Shaheed Brown | Homicide Watch Trenton

Superseding indictment charges new man in 2014 Trenton murder

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 21:54:15 -0500

The state is suddenly prosecuting a new co-defendant in connection with the 2014 murder of 20-year-old Enrico Smalley Jr.

Alvie Vereen (left) and Shaheed Brown

South Woods State Prison inmate Alvie Vereen, 27, has been charged with accomplice liability murder and weapons offenses under a superseding indictment that also charged co-defendant Shaheed Brown as an accomplice in the four-year-old Trenton homicide case.

Prosecutors since summer 2014 have accused Brown of being the triggerman and sole party responsible for Smalley’s violent death, and Brown has subsequently weathered three murder trials that each ended with a hung jury.

Brown, 34, of Trenton, used a third-party shooter defense that implicated Vereen in the murder, but the state seemingly rejected that argument until this month, when the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office presented its case to a grand jury that resulted in the explosive superseding indictment charging both men with first-degree accomplice liability murder.

“It is a horrific abuse of the justice system, and it is a waste of the taxpayers’ dollars,” Edward Harrington Heyburn, Brown’s defense attorney, said Tuesday in an interview about the superseding indictment. “There is no evidence Mr. Brown aided Alvie in any way.”

The new indictment accuses Brown and Vereen of shooting and killing Smalley on July 12, 2014. Each co-defendant operated “by his own conduct or as an accomplice of another,” according to the allegations in the charging documents.

Enrico Smalley Jr.

Following the 1:20 a.m. shooting, Trenton Police were dispatched to the corner of Poplar Street and North Clinton Avenue and found Smalley lying on the sidewalk in front of La Guira Bar suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head. Smalley was rushed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Brown and Vereen were friends, and surveillance footage captures both co-defendants at the murder scene when Smalley got gunned down. About a month after the homicide, authorities found Brown and Vereen hanging out in Newark. Brown was arrested on murder charges, but Vereen back then was not charged in the case. The Trentonian previously reported that Brown and Vereen were persons of interest in a 2014 Newark carjacking case.

As the murder case played out, Brown sat in the Mercer County Correction Center on $1 million cash bail from Aug. 18, 2014, till this week, when a Superior Court judge ordered Brown to be released on electronic monitoring, prosecutors confirmed.

Meanwhile, Vereen is incarcerated in state prison for being in unlawful possession of a handgun in Newark on Aug. 17, 2014, and for committing an assault by auto in Trenton on June 11, 2016, according to public records. He pleaded guilty in both of those cases and is scheduled to be released from state prison on Sept. 15, 2020.

If convicted of first-degree accomplice liability murder, Brown and Vereen would face 30 years to life in prison.

Brown, who has prior convictions for aggravated assault and aggravated arson, continues to maintain his presumption of innocence in the murder case. Three trial juries over the last three years each could not reach a unanimous consensus on whether Brown was guilty or not guilty of murder and weapons offenses.

Brown’s defense attorney filed a motion last month seeking to get the original indictment dismissed, but the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office outmaneuvered him by pursuing the superseding indictment that keeps the case against Brown alive and well while finally targeting Vereen for his alleged role in the slaying of Smalley.

Heyburn said his client was released Monday evening from the Mercer County Correction Center. Brown has an electronic monitor on his ankle but is free to travel within a 100-mile radius of Trenton without any curfew limitations, according to Heyburn, who said his client is expected to appear at any future mandatory court proceedings.

Free on pretrial release after being jailed for 52 months, Brown is staying with his ex-girlfriend and his child in Trenton, according to Heyburn, who said Trenton Police confronted Brown during his Monday evening homecoming.

A friend drove Brown from jail to his new digs in Trenton. When Brown finally returned home Monday evening, “They were waiting there, stopped him, told him to get out of the car,” Heyburn said of the police. “They searched him, searched his bag. They knew exactly who he was. It is continued harassment that goes from the prosecutor’s office to the Trenton Police Department.”

Heyburn said he intends to file a complaint with the Trenton Police Internal Affairs Unit over the alleged harassment.

Shaheed Brown’s third murder trial ends with hung jury

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Sat, 13 Oct 2018 18:28:45 -0400

Alleged killer Shaheed Brown remains in legal limbo following another mistrial.

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony from New Jersey State Police Detective Joseph Itri. (FILE PHOTO)

Brown’s third murder trial ended Thursday with a hung jury, prompting his defense attorney to file a motion seeking to get the indictment dismissed.

Brown, 34, of Trenton, is accused of shooting and killing 20-year-old Enrico Smalley Jr. about 1:20 a.m. July 12, 2014. Trenton Police were dispatched to the corner of Poplar Street and North Clinton Avenue, where they found Smalley lying on the sidewalk in front of La Guira Bar suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head. Smalley was rushed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities filed murder charges against Brown on July 14, 2014, and ultimately arrested him in Newark about a month later. Brown has been unable to post his $1 million cash bail, so he remains incarcerated at the Mercer County Correction Center while his case lingers through the courts.

With another jury being deadlocked and another mistrial being declared in the case against Brown, “The state is evaluating its options,” Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutors Office, said Friday via email.

In a criminal trial, a jury must unanimously agree on a verdict for a defendant to be acquitted or convicted of a crime. In Brown’s case, three juries over the last three years each could not reach a unanimous consensus on whether he was guilty or not guilty of murder and weapons offenses.

Retired Mercer County Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson declared the first mistrial on Oct. 29, 2015, and he declared the second mistrial on May 13, 2016. Judge Thomas Brown declared the third mistrial on Thursday.

A grand jury handed up an indictment on Nov. 5, 2014, charging Shaheed Brown with first-degree purposeful murder, second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun and second-degree certain persons not to have a weapon due to a prior conviction. Brown previously served time in state prison for committing an aggravated assault in Newark on July 8, 2002, and for committing an aggravated arson in Essex County’s jurisdiction.

Enrico Smalley Jr.

Edward Harrington Heyburn, Brown’s defense attorney, filed a motion on Friday seeking to get that indictment dismissed. If Judge Brown grants the motion, it would exonerate Shaheed Brown of any wrongdoing in connection with the homicide of Smalley. A dismissed indictment would also force the state of New Jersey to drop the case, because it is unconstitutional for a defendant to be subjected to double jeopardy in criminal prosecution.

Under New Jersey case law, a court “should not disturb an indictment if there is some evidence establishing each element of the crime.” Prosecutors say surveillance footage depicts Shaheed Brown and Enrico Smalley Jr. walking together minutes before the fatal shooting, which was not captured on video.

Prosecutors say this surveillance photo shows Shaheed Brown (left) and Enrico Smalley Jr. minutes before Smalley was gunned down outside of La Guira Bar on July 12, 2014.

It is common for defense attorneys to move for dismissal of indictments, but it is rare for judges to grant such motions without the state’s consent.

Heyburn on March 31 filed a civil complaint in U.S. District Court on Brown’s behalf seeking to have New Jersey’s Criminal Justice Reform Act declared unconstitutional and seeking compensatory damages for the CJRA giving what Heyburn calls “preferential treatment” to defendants arrested since Jan. 1, 2017, who often receive speedier trials than defendants arrested before that date.

Alleged Trenton killer Shaheed Brown files class-action lawsuit seeking speedy retrial, damages

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 20:48:27 -0400

An alleged killer who has been jailed on $1 million cash bail since August 2014 has filed a federal class-action lawsuit seeking to get the New Jersey Criminal Justice Reform Act abolished.

Shaheed Brown, 34, of Trenton, is suing state officials on allegations he and others in his class are being deprived of speedy trials due to the bail reform law giving “preferential treatment” to defendants arrested after Jan. 1, 2017.

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony during one of his murder trials that ended in a hung jury. (FILE PHOTO)

Brown is accused of shooting and killing 20-year-old Enrico Smalley Jr. about 1:20 a.m. July 12, 2014. Trenton Police were dispatched to the corner of Poplar Street and North Clinton Avenue, where they found Smalley lying on the sidewalk in front of La Guira Bar suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head. Smalley was rushed to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities filed murder charges against Brown on July 14, 2014, and ultimately arrested him in Newark about a month later. Brown has been unable to post monetary bail, so he remains incarcerated while his case lingers through the courts.

Brown so far has had two murder trials, both of which ended in hung juries. Retired Mercer County Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson declared the first mistrial on Oct. 29, 2015, and declared the second mistrial on May 13, 2016.

Court records show Brown was scheduled for trial in January but had the matter adjourned in favor of more pretrial motion hearings and status conferences. It could take weeks or months before he is given another opportunity to maintain his innocence before a jury of his peers.

In his civil-action complaint filed March 31 in Trenton federal court, Brown says a “significant number of plaintiffs” like him are detained in county jails throughout the state for charges that predate the implementation of the Criminal Justice Reform Act, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2017.

A majority of New Jersey voters in 2014 passed an amendment to the state’s Constitution giving prosecutors the power to place newly arrested defendants on pretrial detention, eliminating the constitutional right to bail. The Criminal Justice Reform Act, also known as the CJRA, transformed the Garden State’s criminal justice system.

