reached an agreement with prosecutors to serve 25 years behind bars in exchange for pleading guilty and testifying in court against Raheem Currie, the other defendant who had played a role in Austin’s slaying.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2017/03/raheem_currie.jpg"><img class="wp-image-5330 size-full" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2017/03/raheem_currie.jpg" alt="raheem_currie" width="225" height="288" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>Currie, who turns 25 on Saturday, is currently serving out a 23-year prison sentence at Garden State Youth Correctional Facility for a jury of his peers finding him guilty last summer of first degree aggravated manslaughter in connection with Austin’s death.</p> <p>Bartley and Currie are cousins and both resided on the 600 block of Greenwood Avenue in Trenton.</p> <p>Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott tried the case against Bartley, who was represented by defense attorney Caroline Turner.</p> Sulaiman Abdur-RahmanMon, 06 Mar 2017 19:10:28 -0500http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2017/03/06/trenton-man-kills-ex-trenton-cops-son-gets-25-years-behind-bars/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieAttorneys for Trenton man convicted in cop son's death ask to toss 'inconsistent verdicts'http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/10/11/attorneys-for-trenton-man-convicted-in-cop-sons-death-ask-to-toss-inconsistent-verdicts/<p>A judge who was “flying blind” in a conspiracy-murder trial crashed the plane, a defense attorney said.</p> <p>And a Trenton man’s right to a fair trial perished when a jury, confused about how to reconcile competing legal issues, “compromised” by reaching “inconsistent” verdicts in August, according to court papers.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-860" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>On the one hand, the jury convicted Raheem Currie of aggravated manslaughter and a gun conspiracy while acquitting him of murder and a gun conspiracy in the shooting death of James Austin, a father to twin daughters and the son of a retired city cop.</p> <p>“This is legally impossible,” Furlong &amp; Krasny associate Andrew Ferencevych wrote in court papers. “The jury concluded [Robert] Bartley and Currie did not conspire together to use the weapon for an unlawful purpose. If, according to the jury, Bartley and Currie did not share a purpose to use the weapon unlawfully against a person or property, how could Currie be guilty of aggravated manslaughter?”<span id="more-4861"></span></p> <p>Ferencevych asked a judge to set aside the guilty verdicts and give Currie a new trial, hitting on a number of points in a 30-page brief that rehashed testimony and delved into nuanced legal issues that arose at trial.</p> <p>Currie’s attorneys faulted Judge Pedro Jimenez for not providing an “accurate or understandable jury charge” on accomplice liability and not controlling spectators inside his courtroom who wore “inflammatory” memorial buttons they say undermined the fairness of the trial.</p> <p>About the charge, defense attorney Jack Furlong had said Jimenez was “flying blind” because of a state Supreme Court decision in State v. Bridges.</p> <p>The case effectively moved the goalposts for when someone is responsible for murder when co-conspirators haven’t agreed to commit murder.</p> <p>Currie and his cousin, Bartley, are awaiting sentencing for the fatal shooting death of Austin.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Robert-Bartley.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2843" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg" alt="Robert Bartley" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Robert-Bartley.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Robert Bartley</p> <p>Austin, the son of a retired sergeant Luddie Austin, was killed Feb. 26, 2013, following an argument about who was going to pay for the bashed-out window on Currie’s car.</p> <p>In admitting he shot James Austin, Bartley reached a plea deal with prosecutors to admit to aggravated manslaughter for 25 years and testify against his cousin at trial.</p> <p>Currie was convicted in August, during a doozy of a trial that left almost everyone in the courtroom scratching their heads when the jury delivered its confusing verdict.</p> <p>The trial itself was tantamount to a legal lecture on conspiracy and accomplice liability.</p> <p>Further complicating the case, Jimenez tossed out a conspiracy to commit murder charge prior to the jury’s deliberations when prosecutors agreed there was not enough evidence to sustain it.</p> <p>His decision was based on Bartley’s testimony.</p> <p>Bartley said he did not intend to kill James Austin when he went, armed,  to his home.</p> <p>Currie and two others picked up Bartley after Currie scuffled with James Austin. They broke each other’s windows.</p> <p>Bartley testified that Currie asked him on the phone if he had his gun, which he flashed at Currie and his girlfriend when he got in the car as they rode back toward the home of James Austin’s girlfriend.</p> <p>Bartley kept the gun in his pocket while he confronted Austin, to try to get him to pay for the broken windshield.</p> <p>Currie, his girlfriend and another man waited in the car.</p> <p>Despite the testimony, Jimenez decided the jury could consider whether Currie encouraged the murder by asking about the gun, as well as other conspiracy charges.</p> <p>“Why else bring a gun to a fist fight?” Jimenez said.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2846" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-211x300.jpg" alt="James Austin with his twin daughters" width="211" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-211x300.jpg 211w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-500x711.jpg 500w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin.jpg 531w" sizes="(max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin with his twin daughters</p> <p>In the end, Currie was convicted of a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter, conspiracy to commit unlawful possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of a weapon.</p> <p>Ferencevych said the judge wrongly included lesser manslaughter charges against Currie even after he dismissed the conspiracy to commit murder charge.</p> <p>Ferencevych said it was clear Currie did not conspire with Bartley to kill James Austin.</p> <p>He didn’t provide the gun or plan the shooting.</p> <p>Even Bartley said he didn’t intend to shoot and kill James Austin and stressed as much to detectives when he confessed to the slaying.</p> <p>He contended he shot James Austin because he couldn’t see what was in his right hand.</p> <p>“Our Supreme Court held it was legally impossible for a defendant to intend an unintended result,” Ferencevych wrote.</p> <p>Also, Currie 's jury was not allowed to decide for itself whether James Austin's death was justifiable homicide.</p> <p>“The jury should have been permitted to decide whether there was an honest and reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary for Bartley to protect himself,” Ferencevych wrote.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-4526" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-289x300.jpg" alt="James Austin's relatives have worn memorial buttons like these at the murder conspiracy trial of Raheem Currie." width="289" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-289x300.jpg 289w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-768x796.jpg 768w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-500x518.jpg 500w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-772x800.jpg 772w" sizes="(max-width: 289px) 100vw, 289px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin's relatives have worn memorial buttons like these at the murder conspiracy trial of Raheem Currie.</p> <p>Ferencevych also made an issue about memorial buttons worn by James Austin’s relatives, in front of jurors.</p> <p>The buttons had photos of James’ twin daughters, along with a message decrying gun violence: “Our daddy missed out first steps because of guns.”</p> <p>Jimenez denied a defense’s request for a mistrial based on the button issue.</p> <p>Ferencevych asked the judge to reconsider.</p> <p>“It was impossible for a jury to calmly weigh the evidence without considering the implicit biases that were present in the courtroom on a daily basis during the trial,” he wrote.</p> Isaac AviluceaTue, 11 Oct 2016 12:35:34 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/10/11/attorneys-for-trenton-man-convicted-in-cop-sons-death-ask-to-toss-inconsistent-verdicts/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieMan found guilty for role in death of Trenton cop's sonhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/08/03/trenton-man-found-guilty-for-role-in-cop-sons-death/<a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-860" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">TRENTON &gt;&gt; When the jury forewoman said “not guilty,” to one of the conspiracy charges, Luddie Austin’s heart dropped. He shook his head in disbelief. </span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">A sense of despair eased over him as he contemplated that there would be no “Justice for James,” his son who was shot to death when a “silly, silly” dispute over car windshields turned violent in Trenton in February 2013.</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">“I thought everything was over,” the retired Trenton sergeant said. “It was confusing.”</span></p> <p><span id="more-4579"></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">It was actually just beginning – another chapter in a tragic three-year odyssey that tore up city residents who befriended the well-known cop as well as the Trenton Police department that felt it lost “one of our own.”</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Inside a tense Mercer County courtroom filled with spectators and sheriff officers, a jury went on to deliver guilty verdicts against Raheem Currie, of Trenton, on three charges related to the death of a 18-year-old James Austin, a father of twin daughters and Luddie’s son. </span></p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2846" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-211x300.jpg" alt="James Austin with his twin daughters" width="211" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-211x300.jpg 211w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-500x711.jpg 500w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin.jpg 531w" sizes="(max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin with his twin daughters</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">While simultaneously being acquitted of murder and a weapons offense, Currie was convicted of a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter, conspiracy to commit unlawful possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of a weapon. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">He was also found not guilty of murder – which carried a potential life term – conspiracy to possess a weapon for an unlawful purpose and possession of weapon for an unlawful purpose, following roughly 15 hours of jury deliberations over three days.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Luddie Austin and his family members, initially aghast and then overjoyed by the jury’s decision, tried to keep their emotions bottled up after Judge Pedro Jimenez warned spectators any outbursts could result in them being held in contempt of court.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">But the split verdicts were a byproduct of the case, an emotional one, that amounted to a tight trapeze walk for lawyers and the judge because of some of the nuanced legal issues.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Currie’s attorney, Jack Furlong, surmised the inconsistent verdicts meant the jury was at a loss about how to reconcile the heart-tugging case.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">“I can’t blame the jury because if they were confused, they’d have to get in line,” he said.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">After the initial scorn and confusion dissipated, Austin’s mother, Yvonne Maxwell, kissed her Bible and pictures of her slain son.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Luddie Austin shook hands and hugged relatives outside the courtroom.