Arrell Bell | Homicide Watch Trenton

Co-defendant in Myspace Murder gets shot in Trenton

Paul Mickle — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:57:44 -0400

TRENTON — Another of the suspects in the 2008 Myspace Murder was gunned down on a Trenton street, only hours before a jury announced the conviction of his co-defendant, Keith Williams, authorities said today.

Brandon "Sheistbub" Edwards

The victim was identified as Brandon Edwards, aka “Sheistbub,” who is awaiting trial for his alleged role in the assassination of Arrell Bell, 20, on May 1, 2008.

Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Brian McCauley said after a jury came in with the murder-conspiracy conviction of Williams Friday morning that he learned one of the three other co-defendants had been shot overnight.

Though a Trenton spokesman was not available for confirmation this morning, Williams defense lawyer Mark Fury said he was told Edwards was the victim. Fury said 10 shots were fired at Edwards and another man and that “Sheistbub” was shot through the torso.

McCauley said he’s expected to live and that Trenton police were investigating to see if the curbside gunning had anything to do with the case against Williams, who was still awaiting this morning’s verdict when codefendant Edwards was shot.

Keith Williams

Williams was convicted of setting up the murder of Bell in My Space messages with codefendant Karim Sampson and also indicted Edwards and John Murphy — all gangsters in the SMM wing of the Bloods.

Fury said the shooting might not have anything to do with Bell case, but could be “just another example of what life is like for African-American males between the ages of 19 and 25. It’s disheartening.”

Jury finds Williams guilty in Trenton ‘Myspace Murder’

Paul Mickle — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:41:42 -0400

TRENTON – A jury has found Keith Williams guilty in the Myspace murder-conspiracy case, dashing defense hopes for acquittal raised by key juror questions to the judge.

Keith Williams

Williams, who was calling himself a five-star Bloods general at age 19, now stands legally responsible for the execution of 20-year-old Arrel Bell, who took bullets behind both ears on May 1, 2008, for supposedly snitching about a gang heist the year before.

The jury came in not long after restarting deliberations at 9 a.m., though late Thursday afternoon they told the judge they wanted to review maybe hundreds of My Space messages with all kinds of different messages between Williams and other suspects – something that would require enough research to delay the trial until at least Monday.

Instead, it was a victory for Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Brian McCauley, who sweated out the extended deliberations while defense lawyer Mark Fury smiled broadly and got more hopeful with each of the several questions raised by the jurors.

Jurors want to hear testimony again in Myspace Murder case

Paul Mickle — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:11:11 -0400

TRENTON – Jurors in the My Space murder case on Tuesday called for read-backs of the testimony of two detectives and again watched some of the four hours of suspect Keith Williams’ talks with investigators.

Keith Williams

So much for any thought the case against Williams was a slam-dunk in which the jurors might deliberate an hour or so.

The seven women and five men of the jury first convened to talk evidence late Monday afternoon.

Soon after returning Tuesday morning, they called for the court clerk to read back for them the testimony of Mercer County Detective Robert Cowan and state police Lt. Ron Hampton, who the prosecution called in as an expert on gang language to help jurors understand some of the street dialogue.

They heard what Hampton said again before lunch and then started looking again at the video of suspect Williams going from tough to conciliatory to meek in the more than four hours of questioning about the murder of Arrel Bell, 20, on May 1, 2008.

The case is being heard before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert C. Billmeier, who sent the jury home about half way into the video. The jury also has to hear the read-back of Cowan’s testimony Wednesday.

Arguments close in ‘Myspace Murder’ case

Paul Mickle — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:48:45 -0400

TRENTON – A jury deliberated only briefly yesterday about the fate of suspected murder plotter Keith Williams, following a day full of summations by the prosecutor and defense lawyer and the instructions of the judge.

Keith Williams

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier sent the jurors home as the courts were closing, after they had only about 30 minutes to talk about the case.

In his closing, defense lawyer Mark Fury called his client a jackass for talking for more than four hours to detectives investigating the murder of Arrell Bell, 20, on May 1, 2008. Still, the defenseman noted, the cops can’t place the suspect at the murder scene and misinterpreted some of the gang slang used by the suspects.

If Lt. Ron Hampton of the state police was such an expert on gangs and gang lingo, Fury asked, how come he didn’t know that “neff” is street talk for nephew?

In response, Assistant Mercer Prosecutor Brian McCauley said Fury was wrong to suggest a faulty and incomplete search of My Space records by authorities figured into the arrest of Williams and three codefendants slated for trial later this year.

“The records are verifiable and intact,” McCauley said. He also said authorities know Williams didn’t pull the trigger, but accused him of setting up the execution and of being at the scene in Stacy Park that day when others shot Bell, who took bullets behind both ears.

McCauley ended his presentation with a snippet from the video in which Williams said, “I didn’t pull the trigger, but I did commit conspiracy.”

Trial begins in Myspace Murder

Paul Mickle — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:16:18 -0400

TRENTON — Arrell Bell, mistakenly suspected as a “snitch” by paranoid fellow gangsters, was executed with bullets to the back of both ears in the Trenton Myspace Murder.

Mercer County Medical Examiner Dr. Rarafat Ahmad testified at suspect Keith Williams’ trial this afternoon that both shots were fired at close range — the one from behind his right ear lodging in his left cheek.

Her gruesome disclosures came after opening arguments in which defense lawyer Mark Fury played down the importance of a video of Smith’s police interrogation that the jury will see.

See more of this story at Trentonian.com.

Jury selection starts for ‘Five-star general’ murder trial

Paul Mickle — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:11:27 -0400

TRENTON — Jury selection is underway in the case of the gang “five-star general” charged in the shooting murder of a rival whose hit was ordered on MySpace.

Keith Williams

Keith Williams, 23 when charged with assassination of Arrell Bell, 20, on May 1, 2008, is on trial before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert C. Billmeier, who began screening jurors Monday morning.

Bell, of Euclid Avenue, was found shot to death in Stacy Park at the Hermitage Avenue overpass on that May Day. Within hours, cops knew about suspect Karim Sampson allegedly ordering a hit over now-fading MySpace because he thought the young man had told police about an earlier arrest of the two men for robbery.
Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Brian McCauley said at a hearing earlier this year that several instant messages were sent between Sampson, 23, of Quinton Avenue, and “General” Williams of Frasier Street, in the hours before the shooting.
“One posting said Sampson was going to give ‘Broadway,’ as Bell was known to the gang, ‘A bottle for what he did’ and ‘Let’s do it tonight’ and `Let’s go to the park.’ No one is denying that the conversation was about the killing of Arrel Bell,” McCauley said.