The state under the CJRA is empowered and encouraged to keep newly arrested defendants in jail without bail in cases involving serious offenses, such as murder. With some exceptions, any defendant held without bail on pretrial detention must be indicted within 90 days and must go to trial within 180 days after indictment.

Any defendant on pretrial detention must be tried within two years at the maximum. A defendant must be released from pretrial detention if the state fails to comply with the speedy trial mandates, although the prosecution can file motions seeking to keep those defendants locked up indefinitely whenever a time limit elapses.

Brown alleges his civil rights are being violated because he is not receiving a speedy trial due to him getting arrested before the Criminal Justice Reform Act took effect.

“The CJRA created a special class of detainees who by statute are entitled to preferential treatment when it comes to scheduling trial,” Brown alleges in his complaint. “The practical effect of giving post-CJRA defendants preferential treatment with respect to trials is that plaintiff Shaheed Brown and other plaintiffs will be incarcerated even longer as their trials are delayed to accommodate the post-CJRA defendants.”

Edward Harrington Heyburn, Brown’s defense attorney, filed the civil complaint in U.S. District Court on behalf of his client and “all others similarly situated.”

Brown wants the Criminal Justice Reform Act to be declared unconstitutional and wants to prevent the state from enforcing it. He also wants himself and other members in his class to receive damages “to compensate for the injuries they have suffered” as a result of the CJRA.

The man accused of killing Enrico Smalley Jr. is suing New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, New Jersey acting courts director Glenn A. Grant and Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw over the Criminal Justice Reform Act.

Enrico Smalley Jr.

Grant issued a “confidential memo” ordering Superior Court judges to schedule newly arrested defendants to trial before defendants who were arrested in the pre-CJRA era, according to Brown’s complaint. He says defendants held without bail under the CJRA get scheduled to trial before plaintiffs like him who have been detained longer on high monetary bails.

Brown alleges the Criminal Justice Reform Act violates the Sixth and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution by infringing upon plaintiffs’ right to a speedy trial and equal protection under the law.

An indictment handed up on Nov. 5, 2014, charged Brown with first-degree purposeful murder, second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun and second-degree certain persons not to have a weapon due to a prior conviction. He previously served time in state prison for committing an aggravated assault in Newark on July 8, 2002, and for committing an aggravated arson in Essex County.

Brown is scheduled for an April 16 status conference and an April 30 motion hearing before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi, according to court records. He last had a status conference on March 20.

The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office had no comment for this story. A spokesman for the New Jersey Judiciary did not respond to an email requesting comment Friday.

Urging dismissal, attorney for Newark gang member says third trial 'destined' for mistrial

Isaac Avilucea — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 14:17:37 -0500

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony from State Police Detective Joseph Itri. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

Convicting accused killer Shaheed Brown has become a family affair.

Meanwhile, the former Newark gang member continues to fight for his freedom in a case that has plagued Mercer County prosecutors who haven't convinced juries in two trials six months apart that Brown gunned down 20-year-old Enrico Smalley Jr. outside a crime-ridden Trenton bar in 2014.

Brown’s attorney said in court papers a third trial is “destined” to end the same way.

The case has been passed on to Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian, the wife of retired prosecutor Brian McCauley.

McCauley handled the case at the first two trials – both ending in mistrials after juries came back deadlocked – before he retired this summer following 29 years with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Despite the past results, Gasparian is moving forward with the case. Brown has been locked up for more than two years and remains at the Hudson County jail on $1 million bail.

The judge who presided over the first two trials, Andrew Smithson, refused to reduce bail after Brown, while seated at the defense table, turned to a reporter at the back of the courtroom and expressed frustration with not being able to get a “fair shake” from the judge.

Smithson threw that in Brown’s face, citing the remark as proof of his belief that Brown would flee the court’s jurisdiction if he was found guilty by a jury. .

That didn’t happen, and the case has dragged on without an end in sight.

Enrico Smalley Jr.

Brown’s attorney, citing the fundamental fairness doctrine in court papers, has asked prosecutors to dismiss the case, in part because of the hung juries and alleged moribund evidence linking Brown to Smalley’s death.

Having to due with due process rights, the fairness rule bars prosecutors from keeping someone locked up indefinitely in absence of a conviction.

“It’s doubtful that the state will ever get a conviction based on the facts,” Heyburn wrote, pointing out the murder weapon was never recovered and no one identified his client as the killer.

The case rises and falls with a surveillance tape that captured the last moments of Smalley’s life outside of La Guira Bar in the early-morning hours of July 12, 2014.

A retired corrections officer, Kenneth Crawford, who anonymously phoned 911 from a pay phone outside of a 7-Eleven on North Olden Avenue, testified at both trials he was in his vehicle across the street from the bar when he heard shots and saw the head and body of a man with dreadlocks making a “jerking movement” as the shots rang out.

But his testimony was far from definitive for prosecutors.

Crawford, whose view was blocked by a Lincoln Navigator parked in front of the bar, said he never saw a gun.

Edward Heyburn

Smalley and Brown both had dreadlocks, though prosecutors contend that after the murder Brown shaved his off his and skipped town for his stomping grounds of Newark.

Furthermore, Crawford said he saw Smalley’s picture in the newspaper after the murder and thought Smalley was the shooter because “it looked like the guy I saw doing the shooting.”

Brown, accompanied by his entourage, was shown arriving at the bar about 15 minutes before last call.

Dressed in a do-rag, white shirt and sagging cargo shorts, Brown was shown peeking his head into the vestibule and pacing around outside while chatting with members of his crew.

McCauley said at both trials Brown was casing the place and stalking his “prey,” as part of an ongoing feud with Smalley's gun-toting associates who had chased him from the same bar a week before.

The tape, shown repeatedly to jurors at the two trials, left a lot to the imagination. It doesn’t capture the shooting, as Brown and Smalley stepped off screen before the shots.

As they were off screen, another since-murdered city man, Rodney Sutphin, grabbed the attention of Alvie “King” Vereen.

Prosecutors say this surveillance photo shows Shaheed Brown (left) and Enrico Smalley Jr. minutes before Smalley was gunned down outside of La Guira Bar on July 12, 2014.

Vereen was pegged as the real killer by the defense because he stepped toward the area where Brown and Smalley were and suspiciously reached for his waistband.

The rub is the jury panels didn't know of Brown’s close ties to Vereen. The friends arrived at the bar together, and prosecutors said, ran off from the bar together.

They were later arrested together in Newark, accused of carjacking one of Brown’s associates. The case never went forward, however, and was barred from evidence at Brown’s trials.

Brown’s next court appearance is set for January.

No success in murder trials could impact nomination of Mercer County prosecutor

Isaac Avilucea — Tue, 17 May 2016 20:12:52 -0400

Shaheed Brown is shaping up to be the new “Boom Bat” of Mercer County.

Brown’s murder case has drawn comparisons to convicted murderer and Latin Kings leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete because of the difficulties prosecutors have had trying the cases.

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony from State Police Detective Joseph Itri. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

It has also shined a bright light on a spate of mistrials and acquittals that have legal experts debating the way prosecutors try homicide cases in Mercer County and whether a “string of bad luck” could impact the future of Angelo Onofri.

Onofri may already have an image problem because of close ties to former prosecutor Joseph Bocchini.

Weeks after prosecutors packed the courtroom and celebrated the hard-fought conviction of Negrete, news of Bocchini’s alleged sexual harassment overshadowed the win and Onofri’s coronation as top cop.

Legal experts say that blaming the lack of success in murder cases on the acting Mercer County prosecutor doesn’t take into consideration other factors. But while experts say the trend is cyclical, they agree the timing of the mistrials and acquittals could be problematic for Onofri as he vies for the nomination from Gov. Chris Christie for Mercer’s top law enforcement position.

“The issue is: Are they getting not guilty [verdicts] on cases they should be getting guilty [verdicts] or are they taking tougher cases to trial?” said J.C. Lore III, a law professor at Rutgers University. “I think that is something a governor would want to know.”

‘Boom Brown’

Jose "Boom Bat" Negrete

The Boom Bat case is the last successful murder prosecution for Onofri’s office.

Since Negrete was convicted in April 2015 of ordering the execution-style killing of gang queen, Jeri Lynn Dotson, as well as a botched murder attempt on gang turncoat Alex Ruiz, prosecutors have been dealt the following blows:

Keith Wells-Holmes is acquitted in May 2015 of fatally shooting city graffiti artist Andre Corbett.
Isiah Greene’s murder trial for allegedly shooting Bloods gang member Quaadir “Ace” Gurley to death in 2013 ends in mistrial in October.
Thirteen days later, Brown’s first trial for allegedly shooting Enrico Smalley Jr. to death ends in mistrial.
About three months later, a jury for the third time in three months can’t reach a verdict in the murder trial of suspected killers Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker, who are charged with gunning down Mercer County corrections officer Carl Batie.
And finally, last week, a jury says it’s deadlocked in Brown’s second murder.

After two failed attempts to convict Brown, legal experts say prosecutors must consider how likely a conviction is in a time where television and radio shows influence everything from the types of evidence jurors expect in criminal trials to their beliefs about the criminal justice system.

