Quaadir Gurley | Homicide Watch Trenton

Trenton gunman gets 6 years for killing Quaadir ‘Ace’ Gurley

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Sat, 26 May 2018 16:18:48 -0400

Case closed.

Isiah Greene

The gunman who shot and killed Quaadir “Ace” Gurley at the Donnelly Homes housing complex in North Trenton five years ago has finally received punishment for his violent crimes.

Isiah Greene, 24, of Trenton, got sentenced earlier this month to six years of state incarceration for reckless manslaughter and unlawful possession of a handgun and has been ordered to pay $555 in fees and penalties.

Greene confessed earlier this year to killing Gurley, a 24-year-old father of six who suffered numerous gunshot wounds during the early morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Police solved the case back when they arrested Greene on murder charges Nov. 18, 2013, but Greene dragged his homicide case out in hopes of winning acquittal. His case went to trial three times. His first two trials ended in hung juries on Oct. 16, 2015, and Jan. 31, 2017, and his third trial ended Feb. 15 in a partial verdict, prompting Greene to resolve his outstanding legal troubles with a negotiated plea agreement on Feb. 27.

Greene has been awarded 1,739 days of jail credit that effectively reduces his prison sentence to a slap on the wrist. Mercer County Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi on May 11 sentenced Greene to six years of state incarceration pursuant to the No Early Release Act requiring he serve 85 percent of the maximum term before being paroled.

With jail credit factored in, Greene only has to serve a few more months behind bars before being eligible for parole. He will be subjected to three years of parole supervision upon release, according to Massi’s judgment of conviction.

A grand jury originally indicted Greene on first-degree purposeful murder, second-degree possession of a firearm for unlawful purposes and second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun. He was convicted Feb. 15 of unlawful possession of a handgun in his third murder trial, but the jury deadlocked on the other charges. Greene ultimately pleaded guilty Feb. 27 to an amended count of second-degree reckless manslaughter in a deal that fully resolved the homicide case.

Greene has three upper court convictions on his record. Massi sentenced him to six years of incarceration for the reckless manslaughter conviction to be served concurrent to a six-year prison sentence for the unlawful possession of a handgun conviction to be served concurrent to a six-year prison sentence for a second-degree aggravated assault conviction in an unrelated attempted murder case.

Quaadir Gurley (center) with two of his six children. (Contributed Photo)

Five months before gunning down Gurley, Greene got arrested Feb. 24, 2013, in connection with a violent crime that occurred in Trenton on that same date. He posted $100,000 full bond or cash bail in that case on June 4, 2013, and killed Gurley seven weeks later on July 21, 2013. Court records show Greene also spent time in the Mercer County Correction Center from July 29, 2013, through Aug. 1, 2013, after getting charged with several drug distribution offenses on allegations he dealt narcotics in the streets of Trenton on July 26, 2013, five days after slaying Gurley.

Members of the Mercer County Homicide Task Force arrested Greene on Nov. 18, 2013, charging him with murder and weapons offenses and jailing him on $500,000 cash bail.

Greene, being represented by defense attorney Mark Fury, reached a deal with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office to plead guilty to reckless manslaughter and aggravated assault in exchange for six years of incarceration and dismissal of the drug charges.

Judge Massi on May 11 dismissed Greene’s four-count indictment in the drug distribution case and imposed the recommended sentence in the homicide and aggravated assault cases in accordance with the negotiated plea agreement, because Massi found six years of concurrent incarceration and $555 in total fees to be “fair and in the interests of justice,” according to his judgments of conviction.

As a convicted felon, Greene has been ordered to provide a sample of his DNA and ordered to pay the costs for testing of the sample provided.

Convicted gunman Isiah Greene confesses to 2013 Trenton slaying

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:46:56 -0500

Convicted gunman Isiah Greene is now a self-confessed killer.

Isiah Greene

Greene, 24, of Trenton, pleaded guilty Feb. 27 to second-degree manslaughter committed recklessly, admitting he killed Quaadir “Ace” Gurley at the Donnelly Homes housing complex in North Trenton.

Gurley was a 24-year-old father of six who suffered numerous gunshot wounds. He died from his injuries during the early morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Greene has been in jail on high monetary bail since members of the Mercer County Homicide Task Force arrested him Nov. 18, 2013.

Prior to his guilty confession, the state tried Greene at three separate trials seeking to win a murder conviction, but the first two trials ended in hung juries and the third ended in a partial verdict.

A jury last month unanimously found Greene to be guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm without a permit but got hung on the other counts in the indictment.

Greene is expected to be sentenced to six years of incarceration under the terms of his plea deal, but his time in state prison will be relatively short because he has over four years of jail credit. He pleaded guilty last week before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi.