</span></p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/10/LuddieAustin.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-3686" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/10/LuddieAustin-217x300.jpg" alt="Luddie Austin on A&amp;E's &quot;Manhunter: Fugitive Task Force&quot;" width="217" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/10/LuddieAustin-217x300.jpg 217w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/10/LuddieAustin.jpg 306w" sizes="(max-width: 217px) 100vw, 217px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Luddie Austin on A&amp;E's "Manhunter: Fugitive Task Force"</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">“It’s hard,” he said afterward. “It’s surreal. We waited three years for the man to be put in handcuffs. We’re still hurting. It’s went from down to up with the verdicts.<span class="Apple-converted-space">  </span>… I don’t wish hate on nobody. [Currie’s] parents just lost a child, too, but they lost him in a different way.”</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Currie was inconsolable as his attorney patted him on the back following the devastating news. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Dressed in a black suit, he was led away from the courtroom in handcuffs after Jimenez revoked the $75,000 bail and scheduled sentencing for Sept. 8.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Currie, who is faced with up to 40 years in prison, became the second Trenton man held responsible for Austin’s death. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Cousin Robert Bartley, who got a 25-year deal to testify against Currie at trial, already admitted to shooting James Austin after he intervened when Currie and Austin busted out each other’s car windows earlier in the day.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">“It’s just a tragic loss,” said James Scott, the assistant prosecutor who took over the case from retired prosecutor Lewis Korngut. “James was just starting his life to be killed so tragically over such a silly, silly situation.” </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">The case, not only tragic, was also complex.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">To some degree, Jimenez was “flying blind,” Furlong said, because of a state Supreme Court decision in another case, State v. Bridges, that effectively moved the goalposts for whether someone is responsible for murder when an agreement is not reached between co-conspirators about committing the murder.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">In Currie’s case, the judge dismissed a conspiracy to commit murder charge against Currie during the trial after prosecutors agreed there was not enough evidence to sustain the count. </span></p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Robert-Bartley.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2843" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg" alt="Robert Bartley" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Robert-Bartley.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Robert Bartley</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">That was based on testimony from Currie’s cousin, Robert Bartley, who said he did not intend to kill James Austin when he went over to his home Feb. 26, 2013. But he went to the home armed after his cousin asked him if he had his gun.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Bartley contended that he kept the gun in his pocket while he confronted Austin about a broken windshield to try to get him to pay for it. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Currie and two others got into a car and drove to pick up Bartley. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">On the way over, Currie used his girlfriend’s cell phone to call Bartley. Witnesses provided contradicting testimony about what was said on the call.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Bartley claimed Currie asked him if he had his gun.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Endia Kaver, Currie’s girlfriend, did not hear her boyfriend say anything about a gun.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">After they arrived back at the home, Bartley went up to the door. He and Austin exchanged words. Bartley pulled out his .32-caliber gun and shot Austin once in the chest, in front of Austin’s girlfriend who was clutching their infant daughter. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">The judge ruled the jury could decide whether Currie was guilty of murder as an accomplice, as well as remaining conspiracy and weapons charges.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Why else bring a gun to a fist fight?” Jimenez surmised.</span></p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-4525" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-289x300.jpg" alt="Family members have worn memorial buttons like these throughout the murder conspiracy trial of Raheem Currie" width="289" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-289x300.jpg 289w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-768x796.jpg 768w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-500x518.jpg 500w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-772x800.jpg 772w" sizes="(max-width: 289px) 100vw, 289px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Family members have worn memorial buttons like these throughout the murder conspiracy trial of Raheem Currie</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Furlong vowed to appeal the conviction. He said he would “bet the house” that it will get overturned.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">“The practical outcome of this verdict is Raheem Currie will spend three years in prison waiting for the appellate court to say, ‘Nope, you got it wrong,’” Furlong said. “I don’t mean this as a pejorative term but I think Jimenez was flying blind, which is what a trial judge has to do when the Supreme Court changes the law on you.”</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Luddie Austin and Yvonne Maxwell, James Austin’s parents, had just absorbed the outcome to start worrying about a possible appeal.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">“It’s just one step at a time,” Luddie said, tears forming in his eyes. “We always wanted Justice for James. We wanted justice in the eyes of the law. We never asked for any special treatment. On Aug. 3, justice was served.<span class="Apple-converted-space">  </span>I can see [James] smiling now. He would just be so happy.”</span></p> Isaac AviluceaWed, 03 Aug 2016 15:15:08 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/08/03/trenton-man-found-guilty-for-role-in-cop-sons-death/Robert BartleyRaheem CurrieJury has questions, re-hears testimony in Trenton cop son's slay casehttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/08/02/jury-has-questions-re-hears-testimony-in-trenton-cop-sons-slay-case/<p>The jury in the Raheem Currie murder conspiracy trial on Tuesday asked to re-hear testimony from prosecutors’ star witness, focusing on a phone call in which two cousins allegedly discussed a handgun used to kill a retired city cop’s son.</p> <p>The 12-member panel this morning listened a second time to excerpts of Robert Bartley’s testimony. They returned minutes later and asked a judge for clarification about a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-860" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>Currie’s attorney expressed concerns about the jury hearing portions of the testimony and not having the full context.</p> <p>Prosecutors suggested at trial the cousins engaged in a conspiracy to kill Austin.</p> <p><a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/27/judge-tosses-conspiracy-count-in-trenton-mans-cop-son-murder-case/">But Judge Pedro Jimenez tossed out a conspiracy to commit murder count against Currie because of a lack of evidence.</a></p> <p>Bartley, Currie's cousin, has admitted to fatally shooting 18-year-old James Austin in February 2013, after he intervened in a spat between Currie and Austin that prosecutors said started as a “silly street fight.</p> <p>Austin, a father of twin girls and the slain son of retired Trenton sergeant Luddie Austin, was shot once in the chest in the doorway an East State Street home as his girlfriend, LaPorsha Guy, held one of the couple’s infant daughters.</p> <p>Bartley accepted a plea deal calling for 25 years in prison and is awaiting sentencing.</p> <p>Currie faces life imprisonment if he is convicted of murder as an accomplice. He also faces a conspiracy charge for possessing weapons as well as weapons charges.</p> <p>A jury can also find him guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter if it can't agree on the murder charge.</p> <p>Currie, who did not testify at trial, has denied having anything to do with Austin’s death, pitting his word against his cousin's.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The trial has gripped Trenton, the home of Luddie Austin, a reality TV cast member and black cop who worked the city streets for nearly two decades.</p> <p>Luddie Austin has appeared on the A&amp;E reality television show, “Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force."</p> <p>James Austin, the black son of the well-known cop, has become <a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/25/slain-trenton-cops-son-a-symbol-for-community-honored-at-dc-rally/">a unifying symbol amid outcry and distrust of police in urban neighborhoods across the nation. </a></p> <p>James' name  was read by Regina Thompson-Jenkins, the mother of another murdered city man, at a rally last month outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where supporters called for tighter gun control to quell violence on the nation’s inner city streets.</p> <p>A city cop testified that the death of James Austin, whom he referred to as “one of our own,” took a toll on the Trenton Police department.</p> <p><a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/judge-shoots-down-mistrial-in-trenotn-cop-son-slay-case/">The defense asked for a mistrial over the comment.</a></p> <p><a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/retired-trenton-cop-offended-by-admitted-killers-cop-brutality-claim/">Bartley took the stand and claimed, among other things, he was beaten by police</a> when he was arrested, turning the trial into a referendum on police brutality.</p> <p>That was one of the most dramatic moments in the trial, eclipsed only when defense attorney Jack Furlong, in his closing argument, suggested <a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/27/defense-attorney-says-killer-cousin-lied-his-attorney-endorsed-perjury/">Bartley’s attorney supported perjury by allowing her client to strike a deal with prosecutors in exchange for false testimony against Currie.</a></p> <p>The accusation created a rift between Furlong and public defender Caroline Turner.</p> <p><a href="http://www.trentonian.com/article/TT/20160728/NEWS/160729754">And a New York law professor said the defense attorney crossed an ethical line</a> by making the accusation with no facts to corroborate the claim.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-4526" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-289x300.jpg" alt="James Austin's relatives have worn memorial buttons like these at the murder conspiracy trial of Raheem Currie." width="289" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-289x300.jpg 289w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-768x796.jpg 768w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-500x518.jpg 500w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-772x800.jpg 772w" sizes="(max-width: 289px) 100vw, 289px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin's relatives have worn memorial buttons like these at the murder conspiracy trial of Raheem Currie.</p> <p>But it was Bartley’s testimony that came back into focus Tuesday, when the jury listened to clips of his direct and cross examinations prior to returning to the jury room to resume deliberations.</p> <p><a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/26/interrogation-of-trenton-cop-sons-admitted-killer-shown-to-jury/">During an interrogation a day after the murder, Bartley confessed to killing Austin and said he was solely responsible for Austin’s death.</a></p> <p>He denied that he and his cousin conspired to kill the retired cop’s son.