Further, there are the haunting images from places like Ferguson and Baltimore, which make jurors more skeptical of police officers and fearful of sending someone to prison for life in circumstantial cases like Brown’s where they are asked to believe the word of law enforcement, legal experts say.

“I do think 20 years of cops and robbers is going to have some impact on the way people look at cases,” said defense attorney Mark Fury, who represented Boom Bat at his first trial and also represents suspected killer Isiah Greene. “The jury pool comes from the community, and the community is questioning police and prosecutors. The fact they have a badge or title doesn’t make their mouths a prayer book.”

Furlong, the garrulous defense attorney who has been practicing law for 40 years, called it the “pissing in the milk effect.”

“If you take a 2-year-old kid and stand him along a 2,000-gallon vat of milk and he takes a leak in that milk, it might have an ounce of baby’s urine,” he said. “But when you’re offered a glass, you’re still gonna say, ‘That’s OK. I’ll pass.’ There only needs to be one viral video of a cop dropping a Taser … to contaminate the credibility of police departments nationwide.”

Prosecutor responds

Speaking generally about the difficulties prosecutors face when trying murder cases, Onofri in a statement cited, among other things, the “CSI effect,” referring to the influence the popular crime-scene television show has had on jurors in Mercer County and elsewhere. He also lauded his staff for commitment to their cases.

“This is an issue that is not unique to Mercer County,” he said. “In cases where we have had the ability to speak with jurors after a verdict, jury expectations for forensic evidence based on television and movies, are issues that may come into play. You can also never discount the potential for jury nullification. We have been experiencing witnesses that are reluctant to come forward and/or testify in court.”

Onofri would not address whether he believes his possible appointment will be impacted by the four hung juries and an acquittal in the last six murder cases his office has tried since he took over for Bocchini.

Edward Heyburn

Brown’s attorney, Edward Heyburn, speaking generally about the climate in Mercer County because of a gag order in his murder case, faulted prosecutors for the recent bout of juror indecision.

Touting as an example the criminal cases of Ed Forchion, a marijuana activist known as NJ Weedman who was arrested following a drug raid on his Trenton businesses and for disparaging a city cop, Heyburn said: “The upper echelon of the prosecutor’s office has to go. If you publish this, my concern is if anyone reads this online I might get charged with cyber-bullying.”

Hung again: Shaheed Brown jury can't reach decision for second time

Isaac Avilucea — Fri, 13 May 2016 16:11:18 -0400

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony from State Police Detective Joseph Itri. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

Enrico Smalley Jr’s brother crumpled on a bench outside of the courtroom, unable to hold back bloodcurdling shrieks that echoed through the hallways of Mercer County criminal court.

That was hours before the second trial of former Newark gang member Shaheed Brown ended in mistrial for the second time in six months.

Smalley’s family spent most of Friday outside of Judge Andrew Smithson’s courtroom, hoping for the best, preparing for the worst and reconciling that they would likely be back here again in a few months after a jury hinted Thursday it was deadlocked.

After they committed to pouring over the evidence one more time, and listening to testimony and watching surveillance tapes again to see if anyone changed their minds, a jury returned to the courtroom Friday around 3:40 p.m. and informed the judge it could not reach a unanimous verdict about whether Brown shot and killed the 20-year-old Ewing man outside of La Guira Bar in the early-morning hours of July 12, 2014.

Prosecutors must decide whether to try the case a third time or offer a new plea deal. (Their last offer, which Brown rejected, called for him to serve 45 years.)

Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley, who handled the first two trials, will not be here to try the case again as he is retiring in the summer. Another prosecutor will take over for him, though no new trial date has been set.

Defense attorney Edward Heyburn plans to ask for murder charges to be dismissed.

Both attorneys declined to comment because of a gag order that remains in place.

Smalley’s relatives sat stony-faced inside the courtroom as Judge Andrew Smithson read the jury’s note indicating they were hung. Smithson was the only one that seemed shocked.

“I thought you had a verdict for sure,” he said.

Smalley’s mother, who asked The Trentonian not to use her name, said afterward, “I don’t know what to say. I’m glad they didn’t say, ‘not guilty.’ I can’t be mad.”

Enrico Smalley Jr.

While prosecutors and Smalley’s relatives are firmly convinced Brown is the killer, two juries have been firmly unconvinced about the circumstantial case.

There was no murder weapon. No eyewitnesses stepped forward saying Brown pulled the trigger, though eight witnesses took the stand for prosecutors, each providing pieces of an incomplete puzzle.

A shifting motive witnesses testified about obliquely suggested Brown was out for revenge after he was chased from the bar a week earlier by some of Smalley’s gun-toting associates.

But there were obvious holes, and Brown and his defense attorney smartly pointed to them.

Further, Brown’s violent past and apparent ties to the notorious Grape Street Crips in Newark were at odds with the clean-shaven “choir-boy” image he put on at trial. He wore pressed dress pants, shirts and ties and thin-rail spectacles that made him appear regal rather than ruthless.

A teardrop tattoo under his left eye, which on the streets signifies a killer or someone mourning the loss of a loved one, was covered up by women’s concealer.

Also, hardly any concrete ties existed between Brown and Smalley.

Haunting surveillance tapes painted a suspicious picture of Brown with a black glove on his right hand and sagging pants, possibly from a gun, prosecutors suggested. Brown chatted with Smalley while they walked next to each other down the sidewalk around 1:21 a.m.

Moments after they disappeared into the night, another man, Alvie “King” Vereen, stepped off camera while appearing to reach toward his waistband. At that moment, frightened patrons reacted to gunshots on the soundless surveillance tapes.

That’s where Brown’s attorney came in, suggesting Vereen was the killer.

His third-party guilt defense, however, ignored close ties between Brown and Vereen. They were friends, and were arrested together in Newark for an alleged carjacking that happened about a month after Smalley’s death.

The victim, a Trenton man who is believed to have been one of Brown’s associates, refused to press charges against the men in the carjacking.

The jury was unaware of just how tight Brown’s relationship was with Vereen.

Vereen never rolled over on Brown no matter how hard investigators put the screws to him when they interviewed him three times, the first in December 2014, at a detention center in Bucks County, Pa., where he was being held on unrelated drug charges.

Vereen was never called as a witness, and would have likely invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. And Brown never took the stand in either of his two trials.

He is unlikely to take the stand in a third, since doing so would expose him to cross examination about his friendship with Vereen and a baggage-filled past, which includes convictions for attempted murder and aggravated arson – none of which juries were aware.

Knowing all that, Smalley’s mother was angered by the tactics of Brown’s defense attorney, saying it confused the two panels that deliberated the case.

“[Heyburn] blames everyone else,” she said. “They’re probably confused. It’s [Brown] but I don’t know why they’re not seeing it.”

Jurors wouldn’t explain why they couldn’t arrive at a verdict.

They scurried from the courtroom as soon as the judge dismissed them from service. Seven jurors declined separate interviews with The Trentonian, saying they did not wish to speak about the case.

The case seemed destined to end in a mistrial after the jury returned Thursday afternoon saying it could not reach a decision after about five hours of deliberations.

But the jury returned Friday to try to work through their differences after two jurors weren’t convinced the panel was at an impasse. They spent the bulk of Friday morning listening to testimony and watching surveillance tapes a second time.

It didn't help in the end, as the second trial was overcome by juror issues.

Two jurors were dismissed from the case, one over an apparent work conflict and another when she mysteriously failed to show up for deliberations Thursday.

Another woman subbed in. Deliberations started anew when the woman, Juror No. 8, could not be located after court officials called her numerous times.

Fellow jurors told the judge the woman had complained of stomach pain and had her head down at several points during deliberations.

Second juror 'vanishes,' false start on second mistrial for Shaheed Brown

Isaac Avilucea — Thu, 12 May 2016 12:55:10 -0400

A juror “vanished” into thin air and was replaced Thursday by an alternate in the second murder trial of former Newark gang member Shaheed Brown.

The woman, Juror No. 8, was the second juror to be dismissed in the retrial of Brown, who is accused of gunning down Enrico Smalley Jr. outside of La Guira Bar in July 2014, leaving only 12 jurors remaining.

That was significant because the loss of an additional juror would result in a mistrial, forcing prosecutors and the defense to embark through a third trial.

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony from State Police Detective Joseph Itri. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

And it almost ended that way, again, Thursday.

Those 12 jurors returned to a courtroom after about four and a half hours of spirited discussion and uttered the same words that haunted those at Brown's first trial: We are deadlocked and further deliberations will not be fruitful.

But when Judge Andrew Smithson polled each juror, he found they were more divided than they knew.

Two of the 12 jurors, both women, said they were "not sure" if a unanimous verdict was out of reach if they returned to the deliberations room once more to try to hash out the issues.

Apparently that was the only prodding needed. The jurors went back into the deliberations room, returned 15 minutes later and said they wanted to pour over the case for a few more hours Friday.

On their way out, they provided a list of things to the prosecutor that they need to possibly un-hang them.