</p> <p>But a day before he accepted a 25-year plea deal for aggravated manslaughter, Bartley gave authorities a second statement where he said for the first time that Currie knew about his gun and asked him to bring it to Austin’s home.</p> <p><a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/admitted-killer-says-cousin-knew-about-gun-told-him-to-bring-it-in-cop-son-slay/">Bartley kept the gun in a shoebox in his room, he testified.</a> He said his cousin and two others picked him up the afternoon of Feb. 26, 2013, prior to the fatal shooting.</p> <p>Currie and James Austin were involved in a fist fight earlier that day, which culminated with the men busting out each other’s car windows.</p> <p>Currie threw a tire iron threw Austin’s windshield, while Austin jumped on top of the windshield of a Honda Civic that belonged to Currie’s aunt.</p> <p>Bartley said he went with his cousin, Endia Kaver, Currie’s girlfriend, and Brandon Hill, a friend of Austin, over to the East State Street home to get Austin to pay for the broken windshield.</p> <p>Bartley said that before he was picked up, he received a phone call from Currie in which his cousin asked him if he had his gun.</p> <p>Neither Kaver nor Hill – both of whom testified – mentioned hearing Currie ask during the phone conversation about a gun.</p> <p>Kaver, who has been in a seven-year relationship with Currie, said that her boyfriend asked for her phone to call home.</p> <p>She heard Currie ask someone on the other end of the line, presumably Bartley, whether his mother was home.</p> <p>Bartley said that when the group arrived to pick him up, he showed his .32-caliber gun to Currie and Kaver while they sat in the back seat of the car. Kaver called Currie a "p----," Bartley said.</p> <p>Bartley recalled saying that he had the gun so it was “whatever” Currie wanted to do.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-859" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg" alt="Robert Bartley" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Robert Bartley</p> <p>Currie told the driver, Hill, to head back toward Austin’s home, Bartley said.</p> <p>When they arrived, Bartley hopped out of the car. Kaver said she heard Bartley say he was going to “spray up” the home, but she repeatedly said she did not know what he meant.</p> <p>She told police during an interview after the fatal shooting that<a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/20/girlfriends-take-stand-at-trial-for-trenton-man-accused-in-cop-sons-death/"> she remembered thinking, “Lord, don’t let this get out of hand.”</a></p> <p>Bartley, when he testified, denied saying he was going to spray up the home. He said he got out of the car and found Austin’s door cracked open.</p> <p>The men argued. Austin cussed him out and refused to pay for the broken windshield.</p> <p>Bartley told the cops he didn’t know who Austin was and whether he had something in his hand. He said Austin lunged toward him and he fired one shot.</p> <p>Bartley got back into the car, he said, and told everyone to keep their mouths shut.</p> <p>He got dropped off at the Hanford Place home of a friend, Ryan Small, where he hid his gun in a basement crawlspace, behind some loose bricks. He and Small were arrested the next day.</p> <p>Small was released when police determine he was not involved in the murder.</p> Isaac AviluceaTue, 02 Aug 2016 12:07:31 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/08/02/jury-has-questions-re-hears-testimony-in-trenton-cop-sons-slay-case/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieDefense attorney says killer cousin lied, his attorney endorsed perjuryhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/27/defense-attorney-says-killer-cousin-lied-his-attorney-endorsed-perjury/<p>Facing life imprisonment for murder, the cousin of a city man on trial for killing a city cop’s son did whatever he could to get a deal.</p> <p>That included lying under oath at his cousin’s murder conspiracy trial, a defense attorney said.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-860" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>Defense attorney Jack Furlong didn’t stop there, laying out bold and inflammatory allegations against the admitted killer, Robert Bartley, and his defense attorney, Caroline Turner, who helped broker a deal with prosecutors that included cooperation against Bartley’s cousin, Raheem Currie.</p> <p>“Why do we bargain for the truth? Don’t we tell the truth naturally?” said Furlong, referring to what he contended was Bartley’s only truthful statement, when he was interrogated by detectives a day after 18-year-old James Austin, the son of a retired Trenton cop, was gunned down in February 2013. “He had a certain truthfulness to him when he was emotionally honest.”<span id="more-4539"></span></p> <p>The accusations from Furlong incensed Assistant Prosecutor James Scott, and Bartley’s attorney who said they hit “below the belt.”</p> <p>“I would never accuse another defense attorney of suborning perjury,” Turner told <em>The Trentonian</em>.</p> <p>Scott rebuffed Furlong’s suggestion in his closing, and also countered allegations from Bartley, who testified at trial that he was beaten by police the day he was arrested for fatally shooting James Austin.</p> <p>The closing arguments turned into a referendum on the use of self-interested cooperators and police brutality, an issue that has spawned the Black Lives Matter movement and a counter-resistance, Blue Lives Matter, amid a string of high-profile killings of black men and police officers that has ravaged the nation.</p> <p>The prosecutor pointed out how well Trenton Police detective Gary Britton treated Bartley when he interrogated him. And in a rare show for a defense attorney, he stood up for Turner.</p> <p>“A lawyer is supporting perjury?” Scott said. “That’s what the lawyer’s gonna do? Ask her client to lie? Please.”</p> <p>About Currie’s involvement, the prosecutor said: “Actions speak louder than words. Raheem Currie is responsible for James Austin’s death.”</p> <p>Because he was the black son of retired Trenton Police sergeant Luddie Austin, James Austin’s death in Trenton three years ago cut across factions of urban Trenton, which distrusts police, and the law enforcement community that is sometimes at odds with residents.</p> <p>That much was clear when a Trenton Police officer, Drew Astbury, described James Austin as “one of our own.”</p> <p>Furlong, invoking a Greek historian and past images of urban warfare that plagued the capital city streets for decades, cautioned the jury not to let James Austin’s connections to police influence the outcome of the case.</p> <p>He called what happened to James Austin a tragedy, but said the only thing Currie agreed to with his cousin was to get money back over the smashed window. Then Bartley took matters into his own hands.</p> <p>“A Greek historian said, ‘In times of peace, sons bury fathers. In times of war, fathers bury sons,’” Furlong said. “But Herodotus has never been to Trenton, New Jersey.</p> <p>“The state has a homicide victim the state does not have a murder victim. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances and a young man died. That’s called being 19. … That’s called testosterone. That’s called being a young man.”</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2846" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-211x300.jpg" alt="James Austin with his twin daughters" width="211" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-211x300.jpg 211w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-500x711.jpg 500w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin.jpg 531w" sizes="(max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin with his twin daughters</p> <p>Scott said “silly kid stuff” turned deadly serious when Currie called up Bartley moments after he and James fought, and busted each other’s car windows, and asked his cousin if he had his gun.</p> <p>His cousin testified that he told Currie to come see him. And when he did, he flashed the gun at Currie and his girlfriend, Endia Kaver, and said, “I have it, so whatever you want to do.”</p> <p>Currie told the driver, Brandon Hill, who was friends with James Austin, to head back toward the cop son’s East State Street home, Scott said.</p> <p>“One shot, several lives destroyed,” the prosecutor said.</p> <p>During an interrogation in February 2013, Bartley cried and confessed to killing James Austin but said he acted alone and his cousin wasn’t involved.</p> <p>He urged police to send his friend, Ryan Small, home after Small got wrapped up in the case when Bartley hid his .32-caliber handgun in a crawlspace at Small’s home. Small was never charged and testified as a witness.</p> <p>Bartley gave a second statement to police in September 2014, a day before he pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter.</p> <p>In the second statement, which was not video recorded but transcribed by a detective, Bartley told authorities that Currie asked him if he had a gun.</p> <p>“That’s not a recipe for accuracy,” Furlong said. “That’s a recipe for conformity.”</p> <p>The defense attorney said Bartley has animus toward his cousin because he is sitting prison for intervening in Currie’s beef.</p> <p>“You got me in this mess, and I’m the one serving time,” he said. “Dude, you shot the gun.”</p> <p>Then Furlong turned his sights on Turner, suggesting he knew how her conversation with Bartley went. He said she suggested she could get him a deal if he gave prosecutors information that helped their case against Currie.</p> <p>He also accused prosecutors of “cherry-picking” Bartley’s testimony. They want the jury to believe him testimony about Currie but not about the cops beatdown.</p> <p>“These are polemic times in terms of police relationship with the community,” Furlong said. “There’s a wealth of emotions and people are being killed. It obviously struck a nerve when he said I got beat up. … They want you to cherry-pick Robert’s testimony, the one that is most favorable to us. The state was supposed to pick a lane. It straddled the middle.”</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-859" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg" alt="Robert Bartley" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Robert Bartley</p> <p>At trial, Scott called a detective to the stand to get Bartley’s mugshot in evidence, to show he was not battered by police officers who retaliated over James Austin’s death.</p> <p>He defended the decision.</p> <p>“These are charged times. Lots of people are concerned about police conduct,” Scott said. “And I knew you would want to see [his mugshot]. Am I saying Robert Bartley is lying? No. I’m not. His perspective is he’s being surrounded by police officers who know he used a gun. What are those officers gonna do? They’re gonna make sure they have control of Mr. Bartley.”</p> Isaac AviluceaWed, 27 Jul 2016 19:24:31 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/27/defense-attorney-says-killer-cousin-lied-his-attorney-endorsed-perjury/Robert BartleyRaheem CurrieJudge tosses conspiracy count in Trenton man's cop son murder casehttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/27/judge-tosses-conspiracy-count-in-trenton-mans-cop-son-murder-case/<p>While he refused to toss out a more serious charge of murder, a judge on Wednesday dismissed a murder conspiracy count against a city man who allegedly plotted with a cousin to kill a retired city cop’s son in 2013.</p> <p>Assistant Prosecutor James Scott conceded that there was not enough evidence to support a charge of conspiracy to commit murder against Raheem Currie, the cousin of admitted killer Robert Bartley.</p> <p>The jury will still consider a lesser conspiracy charge, as well as counts of murder, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. The murder carries a potential life sentence for Currie if he is found guilty.</p> <p>Prosecutors pursued the murder charge under the state’s accomplice liability law that makes Currie responsible for James Austin’s death even though he did not pull the trigger.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-860" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>Bartley, Currie’s cousin, admitted fatally shooting James Austin, the slain 18-year-old son of retired Trenton Police sergeant Luddie Austin, in February 2013.</p> <p>Judge Pedro Jimenez said that under accomplice liability Currie, who chose not to testify, could still be “vicariously responsible” for Austin’s murder because his death from Robert Bartley’s actions was “reasonably foreseeable.”</p> <p>“The defendant did not balk when Mr. Bartley showed him the gun,” Jimenez said. “Why else bring a gun to a fist fight? Bringing a gun, it’s not inconceivable that gun can be utilized for more than talk.”<span id="more-4536"></span></p> <p>Bartley admitted fatally shooting James Austin, following a dispute outside Austin’s East State Street home.</p> <p>The dispute started when Currie and Austin fought each other and then broke each other’s car windows.</p> <p>Currie and two others picked up Bartley and later returned to Austin’s house.</p> <p>Bartley confronted Austin about the broken window, demanded the cop’s son pay for it and shot him once in the chest when he refused and cussed out Bartley.</p> <p>Bartley struck a plea with prosecutors by admitting to aggravated manslaughter. He testified against his cousin, saying Currie called him and asked him if he had his gun, and is expected to receive 25 years in prison for his cooperation.</p> <p>For Currie, the dismissal of the murder conspiracy count was a minor win.</p> <p>The jury can still consider whether a conspiracy existed between Currie and Bartley to possess and use a handgun against James Austin.</p> <p>It was distinction that confused some of Austin’s family members.</p> <p>The four-count indictment against Currie, in effect, contained two forms of conspiracy under the single charge -- conspiracy to commit murder and the weapons conspiracy.</p> <p>The dismissed murder conspiracy charge carried a maximum of 20 years in</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-859" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg" alt="Robert Bartley" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Robert Bartley</p> <p>prison upon conviction; the weapons conspiracy carries a maximum of 10 years for Currie if he is convicted.</p> <p>“There is a zero evidence of a conspiracy there is affirmative evidence of no conspiracy,” defense attorney Jack Furlong said.</p> <p>Furlong pointed to the testimony – or lack thereof – from witnesses Brandon Hill, the driver who was never charged, and Endia Kaver, Currie’s girlfriend.</p> <p>Kaver testified that her boyfriend used her phone to call Bartley, but he never asked him if he had his gun. She recalled that when they got to the house, Bartley said he was going to spray up the house.</p> <p>Kaver said she didn’t know what that meant. But she told police she remembered thinking, “Lord don’t let this get out of hand.”</p> <p>Her testimony conflicted with Bartley, who said he received a call from Currie and that his cousin asked during the phone call whether he had his gun.</p> <p>He said he flashed that gun toward Currie and Kaver inside the car, prior to their arrival at Austin’s home.</p> <p>When he testified, Hill, who was driving at the time, did not mention anything about hearing or seeing a gun.</p> <p>“Why would Mr. Currie call Mr. Bartley and ask him if he had a gun unless there was a purpose to use it against Mr. Austin in some way,” Scott said.</p> Isaac AviluceaWed, 27 Jul 2016 18:05:42 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/27/judge-tosses-conspiracy-count-in-trenton-mans-cop-son-murder-case/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieAdmitted killer's bizarre, tear-filled interrogation shown to jury in Trenton man's cop slay trialhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/26/interrogation-of-trenton-cop-sons-admitted-killer-shown-to-jury/<p>A day after he shot a retired Trenton cop’s son to death, Robert Bartley was more worried about perception – and $258 – than reality.</p> <p>The Trenton transplant, formerly of Chicago, told detectives as they walked into an interrogation room that he was missing a wad of cash. It was taken from him after he was arrested Feb. 27, 2013, and charged with the murder of James Austin, the 18-year-old son of retired Trenton sergeant Luddie Austin.</p> <p>“I know that’s the least of my worries,” Bartley said. “The money wasn’t in my property. Can you write down that the money wasn’t in my property?”</p> <p>“There’s a lot of worries, but nothing is the least of the worries,” said Gary Britton, a Trenton Police detective. “I will make it part of my continuing investigation to see where your money is. It’ll be a string around my finger. I gotta find Robert’s money. I promise I will do that for you.”</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-859" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg" alt="Robert Bartley" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Robert Bartley</p> <p>Britton played the part of calm, cool cop, trying to build rapport with the suspect, at a time when the department was under pressure to solve the murder of “one of their own,” as a Trenton cop testified to last week.</p> <p>Britton solved the murder and also tracked down Bartley’s missing cash.</p> <p>The taped interrogation, which was shown Tuesday for jurors in Raheem Currie’s murder conspiracy trial, happened hours after Bartley claimed he was beaten by police officers who kicked him in the mouth, his side and smashed his head into a parked police cruiser.<span id="more-4529"></span></p> <p>Inside the witness box, Bartley rested his head on his balled-up fist while listening to the taped statement.</p> <p>Bartley stressed during his interview with detectives that he didn’t want them to believe he was a “cold-blooded animal” for shooting Austin.</p> <p>Britton acknowledged he was friends with the retired cop, Luddie Austin. But he assured Bartley he didn’t believe he was a heartless person and that he would be treated fairly by police.</p> <p>Britton said he believed the people who were involved in James Austin’s death were “good kids” and Austin had been gunned down after a “street fight went stupid.”</p> <p>“He was your friend for 20 years,” Bartley said of Luddie Austin. “He has a dead son.”</p> <p>Britton said cops learned “not to take things personally,” and that it would not benefit him to act like he wanted to “kill this mother—ker.”</p> <p>“I would get amped up and die of a stroke while you’re still doing pushups in the yard,” Britton said.</p> <p>After confessing to the murder, Bartley denied that his cousin, Currie, or anyone else, plotted to kill James Austin. He told cops he took matters into his own hands after Currie and James fought earlier that day, resulting in each man breaking car windows.</p> <p>Bartley has now turned against his cousin and is cooperating with prosecutors as their star witness.</p> <p>Jack Furlong, Currie’s attorney, questioned Bartley about differences between two statements he gave police.</p> <p>The first statement he gave was Feb. 27, 2013, about 28 hours after the murder. He spoke to police a second time Sept. 3, 2014, a day before he formally accepted prosecutors’ plea in court.</p> <p>The deal required him to provide “truthful testimony” against Currie, in exchange for Bartley pleading guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter and serving 25 years in prison. Prosecutors will dismiss conspiracy and weapons charges as part of the deal.</p> <p>Bartley, who was on probation for an aggravated assault conviction at the time of the shooting, faced the possibility of life imprisonment if he was convicted of murder at trial.</p> <p>Furlong went over Bartley’s responses to answers he provided when he pleaded guilty, pointing out circumstances that were not consistent with what witnesses have testified to at Currie’s trial.</p> <p>“You were just trying to get it done,” Furlong said. “You wanted the deal didn’t you?”</p> <p>Bartley was not shy about admitting his motivation in taking the deal. He also was pretty straightforward with detectives after initially claiming early on in the interrogation that he was not involved in Austin’s murder.</p> <p>Britton told the then-22-year-old man that he had been identified and urged him to come clean.</p> <p>The detective said Bartley was going to “take a hit” for Austin’s murder but said he would feel better if he didn’t wrap up others in a “spider web of shit they don’t need.”</p> <p>“We actually have consciences,” Britton said, describing his police cohorts. “I would hate to see anybody in jail if they’re completely innocent. I would hate to see someone go to jail longer than they need to. Sometimes you just have to know, ‘I f–ed up.’ … Soften the hit rather than take a big hit. Don’t stick your chin out defiantly.”</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-860" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>A teary-eyed Bartley, breaking down several times throughout the interrogation, told detectives he understood “100 percent” and confessed to killing James Austin with a .32-caliber handgun he stashed at a friend’s home in Trenton.</p> <p>“I hope you don’t think I went there with the intentions,” of killing him, Bartley said.</p> <p>“I feel bad for everyone involved, including you,” Britton said. “I’m dumbfounded by this entire case. How old are you? You don’t look like a bad kid. I’ve gotten to meet some thugs, and I don’t get that vibe from you.”</p> <p>Bartley admitted his role but told detectives several times that his cousin, two others who were in the car with him at the time of the shooting, and another friend whom he described as a “brother” were not involved in Austin’s killing.</p> <p>Bartley urged detectives at the end of his interrogation to let his friend, Ryan Small, whom he described as being closer to than Currie, go free.</p> <p>Small was picked up with Bartley and was in custody during Bartley’s interrogation.</p> <p>Police raided Small’s home and found the handgun that Bartley used to kill Austin. It was stashed in a basement crawlspace, behind loose bricks, at Small’s parents’ home on the 100 block of Hanford Place.</p> <p>During the first interview in February 2013, Bartley told detectives that he received a phone call from someone after the fight but didn’t say who was on the other end of the line.</p> <p>A group including driver Brandon Hill, never charged with a crime, and Endia Kaver, Currie’s girlfriend, drove to pick up Bartley and returned to Austin’s home.</p> <p>Bartley was at Small’s home drinking Jamaican rum and orange juice when he got a call from Currie, on Kaver’s phone.</p> <p>Bartley testified that Currie asked him if he had his gun. He said that later he showed his gun to Currie and his girlfriend, who were both seated in the back of a silver Honda Civic that had its window bashed in.</p> <p>Other witnesses did not mention hearing a conversation over the gun or seeing it when they took the stand last week.</p> <p>Bartley said Kaver, who was never charged and testified last week, called her boyfriend a “p–y” prior to them driving back toward Austin’s home.</p> <p>When they got there, Bartley said he knocked on the door of Austin’s East State Street home, demanded he pay for “his people’s” broken window and shot the retired cop’s son after Austin cursed out him and refused to pay.</p> <p>At one point during his interrogation, Bartley asked police, “I’m the only one being charged with murder?”</p> <p>Britton responded: “You had a carload of people. I’m trying to decide what to do. … Was it a plan? Was it a big conspiracy? Was it something that got out of hand? I don’t know.”</p> <p>Bartley was initially unflinching about his cousin’s innocence.</p> <p>“It wasn’t planned,” he said. “I’ll tell you that now. It wasn’t planned. I just knew his window was busted. He said he was fighting. I was like, ‘All right, let’s go.’”</p> <p>“I believe you,” Britton said.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2846" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-211x300.jpg" alt="James Austin with his twin daughters" width="211" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-211x300.jpg 211w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin-500x711.jpg 500w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/James-Austin.jpg 531w" sizes="(max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin with his twin daughters</p> <p>Currie at first was charged with gun possession, for allegedly knowing Bartley was armed when they returned to Austin’s home. The charges were upgraded following further investigation.</p> <p>During his cross examination, Bartley would not answer questions about where he got the gun, which he started carrying after he said he was stabbed in Trenton.</p> <p>Bartley was also asked about the alleged police beatdown.</p> <p>Furlong wanted to know why he did not mention it to Britton.