If they are unable to come to a verdict Friday, prosecutors must decide whether to try the case a third time.

The two trials have already been contentious and hard-fought, with a cutthroat rivalry developing between Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley and defense attorney Edward Heyburn.

Their relationship grew even more acrimonious when Heyburn suggested to The Trentonian following the first day of jury selection in the second trial that State Police Detective Joseph Itri offered racist testimony at the first trial.

Itri testified at the first trial that he believed Brown was armed because of his sagging pants, which he contended were weighed down by a handgun. The murder weapon, a 9 mm Luger, was never recovered.

State Police Detective Joseph Itri testifies at Shaheed Brown's trial. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

An alternate subbed in for the unaccounted-for juror, and the panel started from scratch around 10 a.m. after deliberating the case over the last two days.

There was no word about the woman’s whereabouts by the end of the day.

Fellow jurors reported to Smithson that the woman complained Wednesday of stomach pain and had her head down on the table at times during deliberations.

Juror deliberations were delayed by 40 minutes Thursday morning as court staff made numerous efforts to get in touch with the juror but could not reach her by phone.

After hearing from 11 witnesses – eight put on the stand by prosecutors, three by the defense – over three weeks, and listening to closing arguments Tuesday, the jury deliberated about five and a half hours over two days.

Not wanting to delay the panel’s discussions, and without any idea of where the woman could be, the judge asked attorneys what they thought about substituting in another woman for the missing juror. They agreed.

Another juror, an African American man, was dismissed last week prior to the end of testimony because of an apparent work conflict.

There were also concerns about whether he may have overheard conversation while standing in the hallways of the courthouse during breaks and whether it may have impacted his ability to deliberate the case.

The jury asked Tuesday to review surveillance tapes from two city bars, focusing in on the moments before Smalley was gunned down. Smalley was shot six times, twice in the head, within seconds.

He and Brown were off camera at the time of the shooting, but the tapes showed another man, Alvie “King” Vereen, walked with Rodney Sutphin, toward where the two stood.

Itri testified that Brown manipulated a dark-colored object near Poplar Street, about three minutes before Smalley was shot.

Brown’s attorney looked to undercut that by arguing Vereen was more likely the shooter. He contended Vereen appeared to reach toward his waistband with his left hand prior to stepping off screen, which coincided with when bar patrons reacted to shots on the soundless surveillance tapes.

The problem is Brown and Vereen are friends and were arrested together in Newark for an alleged carjacking in August 2014, about a month after Smalley’s murder.

Enrico Smalley Jr.

The jury is not aware of the true extent of Vereen and Brown’s prior association.

McCauley told jurors in his closing argument that Brown and Vereen were friends and Vereen followed around “alpha” male Brown like a “puppy dog.”

Neither Brown nor Vereen testified in either trial. Jurors are not aware of Brown’s prior criminal record, which includes convictions for attempted murder and aggravated arson.

He spent time in solitary confinement in Newark’s high-risk gang unit of Northern State Prison, which has since closed.

Brown is believed to be a former reputed member of the Grape Street Crips, though his supporters and attorney have said he is no longer active in the gang lifestyle.

His attorney has previously driven a wedge into his client’s alleged association with the Grape Street Crips, a brutal gang the authorities say have controlled and terrorized many Newark neighborhoods, according to the Newark Star-Ledger.

Trenton man at center of defense was arrested with Shaheed Brown in 2014

Isaac Avilucea — Wed, 11 May 2016 18:35:21 -0400

When a former Newark gang member befriended a city man, the last thing he could have envisioned was being the individual a defense attorney would accuse of pulling off what a prosecutor described this week as the brutal assassination of a Ewing man.

But that is the position Alvie Vereen is in, testing the strength of his friendship with suspected killer Shaheed Brown.

The two were said at trial to be close, Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley suggesting Vereen followed Brown around like a “puppy dog” outside of a city bar that became the scene of a grisly murder.

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony from State Police Detective Joseph Itri. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

Brown is on trial for a second time for allegedly gunning down Enrico Smalley Jr. on July 12, 2014, outside of La Guira Bar.

While it has been asked to access the credibility of a third-party guilt defense implicating Vereen, the jury does not know Brown and Vereen were arrested together in Newark for an alleged carjacking, about a month after Smalley was gunned down, according to sources with knowledge of the arrest.

The panel deliberated the Newark man’s fate Wednesday without reaching a verdict.

While Brown’s alleged role in the carjacking was revealed at his bail hearing in August 2014, The Trentonian for the first time is revealing Vereen’s alleged involvement.

State Police Detective Joseph Itri said that by that time Brown was arrested in Newark, he had shaved off his long dreadlocks.

Following the murder, prosecutors contend Brown skipped Trenton for his hometown of Newark, where he had family who could help him evade authorities. His defense attorney has disputed that notion.

Prosecutors did not try to get information about the duo’s arrest before the jury, and a judge would have ruled it was improper because the carjacking case never went forward.

But it is critical in helping fill in gaps about Brown’s whereabouts following Smalley’s death.

Without a complete picture of the men’s past and without testimony from Brown or Vereen, jurors have been asked to consider which scenario is more plausible:

That Brown, who allegedly was chased from the bar by with a gun by Smalley’s associates a week before the murder, was out for “revenge” when he showed up to the bar about 15 minutes before last call and shot Smalley to death.

Or that evidence points toward Vereen, who appeared to act suspiciously on surveillance tapes, as the possible killer.

The competing theories have thrust Vereen into the center of the trial and have highlighted the disquieting connection between the men, which has been largely ignored by the defense.

Vereen, known on the streets as “King,” was with Brown in Newark when they were arrested Aug. 17, 2014 for an alleged carjacking of a Trenton man who was allegedly shot in the face.

The carjacking took place more than a month after Smalley was gunned down.

McCauley mentioned the carjacking at Brown’s bail without going into great detail.

But The Trentonian has learned Vereen allegedly was armed when he was pulled over by Newark police in a blue Lexus, according to sources with knowledge of the arrest.

When police searched the car, they found a .380 Beretta loaded with five rounds. Brown was in another vehicle, following behind the blue Lexus.

State Police Detective Joseph Itri testifies at Shaheed Brown's trial. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

Itri went to Newark and brought Brown back to Trenton, while Vereen remained in police custody in Newark.

Itri did not interview Vereen about Smalley’s murder until December 2014.

The alleged carjacking victim did not pursue charges against Brown or Vereen. And Essex County prosecutors found no trace of gun charges being filed against Vereen.

When investigators visited Vereen months later at a detention center in Bucks County, Pa., where he was locked up on unrelated drug charges, he had changed his hairstyle.

He denied being at La Guira Bar, which investigators realized was not true after reviewing surveillance tapes.

Heyburn seized on Vereen’s recalcitrance with police detectives and pointed to his actions on surveillance tapes.

Vereen was near the entrance of La Guira when Rodney Sutphin got his attention as Smalley exited.

Brown and Smalley walked down the sidewalk.

After the men step off camera, Vereen and Sutphin walked toward Smalley.

Vereen appeared to reach with his left hand toward his waistband seconds before the Ewing man was shot, Heyburn said.

Jurors cannot consider attorneys’ closing arguments and must make a decision based off evidence. It’s unclear how, if at all, Heyburn’s claims will affect jury deliberations.

Prosecutor at Shaheed Brown retrial: 'This was an assassination'

Isaac Avilucea — Tue, 10 May 2016 13:50:32 -0400

Edward Heyburn thinks he got it right when he said another man killed a Ewing man outside a Trenton bar.

In his closing arguments Tuesday, the defense attorney slammed the Mercer

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony from State Police Detective Joseph Itri. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

County Homicide Task Force, a special team of investigators formed in 2013 to combat job cutbacks, for its Descartian logic in fingering former Newark gang member Shaheed Brown for the murder of Enrico Smalley Jr. outside of La Guira Bar on July 12, 2014.

“Not everybody acts right. Not everybody does their job,” Heyburn said. “Detective [Joseph] Itri assumed he was right.”

Heyburn should have uttered a famous philosopher’s words in his closing argument -- “I think therefore I am” – because the county homicide task force wasn’t the only one guilty of Descartian logic in this case.

Brown's second trial wrapped up Tuesday, as jurors heard closing arguments before getting the case later in the day. Brown's first trial in October 2015 ended in a hung jury.

Not parsing any words, Heyburn said detectives failed to follow up leads and speak to crucial eyewitnesses before Itri drew up a warrant for Brown two days after the murder.

One of those witnesses was Kayemma Strong, who appeared from surveillance tapes to have a perfect look at the killer. Itri played a game of "cat and mouse" but never got a statement from her.

Heyburn pounced on that, attacking police and the prosecutor for their “tragic lack of humility,” which he said was symptomatic of the criminal justice system.

Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley defended the state police detective, saying the only reason he had a case was because of Itri's dogged police work tracking down people who were scared to come forward.

Those people included Smalley’s cousin, Melissa Brown, and Kenneth Crawford, a former corrections officer.

Crawford was still frightened when he testified, showing up in oversized sunglasses and putting on his best “Batman voice” to conceal his identify, the prosecutor said.