</p> <p>“I just took it on the chin,” Bartley said. “It was to be expected.”</p> <p>Bartley asked the detective later in the interrogation if he could arrange for him to be placed into protective custody at the Mercer County jail.</p> <p>He claimed on the stand that he was frightened because police officers made threats about what would happen to him in jail.</p> Isaac AviluceaTue, 26 Jul 2016 14:02:14 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/26/interrogation-of-trenton-cop-sons-admitted-killer-shown-to-jury/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieSlain Trenton cop's son, a symbol for community, honored at DC rallyhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/25/slain-trenton-cops-son-a-symbol-for-community-honored-at-dc-rally/<p><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='500' height='312' src='http://www.youtube.com/embed/jpRml9j3zSs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;autohide=2&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' allowfullscreen='true' style='border:0;'></iframe></span></p> <p>Regina Thompson-Jenkins stood before a sea of supporters outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. as “a grieving mother.”</p> <p>At a rally this month, she called for tighter gun control to quell the violence on the inner city streets. She described how she lost her only son, Tre Lane, who was shot in Trenton in 2012 after sacrificing his life to save two women who he barely knew.</p> <p>“My story today can be yours tomorrow,” she told the crowd.</p> <p>Then, one by one, she rattled off names of murder victims in New Jersey’s capital city who were taken from their families too soon.</p> <p>“David Lewis III, Ira Charles, Ciony Kirkman, James Austin,” she said. “All lives matter.”</p> <p>James Austin’s family knows Thompson-Jenkins’ pain all too well.<span id="more-4524"></span></p> <p>Their son was gunned down in February 2013, when a dispute between he and another city man, Raheem Currie, turned deadly after they busted out each other’s car windows.</p> <p>Robert Bartley, Currie’s cousin, admitted shooting Austin on East State Street on Feb. 26, 2013, and is testifying against him at the trial which began this month.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-859" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg" alt="Robert Bartley" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Robert Bartley</p> <p>Austin was 18 years old, a father of twin infant daughters, and the son of retired city cop Luddie Austin. He died before Blacks Lives Matter became a sweeping movement following a string of police shooting of young black men from the hardscrabble streets of Trenton to suburban St. Paul, Minn.</p> <p>And he died before a rash of killings of police officers from Dallas to Baton Rouge, La., that some in law enforcement blame on a perceived anti-cop sentiment from the Black Lives Matter movement that has divided America along racial lines.</p> <p>But as Currie’s case plays out in the courts in Trenton, a city roiled by its own near-fatal police shooting of a 14-year-old black youth named Radazz Hearns, Austin has become a symbol embodying Thompson-Jenkins’ message of unity.</p> <p>Because of his unique connections to the urban community and to the Trenton Police department that his father worked for over 18 years, James Austin appeals to both aisles in this tense political dialogue.</p> <p>“You feel more responsibility,” said Lewis Korngut, a former Mercer County prosecutor who headed the homicide until he retired last year. “It’s only human.”</p> <p>Assistant Prosecutor James Scott took over the case for Korngut. His measured demeanor in the courtroom has been a tonic to a case rife with emotions, further illustrated when Korngut, now doing defense work, showed up on his day off to take in the testimony of one witness.</p> <p>Korngut tried to play it off to a defense attorney that he no longer has a “horse in the race.” But his mere presence at the trial said otherwise.</p> <p>Korngut grew close with Austin’s relatives while the case was his. He also worked with Luddie Austin on other cases while the elder Austin, known for his appearance on the A&amp;E reality television show, “Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force,” worked the city streets for nearly two decades.</p> <p>Luddie Austin, a lifelong Trenton resident, has clout in the community. He did a tour of duty in the Iraq War, in 2004, and retired from the city’s police force in 2011 with the rank of sergeant.</p> <p>His extensive knowledge of the capital city and his wide network of informants and citizens whom he turned to for information is part of the reason James’ death touched such a nerve in Trenton.</p> <p>Luddie Austin actually learned from those people that Currie had posted bail and was free in the streets.</p> <p>James’ death also hit the police department hard.</p> <p>Trenton Police officer Drew Astbury, when he testified last week, called James “one of our own.”</p> <p>Earlier this year, a candlelight vigil was held for James at Hamilton Manor.</p> <p>And earlier this month, Thompson-Jenkins put James Austin’s name out to a national audience, during her powerful speech in D.C.</p> <p>“We always hear about the Trayvon Martins and Jordan Davises or the Sandy Hook kids,” said Thompson-Jenkins, whose son’s murder remains unsolved. “But our kids in the city of Trenton are just as important as those children because they all got killed with a gun.”</p> <p>Luddie was moved by the gesture.</p> <p>Currie’s defense attorneys have tried to keep a stranglehold over the emotions in the courtroom, asking for a mistrial over Astbury’s comment, afraid that it may lead the jury to feel sympathy for one side.</p> <p>Defense attorney Jack Furlong asked a judge to bar the Austin family from wearing memorial buttons because it could inflame the jury.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-4526" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-289x300.jpg" alt="James Austin's relatives have worn memorial buttons like these at the murder conspiracy trial of Raheem Currie." width="289" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-289x300.jpg 289w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-768x796.jpg 768w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-500x518.jpg 500w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/07/James-Austin-1-772x800.jpg 772w" sizes="(max-width: 289px) 100vw, 289px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin's relatives have worn memorial buttons like these at the murder conspiracy trial of Raheem Currie.</p> <p>The request pressed Luddie Austin’s buttons. He called Furlong a “money-hungry” attorney who will defend anybody.</p> <p>“I’m not going to take any bait from Luddie Austin,” Furlong said. “The man lost his son. It’s not my day to take a shot at him. He’s been emotional throughout these proceedings. He’s accused judges of corruption and is accusing me of being hungry for money. He’s not wrong. Let this story be a reminder to my other clients who owe me.”</p> <p>Furlong made no apologies about asking for the ban on the memorial buttons, one which touched on Thompson-Jenkins’ message: “Our daddy missed our first steps because of guns.”</p> <p>“As one Supreme Court justice said, ‘There is no First Amendment right inside a courtroom for spectators to try to put their thumbs on the scales of justice,’” Furlong said. “All you’re doing when you sit in a courtroom with a picture of James and his children is trying to give a good character reference for James and curry sympathy with the jury.”</p> <p>Thompson-Jenkins said she feels victims’ rights are trampled by defendants’ rights to a fair trial.</p> <p>She feels the fear of retaliation discourages people from cooperating with the police and suggested that information should be shielded from defendants who are entitled to confront their accusers in court.</p> <p>Luddie Austin also feels cooperation is a problem in his son’s case, but for different reasons. He lashed out at witnesses for giving incomplete testimony that diminishes their roles in his son’s death.</p> <p>Bartley and Currie were the only ones charged, even though two others, Brandon Hill, and Endia Kaver, Currie’s girlfriend, were in the car when Bartley said he was going to “spray up” James Austin’s home.</p> <p>Hill, who prosecutors have stressed was a witness, drove and dropped off Bartley and Currie after the shooting.</p> <p>Kaver claimed on the witness stand she had no idea what Bartley meant when he said he was going to spray up the house.</p> <p>Kaver said that while she heard the conversation between Currie and Bartley prior to them picking him up, Currie only asked Bartley if his mother was home.</p> <p>Neither she nor Hill mentioned hearing Currie ask his cousin about a gun.</p> <p>Bartley said that prior to the shooting, Currie knew about his gun, which he kept stowed in a shoebox inside the home they shared. He said he flashed it in front of Currie moments before the shooting.</p> <p>Hill, who said he was James’ friend, said that Bartley warned them not to tell anybody about the murder when he got back in the car after the shooting.</p> <p>“It’s going to eat [Hill’s] conscience up and it may haunt him the rest of his life, and good, you drove someone somewhere that killed a person you consider a friend,” Luddie Austin said. “What they’re trying to say is no one talked. In that moment, what, did they become devout monks who took a vow of silence? Come on.”</p> <p>Some of the Hill’s testimony painted James in unflattering terms.</p> <p>It contrasted with the portrait James’ girlfriend, LaPorsha Guy, put on for the jury, of an attentive father who came to her East State Street home to visit their twin daughters. She said he had a cheesesteak and a soda in his hands when Curry called out to him to come outside and fight.</p> <p>But Hill said that two days before the murder, he was over at Currie’s house. Currie came inside with a swollen eye, from allegedly being punched by James Austin during a drug-fueled robbery.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-860" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>Toxicology results taken during an autopsy showed that James had marijuana in his system.</p> <p>“If he did [use it], I’m gonna say it was probably recreational,” Luddie Austin said. “The street life, he wasn’t out there like that.”</p> <p>If there is one thing everyone agrees on, it’s that James Austin, regardless of his race or connections to Trenton Police, did not deserve to be shot to death.</p> <p>“An aggrieved percentage of the community has assumed that the words, ‘Black Lives Matter’ is more important than other lives, and they got the message exactly wrong,” Furlong said. “‘Blue Lives’ shouldn’t matter any more than brown lives, yellow lives, red lives, black lives or even white lives. It shouldn’t matter who James Austin was. It should be enough to say he was a human being.”</p> <p>Thompson-Jenkins said she is perturbed by what she views as increasing violence in the capital city. The alleged killers are getting younger, she said, pointing to recent murders allegedly involving city teens.</p> <p>“People don’t get it until it knocks on their door,” Thompson-Jenkins said. “I do have hope for our city. I was born and raised here. But do I want to stay in this city? No.”</p> <p>About a cop’s son not being safe on the city streets, she added: “It speaks volumes.”</p> Isaac AviluceaMon, 25 Jul 2016 15:18:51 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/25/slain-trenton-cops-son-a-symbol-for-community-honored-at-dc-rally/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieRetired Trenton cop offended by admitted killer's cop brutality claimhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/retired-trenton-cop-offended-by-admitted-killers-cop-brutality-claim/<p>It wasn’t enough that Robert Bartley shot retired Trenton cop Luddie Austin’s son to death in 2013.</p> <p>The admitted killer had to get in another shot Thursday at Austin, and his brothers in blue – some of whom have testified at the trial of a man suspected of conspiring with Bartley to kill Austin’s son, 18-year-old James, on Feb. 26, 2013.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/imagejpeg_2.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2840" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/imagejpeg_2-300x200.jpg" alt="(left to right) Amanda Austin holding Jakalya, one of James Austin's twin daughters, Kim Bellamy, and Luddie Austin holding the other twin Janalya. " width="300" height="200" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/imagejpeg_2-300x200.jpg 300w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/imagejpeg_2-500x334.jpg 500w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/imagejpeg_2-800x534.jpg 800w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/imagejpeg_2.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">(left to right) Amanda Austin holding Jakalya, one of James Austin's twin daughters, Kim Bellamy, and Luddie Austin holding the other twin Janalya.</p> <p>Bartley, who has accepted a 25-year plea deal from prosecutors for his cooperation, took the stand and testified against his cousin, Raheem Currie.</p> <p>During his testimony, he was asked about his arrest on the morning of Feb. 27, 2013. He claimed that he was brutalized by police prior to being taken to an interrogation room at Trenton Police headquarters, where he later confessed to the murder.<span id="more-4518"></span></p> <p>When he was asked by Assistant Prosecutor James Scott whether he gave a statement to police about James’ murder, Bartley responded, “Yeah, after they beat me up.”</p> <p>The emotionally charged courtroom fell dead silent. Austin’s death touched the Trenton Police department, which Luddie Austin worked for over 18 years. A K-9 officer, Drew Astbury, testified this week that police lost “one of our own” – which led to a tense legal squabble and <a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/judge-shoots-down-mistrial-in-trenotn-cop-son-slay-case/">a request for a mistrial from the defense</a>.</p> <p>Bartley did not elaborate about who “they” were, or if he was referring to Trenton Police officers. He was captured by the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Task Fugitive Task Force, which is comprised of several law enforcement agencies including Trenton Police.</p> <p>Trenton Police spokesman Lt. Stephen Varn, when reached by phone by <em>The Trentonian</em> late Thursday evening, said he wasn’t prepared to address the allegation.</p> <p>It was unclear if Bartley reported his allegation to officials.</p> <p>Caroline Turner, Bartley’s attorney, declined to comment, saying her discussions with her client about his alleged beating were privileged. She also would not address whether she lodged a formal complaint against police.</p> <p>Former Trenton police officer Luddie Austin, Austin’s father, told <em>The Trentonian</em> in an interview that while he found most of Bartley’s testimony believable, he was taken aback by the allegation of police brutality and found it appalling and self-serving.</p> <p>“To make an allegation like that it has no bearing on the case,” he said. “The bottom line is, I guess you want compassion because you say you got beat up. You just took somebody’s life. Three years later, you can sit here and complain that you got beat up. But my son can’t laugh or play with his daughter, or do anything."</p> <p>Luddie Austin said he has seen Bartley’s mugshot online and it appear to undercut his claims. He does not appear to have any injuries to his face, he said.</p> <p>“That would have been taken within hours of him being arrested,” Austin said. “If there would have been any allegations that would have come out from the beginning. He’s been in numerous status hearings. I don’t think any of the guys that I worked with would have done anything like that.”</p> <p>Luddie Austin, who spent time on the fugitive task force, said he never witnessed acts of police brutality while he and colleagues pursued some of Trenton’s most violent felons.</p> <p>Police officers, he said, are trained to use as much force necessary to make an arrest. He said he never expected special treatment from his brothers in blue or knew of a police pact that encouraged retaliation against someone accused of killing a cop’s child.</p> <p>“What one may interpret to be abusive may not be,” he said. “As an officer, you can meet force with a greater level of force. You don’t have to meet with the same level of force. [Bartley] has nothing to lose. I don’t know what his motivation is. I don’t know if he was just saying that just to say enough to try to discredit something. Whether in law enforcement or in life, you can’t spend all your time trying to figure out what he was thinking.”</p> Isaac AviluceaThu, 21 Jul 2016 20:14:32 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/retired-trenton-cop-offended-by-admitted-killers-cop-brutality-claim/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieAdmitted killer says cousin knew about gun, told him to bring it in cop son slayhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/admitted-killer-says-cousin-knew-about-gun-told-him-to-bring-it-in-cop-son-slay/<p>Robert Bartley said his cousin knew about, and saw, his .32-caliber handgun, which he kept stowed away in a shoebox inside the room of the cousins’ home in Trenton.</p> <p>Bartley, formerly of Chicago, moved to Trenton sometime around 1999, he testified Thursday. At some point, he moved in with his cousin, Raheem Currie, and his girlfriend, Endia Kaver, at a home on the 600 block of Greenwood Avenue.</p> <p>Wearing a blue and orange polo shirt pulled over his bright orange prison jumpsuit, Bartley offered dramatic testimony that his cousin knew about his gun, asked him to bring it with him to an East State Street home, and brandished it in front of him, on the day Bartley fatally shot 18-year-old James Austin, the fallen son of former city cop Luddie Austin.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-859" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg" alt="Robert Bartley" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Robert Bartley</p> <p>“I pulled my gun out and asked him what he’s trying to do,” said Bartley, prosecutors’ star witness in Currie’s murder conspiracy trial.</p> <p>Bartley took the stand the same day as another Trenton man who testified about Currie’s possible motive for retaliating against Austin.<span id="more-4516"></span></p> <p>The man, Brandon Hill, who was with Currie and drove him and Bartley from the murder scene, said that Austin robbed Currie two days before the murder.</p> <p>Defense attorneys say that Bartley has his own motive for testifying. He accepted a plea, and agreed to testify against Currie, in exchange for a 25-year sentence.</p> <p>Currie’s attorneys have not gotten an opportunity to cross examine Bartley yet, but plan to press him up about why he changed his story after repeatedly telling police during an interview a day after Austin was shot that his cousin was not involved and did not plan the killing.</p> <p>Bartley, who is 18 months older, bigger and stronger than Currie, has been painted by the defense as someone who was protective of his cousin and took matters into his own hands when learning Austin broke the windshield of a Honda Civic belonging to Currie’s aunt.</p> <p>Currie and some friends used it the day Austin was killed. Currie and Austin were involved in a fist fight prior to the shooting. They traded blows then broke each other’s windshields.</p> <p>Currie was with Brandon Hill and his girlfriend, Kaver, who witnessed the fight and testified about it.</p> <p>Hill, a 2012 graduate of Trenton Central High School, said Thursday he grew up with James Austin and they were friends. He was also “friendly” with Currie, who</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-815" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin-210x300.jpg" alt="James Austin with his twin daughters." width="210" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin-210x300.jpg 210w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin.jpg 531w" sizes="(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin with his twin daughters.</p> <p>was best friends with his brother.</p> <p>On Feb. 26, 2013, Hill was with Currie and his girlfriend. They came from a Dollar General in West Windsor and headed back to Trenton, when they encountered Austin on East State Street.</p> <p>Hill, who gave, short quick answers and grew angry with Currie’s defense attorney under cross examination, said he drove Currie’s car the day Austin was killed. He was never charged for having any role in the murder, and prosecutors stressed he was a witness.</p> <p>At one point, Hill raised his hand while testifying and told the prosecutor he didn’t want to be photographed.</p> <p>He described a phone call between Currie and Bartley that happened after the fight, as well as the shooting, after they picked up Bartley and returned to Austin’s East State Street home.</p> <p>Hill said Bartley went up to Austin’s door, and moments later, he heard a gunshot. Bartley ran back and got in the car.</p> <p>“[Bartley] said, ‘Nobody better say sh-t,’” Hill said.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-860" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>Hill also testified about an apparent “beef” between Currie and Austin that predated the window-breaking.</p> <p>He described it in detail at a hearing outside the jury’s presence. He said Austin robbed Currie of three bags of marijuana and punched him in the face with brass knuckles outside Currie’s home, two days before the murder.</p> <p>Hill was at Currie’s home and learned about the alleged robbery when Currie came in with a swollen eye and told him about it.</p> <p>The jury heard a cleaned-up version that did not include details about drugs or the word robbery. They were told that the men had a dispute and Austin took property from Currie.</p> <p>Luddie Austin, James’ father, said Hill’s testimony was tough to take.</p> <p>“It was troublesome,” he said. “You can see what some people are trying to do. I know my son and his character wouldn’t have been him out there robbing nobody.”</p> <p>One of Bartley’s close friends, Ryan Small, told a jury Thursday what happened after Bartley shot Austin.</p> <p>Bartley, who considered Small to be “like a brother,” admitted he hid his gun in Small’s parents’ home after the murder.</p> <p>Small, who knew Bartley since third-grade, said he was with him in the basement when Bartley placed the gun in a black bag and stashed it in a small crawlspace, behind loose bricks.</p> <p>“He didn’t ask me,” Small said. “It’s my house. I guess I had an option.”</p> <p>Small was arrested with Bartley the next day, Bartley said. But after interviewing him, police ruled Small out as a suspect.</p> <p>Police searched his home, and found the gun.</p> <p>Small has lost contact with Bartley. They have not spoken in two years, he said, since Bartley was arrested for Austin’s murder.</p> Isaac AviluceaThu, 21 Jul 2016 20:11:15 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/admitted-killer-says-cousin-knew-about-gun-told-him-to-bring-it-in-cop-son-slay/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieMedical examiner says cop's son went into 'shock,' bled out after being shothttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/4511/<p>A Mercer County medical examiner testified Thursday that a slain city cop’s son was healthy and his body went into shock after he was shot by a city man outside a Trenton home in February 2013.</p> <p>James Austin, 18, the son of retired Trenton cop Luddie Austin, was shot once in the chest Feb. 26, 2013, outside his girlfriend’s East State Street home, following a fight with another man, Raheem Currie.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-815" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin-210x300.jpg" alt="James Austin with his twin daughters." width="210" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin-210x300.jpg 210w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin.jpg 531w" sizes="(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin with his twin daughters.</p> <p>Currie and his cousin, Robert Bartley, returned to the home with two others minutes after Currie and Austin smashed each other’s car windshields.</p> <p>Bartley admitted fatally shooting Austin, in pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter, and is expected to testify this afternoon.</p> <p>Currie is on trial, accused of conspiring with his cousin to retaliate against Austin, which ended in his death.</p> <p>Prosecutors called ballistics and medical experts to testify this morning. The ballistics experts examined a .32-caliber handgun and a shell casing recovered at the murder scene and concluded it was came from the handgun used to kill Austin.