“As long as the evidence points at Shaheed Brown, they didn’t do enough,” McCauley said of investigators' efforts.

Itri was attached to the Mercer County Homicide Task Force, a seasoned group of detectives drawn from state and city police, the sheriff’s office and municipal police departments. They focused on solving murders in the area.

Heyburn said the group’s “incredible” name made them sound formidable. But in reality, he said, they missed evidence pointing at another man, Alvie “King” Vereen, one of the men who accompanied Brown to the crime-ridden bar.

“Why wasn’t a crime-scene reconstruction done?” Heyburn said, mapping out where two of the state’s witnesses were around 1:21 a.m. and pointing to the location of shell casings, which he said were closer to Vereen.

“They had resources. Detective Itri could have gone back with the witnesses. He could have gone there with each of the witnesses. But he and Mr. McCauley were right as of July 14, 2014. They were only gonna accept the evidence that fit the information of what they already decided.”

Itri on July 14 wrote up a warrant charging Brown with Smalley’s murder, based in part on a 911 tape and a statement from Crawford, the former corrections officer who made the anonymous call.

State Police Detective Joseph Itri testifies at Shaheed Brown's trial. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

Brown wasn’t apprehended until a month later, in August 2014.

By that time, McCauley noted, Brown had changed his appearance. He had shaved off the long dreadlocks, tucked underneath a do-rag, he was captured by surveillance cameras sporting when Smalley was gunned down.

The prosecutor pointed out that Brown was the last person seen with Smalley before they stepped off screen moments before gunshots rang out.

“This was an assassination,” he said.

McCauley dismissed the defense theory that Vereen was the real killer, saying Brown had a bulge in his pants, appeared to cock a “dark-colored object” three minutes prior to the murder and had beef with Smalley’s associates who chased him from La Guira a week prior.

Heyburn said it was implausible his client would pull out a handgun and cock it in front of everyone outside of La Guira Bar.

McCauley said the defense’s conclusion conveniently ignored that Vereen was Brown’s friend and a part of his entourage the night at the bar.

“Alvie Vereen did not do the shooting,” McCauley said. “Alvie Vereen is his buddy. He didn’t have time, the opportunity or the motive. Five seconds is not enough time to inflict the carnage inflicted on Enrico Smalley.”

Vereen and another man, Rodney Sutphin, followed Brown around like “puppy dogs,” McCauley said, referring to Brown as the “alpha male.”

Rodney Sutphin was captured by surveillance mingling with Brown and others outside the bar. Detectives spoke to him within hours of the murder but he denied being there. It wasn’t until weeks later that detectives discovered that was a lie. But they never confronted Sutphin about it, which Heyburn said was critical to solving the murder.

Enrico Smalley Jr.

Sutphin was killed about three months after Smalley’s death. His murder remains unsolved.

Heyburn pointed to Sutphin’s actions prior to the murder as proof he was involved in a plot to have the Ewing man killed.

Sutphin went over and got Vereen’s attention moments after Smalley exited the bar and walked down the sidewalk with Brown, Heyburn said.

The two walked next to each other, perhaps conversing along the way. As Vereen got near where Smalley was standing, he appeared to reach into his waistband with his left hand, Heyburn said.

Vereen stepped off camera and wasn’t visible for about five seconds, which coincided with when people reacted to the shots on the soundless surveillance tapes, Heyburn said.

Vereen was “within feet, if not inches” of Smalley when he was shot, Heyburn said.

When Vereen reappeared on screen, he had his hands tucked in and zig-zagged out of camera view in the middle of North Clinton Avenue.

McCauley focused on Brown’s actions, the day Smalley was killed and afterward, and a lack of witness cooperation the authorities encountered.

The prosecutor said a 911 tape, in which Crawford admitted on the stand to making assumptions when he described the shooter as being an African American man about 6 feet tall, wearing light clothing and having dreadlocks, was the “unfiltered truth.”

The phone call was made 22 minutes after the murder. McCauley played back the 911 phone call back once more for jurors.

Crawford said on the phone call, and Brown mouthed as much to his defense attorney, that he “can’t really see” the shooting. Crawford testified to as much at trial.

McCauley said Brown picked up and left his South Broad Street apartment after the murder and had a “six-week head start” on the authorities, which explained why they never recovered the 9 mm murder weapon.

McCauley said “filters” colored the case, summing up the resistance law enforcement encountered with Melissa Brown’s testimony: “When people try to tell the police stuff, they kill you.”

“How many people knew what happened?” McCauley asked. “How many people came forward? Zero. People are scared to cooperate. Joe Itri had to track them down.”

The prosecutor said Brown had no reason to be at La Guira Bar when Smalley was killed.

Brown never entered La Guira, peering into a window from the vestibule, where he knew he wouldn’t be patted down.

He lived in South Trenton and could have gone to Trenton Social or Joe’s Mill Hill Saloon if he wanted to drink. Brown showed up about 15 minutes prior to last call because he was out to get “revenge,” McCauley said, “pacing and waiting for his prey to exit the bar.”

Then the prosecutor came to the glove. Heyburn offered no explanation for why surveillance showed a black glove on his client’s right wrist.

Calling the murder brazen, McCauley suggested the glove was used to conceal fingerprints.

“You are not afraid of anyone or anything,” McCauley said. “He does it right in front of the street.”

City man with ties to notorious family testifies in Shaheed Brown retrial

Isaac Avilucea — Mon, 09 May 2016 13:19:24 -0400

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony from State Police Detective Joseph Itri. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

A city man with ties to a notorious Trenton family said Monday he was headed to a weed-filled lot to relieve himself when a Ewing man was gunned down outside a troubled city bar.

Wearing a green prison jumpsuit, his hands shackled in front of him and his hair in tight cornrows that exposed parts of his scalp, Raesean Sutphin, 21, told jurors that he saw Shaheed Brown as he rounded the corner from a vacant lot after hearing gunshots.

Brown is being tried a second time for murder after his initial trial ended last year in a hung jury.

Sutphin, the brother of slain Rodney Sutphin, did not see a gun in the former Newark gang member’s hand — or in anyone’s hand — as he peered toward the area where Enrico Smalley Jr. was shot six times, including twice in the head, near a white SUV parked in front of the bar.

“I was going to take a piss,” said Sutphin, who is one of four people who was arrested and charged with attempted murder for an unrelated October 2014 shooting that injured two city residents on St. Joe’s and Girard avenues, about a half-mile from La Guira Bar.

After the jury was dismissed for the day, Judge Andrew Smithson denied a motion from the defense for a directed verdict that relied on Sutphin’s testimony.

Smithson said there was ample evidence for the jury to consider whether Brown shot Smalley. He felt Sutphin’s testimony did little to bolster Brown’s third-party guilt defense, implicating Alvie “King” Vereen, one of the men who accompanied Brown to the bar.

In fact, Smithson remarked outside of the jury’s presence that Sutphin’s testimony about being toward the back of the vacant lot, which sits between La Guira and row homes, at the time of the shooting was “bizarre” and unbelievable.

The judge said Sutphin, who pointed himself out on surveillance wearing a bucket hat and walking in front of Smalley and Brown moments before the shooting, did not have time to get to the lot.

Sutphin’s brother, Rodney, was also at the bar the night of the murder, although he told detectives otherwise.

Rodney, who was gunned down about three months later, was never confronted about the lie.

Raesean Sutphin was with a friend, “Juice,” shortly before the shooting.

Testifying as one of three defense witnesses, Sutphin said he had known Smalley for about 11 years prior to his murder.

Sutphin did not know Brown, who did not to testify in his own defense, prior to him being charged with Smalley’s murder.

Sutphin saw a tall African American man with his hair pulled back standing with Smalley near a white SUV.

While he was urinating, Sutphin heard gunshots and crouched down to ensure he wasn’t being shot. When he re-emerged he saw Brown but did not see a gun in his hands.

Authorities did not recover the 9 mm handgun used to kill Smalley.

Prosecutors rested their case Monday morning after calling eight witnesses, including State Police Detective Joseph Itri, who last week guided jurors through surveillance tapes.

The surveillance footage from La Guira and Ann’s Place, city bars within walking distance of each other at the intersection of North Clinton Avenue and Poplar Street, did not capture the shooting but depicted Smalley’s final moments, before he stepped off camera with Brown prior to gunfire erupting, sending patrons spilling into the streets and huddling inside the bar.

Itri testified that surveillance footage, obtained from Ann’s Place, showed Brown “manipulating a dark-colored object” about three minutes before Smalley was shot.

The camera was posted on a lamppost across the street from the bar, and it was dark outside, making it difficult to determine if Brown had anything in his hands.

Closing arguments are expected to start Tuesday at 9 a.m.

Slain Ewing man’s mysterious messages dominate conversation at Trenton murder trial

Isaac Avilucea — Thu, 05 May 2016 13:50:27 -0400

The streets of Trenton probably know who killed Enrico Smalley Jr.