<span id="more-4511"></span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.7;">Forensic pathologist Raafat Ahmad took the stand afterward and described how she performed an autopsy on Austin. She examined his body, the bullet hole in his chest, and determined his manner of death was homicide.</span></p> <p>Jurors were shown photos of Austin, laying face-up on a gurney inside the medical examiner’s office. A victim advocate warned family members before the gruesome, graphic photos were put up on an overhead projector.</p> <p>After removing his shirt, which had a bullet hole and drops of blood, and opening up his chest cavity during an internal examination, Ahmad found Austin’s left lung had collapsed after it was pierced by a bullet that never left his body.</p> <p>About three-fifths of his blood was inside his chest, causing massive internal hemorrhaging that forced Austin’s body into “irreversible shock,” Ahmad said. He lost so much blood that the his organs were pale and shut down, the medical examiner testified.</p> <p>Austin was rushed to the hospital, into emergency surgery, but doctors could not save him. He lived less than a half-hour after being shot by Bartley.</p> <p>Ahmad said Austin was healthy, other than the fatal gunshot that cost him his life.</p> <p>“Was there any way that James Austin could have survived these injuries?” Assistant Prosecutor James Scott asked.</p> <p>Ahmad said that Austin did not stand a chance.</p> <p>Andrew Ferencevych, Currie’s attorney, questioned the doctor about her autopsy report, toxicology reports and Austin’s tattoos.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-860" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>Luddie Austin, James’ father, rubbed his forehead and kept his eyes downcast as Currie’s attorney asked about his son’s tattoos but didn’t seem to tie it into the murder conspiracy case against his client.</p> <p>Austin’s mother, Yvonne Maxwell, rubbed Luddie’s shoulder, in a consoling manner.</p> <p>Ferencevych turned his focus to the toxicology results, questioning the doctor about what they showed.</p> <p>“He had a slight amount of marijuana in his system,” Ahmad said, raising her voice. “But it didn’t cause his death.”</p> Isaac AviluceaThu, 21 Jul 2016 12:22:48 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/4511/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieJudge shoots down mistrial in Trenton cop son slay casehttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/judge-shoots-down-mistrial-in-trenotn-cop-son-slay-case/<p>A judge Thursday morning rejected a request from Raheem Currie’s defense attorney for a mistrial based on testimony from a Trenton Police officer who noted that the victim, James Austin, was the son of a retired police officer.</p> <p>Currie is being tried for conspiring with his cousin, Robert Bartley, to murder Austin, the slain 18-year-old son of retired city cop Luddie Austin, in February</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2842" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>2013.</p> <p>“A mistrial should only be granted to prevent an obvious failure of justice,” Judge Pedro Jimenez said. “There has to be clear showing of actual harm.”</p> <p>The issue revolved around the testimony of Drew Astbury, a K-9 officer from Trenton Police.</p> <p><span id="more-4505"></span>While responding to a question from Assistant Prosecutor James Scott about whether he learned the victim’s identity, Astbury, who first responded to the shooting at East State Street residence, noted Wednesday that James Austin was the son of “one of our own.”</p> <p>The comment drew an immediate objection from Currie’s attorneys. And the matter was addressed at sidebar.</p> <p>Afterward, Jimenez told jurors to disregard the police officer’s comment because Austin’s connection to the police department was not “relevant.”</p> <p>But Jack Furlong, Currie’s attorney, didn’t feel the instruction eliminated the taint the comment may have on jurors’ deliberations. And on Thursday morning, he asked the judge for a mistrial because Astbury’s testimony, along with memorial buttons Austin’s family have worn at trial, cast a “partisan and prejudicial” pall over the murder trial.</p> <p>Scott, arguing against the mistrial, said Astbury’s testimony was “not solicited by the state.” The passing comment, while extraneous, did not impact the fairness of the trial, the prosecutor said.</p> <p>“In trial,” Scott said, “things happen.”</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-815" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin-210x300.jpg" alt="James Austin with his twin daughters." width="210" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin-210x300.jpg 210w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin.jpg 531w" sizes="(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin with his twin daughters.</p> <p>After listening to opposing attorneys present their cases, Jimenez rejected Furlong’s argument as nothing more than “artful legal terminology” and denied the mistrial request.</p> <p>Delivering a decision from the bench, Jimenez touched on the frayed collective nerve of Americans who have denounced and demonstrated, sometimes violently, against a rash of police shootings of black men and other police misconduct cases around the country.</p> <p>The judge said public’s views of police officers have shifted from “deification to demonization,” and the mistrust of cops has infiltrated the judicial system. Jurors, he said, scrutinize police officers’ testimony more these days than they may have a decade ago.</p> <p>“We readily observe people can think that a police officer is less likely to tell the truth than a [civilian]," Jimenez said, noting prospective jurors in Currie’s case were dismissed because of a potential bias against cops.</p> <p>“For better or worse, things have changed in our society,” the judge said. “There's no discernible basis or evidence beyond mere speculation that [Astbury’s] testimony was nothing more than irrelevant information to be stricken from the record with a curative instruction.”</p> Isaac AviluceaThu, 21 Jul 2016 10:16:20 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/21/judge-shoots-down-mistrial-in-trenotn-cop-son-slay-case/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieGirlfriends take stand at trial for Trenton man accused in cop son's deathhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/20/girlfriends-take-stand-at-trial-for-trenton-man-accused-in-cop-sons-death/<p>As she sat in the back seat of a Honda Civic parked outside the home of a retired city cop’s son in February 2013, Endia Kaver admitted to police that she was nervous.</p> <p>Her boyfriend, Raheem Currie, and James Austin, had been involved in a fight earlier that day. And now they had returned with Currie’s cousin, Robert Bartley, to settle the score.</p> <p>Kaver, Currie’s longtime girlfriend, remembered thinking to herself, as Bartley stepped out of Honda Civic and informed the group he planned to spray up Austin’s East State Street home, “Lord, don’t let this get out of hand.”</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2842" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>Testifying Wednesday at Currie’s murder conspiracy trial, Kaver told jurors she had no idea what Bartley meant about spraying up the home of Austin, the slain 18-year-old son of retired Trenton cop Luddie Austin.</p> <p>“I don’t know what he meant necessarily at the time,” said Kaver, a short, African American woman with long, braided hair that had streaks of red. “I didn’t know [Bartley] had a gun.”<span id="more-4502"></span></p> <p>She found out after hearing a single gunshot that struck Austin in his chest, and ended his life Feb. 26, 2013, following an earlier fist fight between the men that ended with Currie and Austin breaking each other’s car windows.</p> <p>After the initial dispute, Currie, Kaver and another man, Brandon Hill, picked up Bartley and returned to Austin’s home.</p> <p>Bartley, who the defense has said acted as a lone wolf to protect his younger cousin Currie, got out of the car and planned to settle the beef with deadly force, prosecutors said.</p> <p>Assistant Prosecutor James Scott was practically beside himself as Kaver feigned ignorance about Bartley’s intentions.</p> <p>“So you knew that when he said he was going to spray up the house, he wasn’t going to go spray it with water?” Scott asked cynically.</p> <p>His question drew muffled approval from Austin’s family members who watched from the back of the courtroom.</p> <p>Kaver did not cave, offering a short, terse “no” in response.</p> <p>“You knew it was serious?” Scott said. “Much more serious than a street fight. Deadly serious right.”</p> <p>The prosecutor then had Kaver read a passage from her statement to police that described her mind state at the time.</p> <p>Kaver took the stand on the same day as Laporsha Guy, the former girlfriend and mother of Austin’s twin daughters.</p> <p>The women, both standing up for their men, were pitted against each other, their accounts of what happened mirroring each other at certain times and other times conflicting.</p> <p>Guy, 21, wearing a sleeveless black dress and white high-top Converse Chuck Taylors, became emotional throughout her testimony, especially when prosecutors played recordings of her frantic calls to 911 dispatchers, moments after her boyfriend was shot.</p> <p>Burying her face in her hands, and daubing her eyes with tissues, Guy discussed meeting Austin while they attended Trenton Central High School. They knew each other for four years when she became pregnant with twin daughters, Jakayla and Janyla.</p> <p>She told jurors that on the day Austin was killed, he visited her at her East State Street home.</p> <p>He walked in with a cheesesteak and soda, when she heard Currie yelling for Austin to come outside and fight.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-859" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg" alt="Robert Bartley" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Robert Bartley</p> <p>Austin didn’t back down, even as his girlfriend urged him to stay inside, Guy said.</p> <p>“No, Porsha, I was waiting on him,” she said.</p> <p>The men grabbed each other and traded blows, the fight lasting seconds.</p> <p>Guy saw a man and a light-skinned woman standing outside recording the fight on a cell phone.</p> <p>After the fight, Currie threw part of a purple anti-theft club through the window of Austin’s tan Infinity. Austin jumped on Currie’s car windshield, causing extensive damage.</p> <p>Then Austin went back inside the home and discussed the fight with Guy.</p> <p>“Five minutes later a knock came on the door,” Guy said.</p> <p>It was Bartley, who told Austin he owed his “people’s some money for breaking the window.”</p> <p>Austin tried to shut the door, but Robert put his foot in the doorway, brandished a handgun and shot Austin while Guy looked on helplessly, clutching one of her twin daughters.</p> <p>She ran to the bathroom and called for help.</p> <p>Trying to comfort her crying babies, she huddled over Austin to render aid while paramedics raced to the home.</p> <p>Her testimony was striking when compared with Kaver, a 24-year-old Trenton native and college dropout who earns a living as a cook.</p> <p>Kaver acknowledged she and Currie are in love and have been together for seven years.</p> <p>They met in middle school, she said, lived together for two years and still see each other three times a week.</p> <p>She said she was with Currie and another man, Brandon Hill, the afternoon of Feb. 26, 2013.</p> <p>They visited a CVS store on Greenwood and North Olden avenues, where she purchased candy and made copies of her Social Security card.</p> <p>Shortly after, the group left and ran into Austin outside his home.</p> <p>“James was saying what’s up,” she said. “Raheem was saying what’s up back to him.”</p> <p>After exchanging words, Raheem turned around his aunt’s silver Honda Civic, and the men argued on the sidewalk before coming to blows.</p> <p>Hill recorded the fight on his cell phone, Kaver said, until she told him to break up the fight. He handed her the phone and intervened. Kaver said they all got back into the car, Currie climbing with her into the back seat, and drove off.</p> <p>On the way home, Currie asked for Kaver’s cell phone to call home. Kaver said.</p> <p>She said heard her boyfriend speaking to Bartley, and asked him if his mother was there.