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony from State Police Detective Joseph Itri. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

State Police Detective Joseph Itri spent three days on the witness stand saying the evidence from his investigation pointed squarely at former Newark gang member Shaheed Brown, a man with a violent past who was the last person with the Ewing man moments before he was gunned down July 12, 2014, outside La Guira Bar.

But as criminal trials prove, nothing is straightforward, especially when defense attorney Edward Heyburn is involved. His approach, implicating another man, Alvie “King” Vereen, has not sat well with Smalley’s family.

They’ve been critical of the defense attorney’s “slippery” tactics. Heyburn, stung by the “slippery” comment, asked a judge to order Smalley’s family to refrain from speaking with reporters.

It was the latest wrinkle on a day when one of the jurors, an African-American man, was dismissed from the panel because of an apparent work conflict.

The jury, following a grueling week of testimony which tried the patience of everyone, will not return until Monday.

That didn’t stop Heyburn from capping the week with one final exclamation point, complaining that it was not fair for Smalley’s family to criticize him publicly because he cannot not defend himself since a gag order was put in place by Judge Andrew Smithson.

Prosecutors say this surveillance photo shows Shaheed Brown (left) and Enrico Smalley Jr. minutes before Smalley was gunned down outside of La Guira Bar on July 12, 2014.

In the past, Smithson has been critical of The Trentonian, referring to it at Brown’s first trial as an “irresponsible tabloid” when it published a story including a juror’s name. He has also been accused of having a personal feud with the newspaper after it was critical of him for expelling the public from his courtroom on two occasions to hold star-chamber proceedings.

But the judge, who may have been tickled when presented with another opportunity to silence his biggest critic, referred only obliquely to a reporter’s “juvenile” tweets and said he could not and would not interfere with Smalley’s relatives ability to speak freely with the press.

Michelle Jones, Smalley’s godmother, told The Trentonian she felt Heyburn was out of line for asking for the judge to censor the family, especially after they lost a loved one.

“He really doesn’t care,” she said. “It’s like he wants to put Enrico on trial. He’s doing things that shouldn’t be done. He’s saying things that shouldn’t be said.”

The judge, however, has closely controlled what the attorneys say, in court and out of it.

State Police Detective Joseph Itri testifies at Shaheed Brown's trial. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

Smithson gagged attorneys after Heyburn, thrusting himself in the reflected racialized halo of Johnnie Cochran, portrayed Itri as a regular Mark Fuhrman, the disgraced former detective for the Los Angeles Police Department, in an interview with The Trentonian following the first day of jury selection.

Fuhrman perjured himself by testifying in famed football star O.J. Simpson’s 1995 murder trial that he never used racial epithets to describe African-Americans. His credibility was dashed when recorded conversations he had with an aspiring screenwriter surfaced showing he had repeatedly used the N-word.

The racial allegations against Itri, equating a sagging pants comment he made at the first trial with Fuhrman’s insidious remarks, touched a nerve with Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley.

He surmised the detective, who worked tirelessly trying to solve the death of Smalley, a 20-year-old black man from Ewing, was being dragged through the mud in the newspaper for the public to devour.

Heyburn has been unapologetic about his tactics, concerned with seeing to it that a man he says is innocent is not locked up for the rest of his life.

Perhaps looking to outdo himself yet again, Heyburn ratcheted up the histrionics Thursday, when he delved into questions about text and Facebook messages on Smalley’s phone.

Edward Heyburn

Investigators obtained a warrant to scour the phone, looking for exchanges that might lead to whoever killed Smalley.

Heyburn attempted to question Itri about two pages of messages. But the jury heard few specifics of the phone conversations after McCauley raised an objection, leading to an eight-minute sidebar between the attorneys and the judge.

Smalley’s conversations were critical in helping Heyburn’s third-party guilt defense, and became clearer after The Trentonian obtained a recording of several sidebar conversations.

The recordings showed that Heyburn believed Smalley may have been feuding with another individual, possibly over money, a year before he was shot and killed.

Heyburn read from the slang-filled Facebook messages at sidebar before he was interrupted by the judge.

“Bro, I know you told me to chill,” the message said. “But I couldn’t control myself. Shaking my head (SMH).”

“Let me just read it,” the judge said, after McCauley questioned whether the acronym SMH really meant “Shaking my head.”

Heyburn also referenced messages Smalley allegedly exchanged with someone about “an extension,” which the defense attorney surmised was an extended clip to a high-capacity weapon.

“This is now a situation where a defense attorney is testifying what slang means,” McCauley said.

Heyburn said there was also “apparently a conversation, or at least a message, to Mr. Smalley that he either lost or didn’t properly take care of somebody else’s money, and the person was upset with him and he wants Rico to straighten it out.”

The judge said, “We’re getting into a black hole in terms of the timing, the relevancy, in terms of what it means.”

After the sidebar was over, Heyburn asked Itri vaguely about the messages and whether he investigated claims made in the messages, which were not detailed for the jury.

The day before, Heyburn also tried to get in front of the jury unsubstantiated claims made by a man named John “Buck” Meyers. Meyers was at the bar when Smalley was shot but did not see it happen.

Enrico Smalley Jr.

During another sidebar Wednesday, Heyburn discussed Meyers’ interview with Itri. Meyers told the detective he heard Smalley killed someone in the past, Heyburn said, according to the recording.

Meyers also relayed to the detective a phone call he received from a woman who has never been identified at trial, Heyburn said.

The woman, Heyburn said, told Meyers that she was “out at a block party and there’s another guy who fits Alvie Vereen’s description. She overhears the person who meets the description say, ‘I don’t give a f--- who hears it. I killed him. I’m gonna put sheets out for all of them.’ Something to that effect. That lead was never followed up on.”

McCauley called the woman’s claims “hearsay upon hearsay upon hearsay” and said they had no place in the courtroom.

Heyburn was limited to asking Itri whether he received information about whether “other people shot and killed Enrico Smalley.”

The detective’s response for jurors was: “No. Nothing other than word in the street, possibilities. All of those also included Mr. Brown. No one who saw it or heard it or anything no one with direct knowledge ever said anything other than him.”

Defense attorney works third-party guilt defense at Trenton murder retrial for Shaheed Brown

Isaac Avilucea — Wed, 04 May 2016 11:32:25 -0400

Two men were within feet of a Ewing man when he was executed outside of a city bar.

Prosecutors say this surveillance photo shows Shaheed Brown (left) and Enrico Smalley Jr. minutes before Smalley was gunned down outside of La Guira Bar on July 12, 2014.

One is dead. Another altered his appearance and misled a detective who tried to interview him three times, following the murder of Enrico Smalley Jr., who was gunned around 1:21 a.m. on July 12, 2014 outside of La Guira Bar.

State Police Detective Joseph Itri referred to Rodney Sutphin and Alvie “King” Vereen throughout his time on the stand under cross examination Wednesday.

And like he did at the first trial, defense attorney Edward Heyburn spent much of the day chiseling out a third-party guilt defense. He goaded Itri about drawing up an arrest warrant for Brown within days of the murder, saying he did not have probable cause and had not eliminated Vereen and Sutphin as suspects prior to focusing on his client.

Heyburn’s tactics rubbed Smalley’s family members the wrong way, especially since the men he pointed the finger at were part of Brown’s entourage.

Outside the courtroom, one of Smalley’s relatives remarked that Heyburn was trying some “slippery s---.”

Third-party guilt

Vereen and Michael Becket arrived with Brown outside of La Guira Bar around 1:16 a.m., according to the surveillance tapes shown to jurors.

Vereen is a central figure in Brown’s defense. Heyburn contends Vereen was the real killer based on his behavior and movements prior to Smalley being shot six times, twice in the head, outside of a packed stretch of city bars along North Clinton Avenue.

Vereen was never charged in connection with Smalley’s murder.

Sutphin, whose name precedes him in Trenton because of his notorious uncle, interacted with Brown before Smalley was gunned down. He was killed three months after Smalley’s death.

His murder remains unsolved, and it is unclear if it is linked in any way to Smalley's death.

Authorities got nowhere when they attempted to speak with the men about what they knew about the murder, Itri said.

State Police Detective Joseph Itri testifies at Shaheed Brown's trial. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

Sutphin lied to detectives about not being at the bar, which authorities did not realize until after they thoroughly reviewed surveillance tapes and spotted Sutphin and Vereen following behind Brown and Smalley moments before shots rang out.

Detectives never confronted Sutphin about the lie. Itri said a second interview was not high on the priority list because Sutphin was uncooperative.

“I wish we had truth serum that made someone cooperate,” Itri said.

Still, no matter how he was plied, led or questioned, Itri never strayed from his convictions that Brown was the shooter. He did not consider Vereen or Sutphin as suspects. He said they were witnesses -- with one caveat.

“If we want to say there’s a conspiracy,” Itri said.

Heyburn cut off the detective before he could finish his answer.

Throughout the day, Heyburn zeroed in on Vereen, re-tracing his movements on the surveillance tapes seconds before Smalley was gunned down.

Shaheed Brown listens to testimony from State Police Detective Joseph Itri. Gregg Slaboda - The Trentonian

Brown, Vereen and Sutphin huddled together on Poplar Street around 1:20 a.m.

Around the same time, Smalley appeared in the bar vestibule and greeted a man, who handed him a cigarette.

Smalley walked outside where he met with Brown. Raesean Sutphin, Rodney’s brother, and another man known only as "Juice" walked in front of Brown and Smalley.

As they walked down the sidewalk, Brown appeared to use his body to shield his right hand. A black glove was visible from the wrist. The men then stepped out of view of the cameras.

Vereen and Rodney Sutphin followed behind.

Vereen walked with his arms near his waistband as he neared Smalley, though it was unclear if he reached for a handgun, as Heyburn suggested.

Itri shrugged off the defense attorney, saying Vereen’s swinging arms were part of his “normal gait.”

Heyburn blew up the photo and asked Itri if he could tell if Vereen reached for his waistband with his left hand.

“It’s two-dimensional so I can’t tell,” the detective said.

Itri agreed there was no gunfire until Vereen stepped off camera.

The two sparred about whether Vereen appeared to tuck something into his waistband when he reappeared about two seconds later, running toward Poplar Street before stutter-stepping and darting out of sight, into the middle of North Clinton Avenue.

Itri conceded only that Vereen’s arms were tucked in close to his body and not visible to the camera.

The scene

Heyburn tried to bolster his point with the jury by cycling through photos of the shell casings and bullet fragments found outside of La Guira.

Earlier, Heyburn asked the detective about Dr. Raafat Ahmad’s autopsy on Smalley and whether investigators could have used her findings to reconstruct the shooting.

Heyburn contended Ahmad’s findings could have helped a ballistics experts determine where the shooter was when Smalley was shot. Five of the bullets entered Smalley’s body from the left side, Heyburn said.

Itri was noncommittal, asking Heyburn to “hit the definition of trajectory.”

Mum’s the word

Investigators attempted to interview Vereen for the first time in December 2014, five months after Smalley’s death. He was locked up on unrelated charges in Bucks County, Penn., Itri said.

Vereen was uncooperative, telling detectives he was not at the bar when Smalley was killed. That wasn’t true.

Like Brown, who had a clean shaven head when he was arrested in Newark in August 2014, Vereen had also changed his appearance, Itri said.

Both Brown and Vereen had dreadlocks the night of the shooting.

Vereen was only one of the numerous people detectives tracked down and tried to interview in the days and months after the murder.

Earlier in the day, Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley ticked off a list of people detectives sought out, including some of Smalley’s friends. Most people were not helpful or said they did not witness the shooting.

Detectives also spoke to the Sutphin brothers, who were at La Guira Bar around the time Smalley was gunned down.

Raesean Sutphin spoke to detectives around about 17 hours after the murder. He said he had stepped into an alleyway to “take a leak,” Itri said, when he heard gunshots.

Raesean Sutphin told investigators he was with a friend, “Juice.” They were captured by surveillance tapes walking in front of Smalley and Brown shortly before the shooting.

Heyburn said in his opening statement the men were an “escort or a block,” insinuating they were involved in a plot to kill Smalley.

Juice looked over his shoulder at Brown and Smalley. He was never identified or interviewed by authorities, Itri said.

Defending his investigation and pointing out the pains he went to ensure he had the right man, Itri said he had “no reason” to believe Raesean Supthin nor Juice was involved in Smalley’s murder.

“The point of my investigation is to find the truth,” he said. “I don’t get any compensation for solving homicides.”

Raesean Sutphin was later one of four people who were arrested and charged with attempted murder for an October 2014 shooting that injured two city residents on St. Joe’s and Girard avenues, about a half-mile from La Guira Bar.

Probable cause

Heyburn launched into his cross examination Wednesday morning by focusing on the information Itri had when he prepared an arrest warrant charging Brown with Smalley’s murder.

Itri filed a probable cause warrant charging Brown with murder two days after the slaying.

McCauley and a judge authorized the arrest warrant, which was based in part on a 911 tape, preliminary findings from Smalley’s autopsy and statements from Raesean Sutphin and former corrections officer Kenneth Crawford.

Some of the information the detective received from Crawford was shown at trial to be untrue.

Crawford acknowledged when he testified this week that portions of the 911 call he made anonymously from a 7-Eleven pay phone on North Olden Avenue about 22 minutes after the shooting were inaccurate and he made assumptions about who was the shooter.

Specifically, Crawford said he saw someone shooting down at another man and identified the shooter as a taller African-American man with dreadlocks who had fled toward North Olden Avenue following the shooting.

Itri visited the 7-Eleven and obtained surveillance that helped lead him to Crawford, who had refused to identify himself to a 911 dispatcher.

Crawford acknowledged he did not see the actual shooting because his view was obstructed by a Lincoln Navigator parked in front of La Guira Bar.

Crawford was sitting in his vehicle across the street from the bar when he was startled by gunshots. He testified this week that when he looked up, he saw the upper body of a man who appeared to be jerking.

“I’m thinking this person may be involved in the gunfire because I see their body doing a little jumping motion each time the gunfire went off,” Crawford said.

The trial resumes Thursday with Itri back on the stand.

Isaac Avilucea — Mon, 02 May 2016 15:49:31 -0400

An attorney for a Trenton man on trial for murder said a judge has jeopardized his client’s right to a fair trial over a vendetta with a newspaper reporter.

Edward Heyburn

Defense attorney Edward Heyburn said in court papers filed last week that his client, former Newark gang member Shaheed Brown, has found himself “caught in the crossfire” of a public feud between Judge Andrew Smithson and The Trentonian, which was reignited last week when the judge closed the courtroom to discuss critical comments Heyburn made about the lead detective in the case.

Heyburn said his client’s Sixth Amendment rights were being infringed upon by the spat.

The Trentonian requested Heyburn’s motion last week but was told by court officials that Smithson had to approve its release before it could be made public.

Smithson OK’d the release Monday. In doing so, Smithson addressed for the first time the hostility with the newspaper and how it has not impacted his ability to ensure Brown gets a fair trial. He called Heyburn’s assertion to the contrary “misguided and really upsetting.”

“Nothing could be further from the truth and nothing could be more hurtful to me as a judge to hear something like that thrown at me,” Smithson said. “Court reporters are working for papers. Papers want to stay in existence they want to sell papers they want to make money for their shareholders and so forth. Court reporters … do what they have to do to get a paycheck. That’s how I see it.”

The controversy started last week, when Heyburn told The Trentonian that state police detective Joseph Itri should not be allowed to make “a racist argument” by testifying at the retrial that he believed Brown was armed with a handgun because he had sagging pants the night Enrico Smalley Jr. was fatally shot outside of a city bar in July 2014.

That led Smithson to hold a private hearing in which he excluded the public from the courtroom. Smithson also put in place a gag order preventing the attorney from discussing the murder case with the media and sealed transcripts of the private hearing.

Heyburn focused on whether the court should use a stenographer or CourtSmart, a recording system used by courts statewide, for the rest of Brown’s second trial.

Heyburn’s emergency motion asked Assignment Judge Mary Jacobson to rule on the matter, noting Smithson’s motivation for using a court reporter stemmed from his desire to make “it difficult for The Trentonian to obtain the court record.”

Smithson said he decided to use the recording system the night before Heyburn filed his motion.

The feud between Smithson and The Trentonian traces back to Brown’s first trial, which ended with a jury being unable to decide whether he gunned down Smalley.

The Trentonian reported extensively on the trial and wrote stories critical of Smithson after he shut out the public and press from his courtroom to hold a behind-close-doors meeting with a juror.

The juror said he overhead Brown’s attorney discussing a possible conspiracy with his client’s family.

The Trentonian was not allowed in the courtroom for the hearing but lawfully obtained a recording of the hearing and wrote a story about it, which included the juror’s name.

Smithson was furious when he found out the newspaper published the juror’s name, blasting a newspaper reporter in front of jurors at the conclusion of Brown’s first trial.

Smithson again addressed that episode Monday morning.

“They can print anything they want and we’ve had, too, with the juror’s name in the last trial,” he said. “That was shocking to me. It was like putting a bullseye on somebody’s back. It was one of the few times in my life that I was happy to see a mistrial because if it had been a finding of guilty that juror would have lived in fear for the rest of his life.”

Murder suspect breaks silence, openings follow as murder trial begins in Trenton

Isaac Avilucea — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 11:41:32 -0400

Former Newark gang member Shaheed Brown poured his attorney a cup of water.

Defendant Shaheed Brown listens to trial testimony. (Gregg Slaboda - Trentonian)

Harried defense attorney Edward Heyburn needed it after giving a long-winded and disjointed opening statement Thursday, in his client’s second trial for allegedly gunning down Enrico Smalley Jr. outside of La Guira Bar on July 12, 2014.

Both attorneys’ opening remarks to jurors were restrained, devoid of some of the more explosive material highlighted at the first trial and later in the day when a judge cited a reporter’s social media rumblings to deny allowing Brown to be freed on bail while his trial plays out.

This happened after Brown complained about how his case has been handled by Judge Andrew Smithson. There was never a dull moment in the highest-profile trial in Mercer County, which opened on a day when prosecutors secured convictions in an aggravated assault and robbery cases.

Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley’s opening in the murder trial was pointed, though not poignant, as he laid out the last minutes of Smalley’s life, when he was captured by video surveillance walking down the sidewalk with the man accused of pulling the trigger.

Prosecutors say this surveillance photo shows Shaheed Brown (left) and Enrico Smalley Jr. minutes before Smalley was gunned down outside of La Guira Bar on July 12, 2014.

“There was no struggle,” McCauley said. “There was only death, only murder.”
One of the two witnesses called to the stand discussed the gruesome scene outside the bar.

Sgt. Steve Wilson, a 22-year veteran of Trenton Police known to city residents by the nickname “Indian” for his mocha complexion, said he was pulling out of the parking lot at police headquarters two blocks away when the call went out for shots fired.

He raced to the scene as “pandemonium” unfolded. People scurried from the streets. A group of people, including some of Smalley’s friends, had circled around him.

Smalley was shot several times and was on his back on the blood-splattered sidewalk.

Wilson said the Ewing man’s friends begged him for assistance.

“‘Indian,’ they s said, “save him. He’s my friend. Save him.”

Wilson checked Smalley for a pulse, noticed he was still breathing and talked to him. He attempted to call for an ambulance but the dispatcher initially couldn’t hear over the piercing screams. Smalley’s friends quieted the frenzied crowd.

Smalley died at the hospital, his clothes collected by a crime scene detective who also testified.
She photographed and collected evidence from outside the bar, which included bullet fragments and 9 mm shell casings.

No fingerprints were found on the shell casings. A murder weapon was never recovered.

Heyburn’s task was as difficult as investigators who arrived outside the chaotic bar.

Shaheed Brown

He tried to reconstruct the murder scene using a stodgy diagram, hoping to give the jury “a road map” of where witnesses and others were at the time of the shooting.

He hoped to show jurors Brown not only “wasn’t the shooter, but couldn’t have been the shooter.”

Heyburn’s road map was littered with distracting detours and roadblocks.

Heyburn mentioned a random man on the street known as “Juice” whose apparent role in the case is he was part of “an escort or block” that included Rasean Sutphin.

Surveillance video that will be played at trial will show the men walked in front of Brown and Smalley moments before the shooting.

The defense attorney kept getting interrupted by Smithson and McCauley.

The judge told Heyburn he veered off course in what was supposed to be a recitation of facts that will come out at trial.

“This is sounding very much like final arguments,” Smithson said.

McCauley objected several times to Heyburn’s statements.

Heyburn appeared flustered, thanking jurors for remaining attentive throughout his opening.

It was unclear if the 14 jurors – six of whom are African-American – stayed tuned in to the defense attorney.

Heyburn criticized the lead detective in the case and complained prior to trial that too few blacks were in the jury pool, leading the judge to hold a closed-door hearing and issue a gag order barring the attorneys from speaking with the media.

The judge sealed the transcript of the contentious private hearing he had with the attorneys this week.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey criticized Smithson’s decision to lock out the public and the press from the courtroom without holding a hearing.

Heyburn filed an emergency motion Wednesday morning asking the court to use a recording system, rather than a court reporter, for the remainder of trial. The court reporter was absent from Thursday’s proceedings.

Heyburn was concerned the judge used the court reporter so The Trentonian couldn’t access recordings. His concerns were grounded in a spat between Smithson and the newspaper at Brown’s first trial.

Smithson blasted The Trentonian for publishing a story about a juror who overheard Heyburn talking with Brown’s family about a possible “conspiracy.”

The issue was raised at a closed-door hearing in which Smithson also barred the public from the courtroom.

The Trentonian lawfully obtained a recording of the discussion and published the juror’s name, drawing Smithson’s ire. He slammed the newspaper in front of jurors at the end of the first trial, which ended in a hung jury.

Prior to the start of his second trial, Brown turned to the back of the courtroom and said, “I can’t get a fair shake with this judge.”

Brown’s comment haunted him later in the day.

Smithson cited a Trentonian reporter’s tweet about the comment in refusing to change Brown’s bail from $1 million cash.

“If that’s his feeling,” Smithson said, “that’s all the reason more for him to flee this courtroom and this court’s possible justice.”

Brown was upset by Smithson’s ruling over an issue raised about the past testimony of former corrections officer Kenneth Crawford, who made an anonymous call to authorities within a half-hour of the shooting outside of the bar.
Crawford is also expected to testify in this trial.

He gave a suspect description to the dispatcher and relayed what he believed he saw after being startled by the sound of gunshots while he sat inside his vehicle in the early-morning hours

Crawford testified at the first trial last year that he misidentified Enrico Smalley Jr. as the man he believed was shooting outside the bar. He described seeing a dreadlocked man reacting to shots, though he did not see a gun in his hand because his view was obscured by a vehicle parked in front of the bar.

After reading news coverage of the murder, he realized Smalley was the victim not the shooter. Crawford read the statement he gave state police detective Joseph Itri at the first trial.
Prosecutors played a 911 tape of the anonymous phone call Crawford made to police.

On the tape, Crawford said he saw the shooter, describing him as a black man with dreadlocks, standing about 6 feet tall and weighing 180 pounds, and wearing a white T-shirt. He said the shooter and another man fled from the bar toward North Olden Avenue.

The former prison guard’s testimony appeared to contradict what he told the emergency dispatcher. He testified he did not see the shooter’s face.

Heyburn said parts of Crawford’s 911 phone call were “inaccurate” and the jury should be barred from hearing it in at the second trial.

McCauley said the former corrections officer’s phone call was allowed as an “excited utterance,” and exception to hearsay, because he was in a “state of nervousness” when he made the call.

The judge agreed. Heyburn said the judge was “setting up [the trial] for a reversal.”

The trial resumes Monday at 9 a.m.

Hot potato plays out in jury selection for Trenton murder retrial of Shaheed Brown

Isaac Avilucea — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 18:18:47 -0400

"Your honor, please thank and excuse juror …”

No. 10 was the “hot seat” on the third day of jury selection in former Newark gang member Shaheed Brown’s second murder trial. Virtually anyone who sat in it Wednesday was a goner.

Defendent Shaheed Brown listens to trial testimony. (Gregg Slaboda - Trentonian)

There was the AMC movie theater manager who said there was “nothing special about me.” The attorney for pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Meyers Squibb with the ex-husband who is a law professor at Howard. She was sent packing by Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley.

Another gunshy man couldn’t keep his voice up. It was a telltale sign for Judge Andrew Smithson that he was nervous and wasn’t a fit for a jury tasked with deciding whether former Brown gunned down Enrico Smalley Jr. outside of crime-ridden La Guira Bar in July 2014.

A young black woman, a student at Temple University in Philadelphia, was asked if she felt she would make a good juror. She candidly shook her head. The judge asked why.

She said she believed she would have trouble paying attention to evidence presented at trial.

One prospective juror, sitting in the gallery, remarked in a scornful tone, “She goes to Temple?”

It was the judicial version of Facebook, gossipy and high school-esque in all of its protracted glory as each prospective juror poured out their heart and beliefs for the attorneys and others to judge during an exhaustive – and exhausting – day of whittling down the field.

Jurors were asked about their tastes in books, music and television to questions about their personal lives and what bumper stickers are on their cars.

“I’d like you more if you were a dog,” one prospective female juror said about one plastered on the refrigerator in her kitchen.

Some answers were comical and piercing, particularly one from the ex-wife of a Ewing cop who didn’t hide her disdain for her former lover.

Smithson asked the woman about her views on law enforcement officials and if being married to one made her partial to cops.

Prosecutors say this surveillance photo shows Shaheed Brown (left) and Enrico Smalley Jr. minutes before Smalley was gunned down outside of La Guira Bar on July 12, 2014.

“Are we talking about him or his views,” the woman responded, drawing laughs from those packed into the courtroom for the cattle call that is jury selection.

Despite the sensitive inquisitions, the mood inside the courtroom remained jocular due to chatter-box Smithson.

He cracked jokes, waxed poetic about his legal career and talked auto shop with one prospective juror, wanting to know more about how the man came to own a classic 1957 Chevy Bel Air.

Polarizing as he is to attorneys and reporters, prospective jurors connected with the old retired judge, who just a day before was drawing heat from the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey for his decision to shut the press and public out of his courtroom for a private discussion with attorneys.

The closed-door meeting was prompted after defense attorney Edward Heyburn accused state police detective Joseph Itri of offering racist testimony at Brown’s first trial.

The cop testified that sagging pants on the streets were a pretty good indication if someone was armed with a handgun.

Prospective jurors were queried about how likely they were to believe the testimony of a police officer over a lay person.

Shaheed Brown

Most people – even those with family members and friends in law enforcement – were unanimous the badge would not have any undue influence over them.

One woman said she viewed law enforcement officers as unimpeachable beacons of morality whom she respects.

She tried saving herself from getting the boot by adding, “if it was my child on trial, I would want him to get a fair trial.”

But it was of little use.

Heyburn asked the judge to excuse her, guaranteeing at least one more day of this tedious process.