</p> <p>But she did not recall Currie telling Bartley to get his gun from where it was hidden inside the home they shared on the 600 block of Greenwood Avenue.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-815" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin-210x300.jpg" alt="James Austin with his twin daughters." width="210" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin-210x300.jpg 210w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin.jpg 531w" sizes="(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin with his twin daughters.</p> <p>That is a crucial point of contention in the case, as prosecutors allege that Currie conspired with Bartley in that phone call to retaliate against Austin, leading to his death.</p> <p>The defense said Currie made no such plans, and that Bartley, who is expected to take the stand Thursday, is testifying against his cousin because he is benefitting from a plea deal with prosecutors. His deal calls for him to serve 25 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter.</p> <p><a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/20/trenton-detective-city-man-broke-down-confessed-during-murder-interrogation/">Retired Trenton Police detective Gary Britton testified earlier in the day</a> that Bartley confessed during an interrogation to killing Austin.</p> <p>“He was not sure what we were able to find out about what happened,” said Britton, who spent 24 years with Trenton Police. “He seemed to be curious about a fight that took place a day before with his cousin. By the end of that, he was completely broken down, sobbing, apologetic, angry that he made the decision that he made.”</p> Isaac AviluceaWed, 20 Jul 2016 19:14:18 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/20/girlfriends-take-stand-at-trial-for-trenton-man-accused-in-cop-sons-death/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieTrenton detective: City man 'broke down,' confessed during murder interrogationhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/20/trenton-detective-city-man-broke-down-confessed-during-murder-interrogation/<p>The city man who shot a Trenton cop’s son to death in 2013 tried to get a feel for what police knew about his involvement in the crime when he was first interrogated, a retired police detective testified Wednesday.</p> <p>But by the end of the interrogation, retired Trenton Police detective Gary Britton said, the suspect, Robert Bartley, had confessed to killing James Austin, the son of well-known retired Trenton police officer Luddie Austin.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-859" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg" alt="Robert Bartley" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Robert-Bartley.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Robert Bartley</p> <p>“He was not sure what we were able to find out about what happened,” at the Feb. 26, 2013 murder, said Britton, who spent 24 years with Trenton Police until his retirement. “He seemed to be curious about a fight that took place a day before with his cousin. By the end of that, he was completely broken down, sobbing, apologetic, angry that he made the decision that he made.”<span id="more-4495"></span></p> <p>Britton also testified about a handgun that investigators recovered, stashed inside a city residence belonging to Bartley’s friend. Britton spent most of the morning being questioned in the murder conspiracy trial of Raheem Currie, Bartley’s cousin.</p> <p>Currie was initially charged with weapons possession, but  charges were later upgraded.</p> <p>Currie is accused of conspiring with Bartley to kill Austin, following an argument at James Austin's East State Street home that escalated when the men smashed each other’s car windshields.</p> <p>Prosecutors contend that Currie and two others drove to pick up Bartley after the dispute. Then they returned to Austin’s home, and Bartley shot Austin once in the chest after the cop’s son refused to pay for the damaged windshield.</p> <p>Bartley has already pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and is expected to testify against his cousin at the trial, which began with opening statements</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-860" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/03/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>Tuesday.</p> <p>Britton said the .32-caliber handgun Bartley used to shoot the city cop’s son was inside a crawlspace of a home on the 100 block of Hanford Place.</p> <p>After the fatal shooting, Bartley asked a friend to hide the gun, which had a mahogany grip. A picture of the handgun was shown to jurors on an overhead projector, while Britton answered questions from Assistant Prosecutor James Scott.</p> <p>Britton detailed for jurors on the stand the steps he took during his investigation of the murder.</p> <p>Britton took statements from people inside the vehicle as well as the city man, Ryan Small, whose home is where the gun was found. Police got Small’s permission to search the residence, Britton said.</p> <p>Britton interviewed Currie’s girlfriend, and took two statements from the driver, Brandon Hill, who was never charged for any role in Austin's murder.</p> <p>Hill drove Currie and Bartley away from the murder scene.</p> <p>Britton said Hill was a witness to the crime.</p> <p>The retired detective acknowledged under cross examination from defense attorney Jack Furlong that Hill “lied” to him during an initial interview.</p> <p>Hill claimed that he was present for the dispute between Currie and Austin but walked away. He eventually "came clean" about driving the car carrying Bartley and Currie.</p> <p>Furlong asked why Hill was not charged for lying to police.</p> <p>Britton responded, "If that were the case, everyone in the city who has been interviewed about a homicide would be arrested."</p> <p>"He actually obstructed justice,” Furlong said.</p> <p>"He delayed [it],” Britton said.</p> <p>Britton also testified about conducting two interviews with Bartley, the latter in September 2014.</p> <p>Britton said  he needed to re-interview Bartley because he didn't "feel like Mr. Bartley was being 100 percent truthful for doing what he did. we tried to come to an accurate conclusion about why that happened.”</p> <p><em>The Trentonian</em> will update this story.</p> Isaac AviluceaWed, 20 Jul 2016 11:42:05 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/20/trenton-detective-city-man-broke-down-confessed-during-murder-interrogation/James AustinRobert BartleyRaheem CurrieProsecutors say Trenton man conspired to kill Trenton cop's sonhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/19/prosecutors-say-trenton-man-conspired-to-kill-trenton-cops-son/<p>A dispute between a slain Trenton cop’s son and a city man began over shattered car windows.</p> <p>By the end of it, lives had been shattered.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2842" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg" alt="Raheem Currie" width="240" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie-240x300.jpg 240w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2015/02/Raheem-Currie.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Raheem Currie</p> <p>James Austin, 18, was shot once in the chest in his East State Street home on the afternoon of Feb. 26, 2013, as his girlfriend looked on helplessly while clutching one of Austin’s twin daughters, prosecutors said in opening statements Tuesday.</p> <p>Robert Bartley admitted fatally shooting Austin and accepted a plea that calls for him to serve 25 years in prison. He must also testify at the trial of his cousin, Raheem Currie, who faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted of conspiracy.</p> <p>Currie has maintained his innocence, and opposing attorneys delivered sharply different accounts of what happened that day.<span id="more-4492"></span></p> <p>Luddie Austin, James father, and his mother, Yvonne, along with about a dozen relatives, were in the court for the start of Currie’s trial, which began more than three years after the tragic encounter.</p> <p>Luddie and Yvonne sobbed during parts of Assistant Prosecutor James Scott’s opening statement.</p> <p>Scott said Currie planned and took steps to retaliate against Austin, and is just as responsible as Bartley for his death.</p> <p>“Even if you don’t pull the trigger, you can be held accountable, and that’s what this trial is about,” Scott said.</p> <p>The jury briefly heard testimony from retired Trenton Police detective Gary Britton, who is back on the stand Wednesday. They will also hear from witnesses who were inside Currie’s car as well as from Bartley, Scott said.</p> <p>In an even, matter-of-fact tone that belied the nerves of delivering his second-ever opening statement, defense attorney Andrew Ferencevych said the cousins did not conspire to kill Austin.</p> <p>Bartley, who was 18 months older, bigger, stronger and always looked out for his little cousin, admitted to cops that he acted alone, the defense attorney said.</p> <p>He gave police a statement 28 hours after the murder, admitting he had a gun in his pocket at the time of the shooting. Bartley told cops Currie didn’t know about the gun.</p> <p>Afraid that Austin was armed with a gun in his right hand, Bartley told police he shot Austin when the cop’s son cussed him out and lunged toward him.</p> <p>Bartley changed his story when he realized he faced life in prison if he was convicted of murder and began cooperating with prosecutors.</p> <p>“This is not a whodunit, an alibi type case,” Ferencevych said. “We know who killed Mr. Austin. Mr. Currie did not kill Mr. Austin. Mr. Bartley consistently stated no one else was responsible. He consistently said that it wasn’t’ planned, consistently said that he didn’t intend to shoot anybody. He explained there was no conspiracy and they shouldn’t charge anybody with conspiracy. But here we are.”</p> <p>The prosecutor told jurors that Currie and James Austin lost their tempers and busted out each other’s car windows. One of the damaged vehicles belonged to Currie’s aunt.</p> <p>Currie, who was with his girlfriend and another man at the time, decided to get even, Scott said. He got into a blue Honda Civil, driven by a man named Brandon Hill, and headed toward the home of a relative.</p> <p>Currie used his girlfriend’s cell phone to call his cousin, Bartley, who had a “secret gun” stashed upstairs at his residence on the 600 block of Greenwood Avenue in Trenton, prosecutors said.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-815" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin-210x300.jpg" alt="James Austin with his twin daughters." width="210" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin-210x300.jpg 210w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2013/02/James-Austin.jpg 531w" sizes="(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">James Austin with his twin daughters.</p> <p>Prosecutors said only Bartley and Currie knew about the firearm, a .32-caliber handgun.</p> <p>Scott recounted the alleged conversation between Currie and Bartley for jurors.</p> <p>“Robert, you got the gun?” Scott said, allegedly quoting the defendant.</p> <p>Bartley retrieved the gun, got into the car, and the group headed back toward James Austin’s East State Street home.</p> <p>On the way over, Currie asked Bartley to hand over the gun, Scott said, but he didn’t.</p> <p>Instead, Bartley took matters into his own hands.</p> <p>Bartley told Currie he was going to “spray up the house,” Scott said. He got out of the car, knocked on Austin’s door and demanded that the cop’s son pay for the broken windshield.</p> <p>Austin was incredulous, Scott said.</p> <p>“What are you kidding me?” the prosecutor said, channeling Austin. “He broke my window, too. We’re even.”</p> <p>Austin went to shut the door, but Bartley put his foot in the doorway and forced it open, Scott said. While Austin’s frightened girlfriend looked on with his infant daughter in her hands, Bartley fired a single shot, striking Austin in the chest.</p> <p>Austin fell to the floor, while Bartley fled. Austin’s girlfriend called for help, and cops arrived within two minutes, Scott said.</p> <p>Bartley, Currie and others went to a residence at 119 Hanford Place, where Bartley asked his friend, Ryan Smalls, to hide the gun, prosecutors said.</p> Isaac AviluceaTue, 19 Jul 2016 18:36:11 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/07/19/prosecutors-say-trenton-man-conspired-to-kill-trenton-cops-son/James AustinRaheem Currie