Greene is scheduled to be sentenced May 4. The state will recommend he get sentenced to six years of incarceration on the manslaughter count with a condition to serve 85 percent of the term before becoming eligible for parole.

With Greene getting convicted for unlawful possession of a handgun in addition to him fessing up to manslaughter, a judge could sentence him to serve five to 10 years of additional incarceration after serving six years for killing Gurley. But Greene’s lawyer does not expect that to happen.

Quaadir Gurley (center) with two of his six children. (Contributed Photo)

Defense attorney Mark Fury said the judge will likely sentence his client to serve five or six years of incarceration for unlawful possession of a weapon to be served concurrent to six years of incarceration for reckless manslaughter.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office on Friday said the state “will make no argument” on whether Greene’s manslaughter sentence should run concurrent or consecutive to the gun conviction.

In addition to resolving his homicide case, Greene also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault on a second file from February 2013 with a recommended sentence calling for six years of imprisonment under a requirement to serve 85 percent of the term behind bars, the prosecutor’s office said Friday in an email.

The plea deal also calls for Greene to be subjected to three years of parole supervision upon release from state prison, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Greene could have received 30 years to life in prison if convicted on his first-degree murder charge. His plea deal downgrades the murder charge into a manslaughter count and calls for the state at sentencing to dismiss the other count in the indictment that charged Greene with possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose.

During a trial by jury, Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said Greene fired 10 shots and that one of the shots accidentally struck Greene in the foot and that eight intentionally struck Gurley in the body, killing him.

Although Greene now admits to killing Gurley, the state was never able to unanimously convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Greene was guilty of murder.

“Our system is designed so people don’t get found guilty of things they can’t be proved guilty of,” Fury said Friday in an interview with The Trentonian. “The system worked exactly as it was supposed to.”

If Judge Massi sentences Greene to six years of concurrent incarceration and awards Greene with four and a half years of jail credit as expected May 4, then Greene would only have to serve about one year in state prison before becoming eligible for parole.

Alleged killer Isiah Greene gets convicted on gun charge at third Trenton murder trial

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 19:51:17 -0500

Isiah Greene

Alleged killer Isiah Greene has been convicted of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm but a jury for the third time still could not reach a verdict on whether or not he murdered 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley.

The jury issued the partial verdict last Thursday, getting hung on two counts — murder and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose — but unanimously finding Greene guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm without a permit, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Greene, 24, is accused of shooting and killing Gurley in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013. The incident occurred at Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex. Gurley, a father of six, suffered numerous gunshot wounds and died from his injuries.

Mark Fury, the defense attorney who represents Greene, said he intends to file a motion asking the court to dismiss the unresolved counts in the indictment. “I fully expect the most serious charges will be dismissed by motion,” he said Friday in an interview. “The point of the matter is the state has had three bites at the apple and failed each time to prove beyond a reasonable doubt” that Greene is guilty of murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

The state previously tried Greene on murder charges in January 2017 and October 2015 in criminal trials that ended in hung juries on all counts in the indictment. The difference in the third trial is that the jury this month reached a partial verdict, finding Greene guilty of unlawful possession of a weapon.

“What I take it to mean,” Fury said of the partial verdict, “Mr. Greene was present at the scene, but they couldn’t agree as to whether or not he contributed to Mr. Gurley’s death.”

Quaadir Gurley (center) with two of his six children. (Contributed Photo)

Prosecutors had circumstantial evidence — including DNA test results — that linked Greene to the murder scene. One eyewitness, Lalisa Thompson, testified to seeing a dark-skinned man wearing a white tank top and armed with what she believed to be a handgun. She said she did not actually see the gunman firing any shots.

The physical description the eyewitness gave of the suspected gunman “doesn’t fit Mr. Greene,” Fury said. Greene would generally be considered a light-skinned black male, not dark-skinned.

Greene suffered a gunshot wound to the foot during the shooting that killed Gurley. Greene at the time called 9-1-1 and falsely reported he was shot on Sanhican Drive. Greene eventually testified in his own defense at trial, saying he had lied to the cops about where he was shot to avoid being called as a witness in the shooting that killed Gurley.

Prosecutors said Greene fired 10 shots and that one of the shots accidentally struck himself in the foot and that eight intentionally struck Gurley in the body.

If the Superior Court dismisses the unresolved charges in the case, Greene will still get sentenced to state imprisonment for being convicted on a second-degree weapons offense.

A conviction on a second-degree crime can result in a minimum sentence of five years’ incarceration and a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars, but Fury said his client is not looking at much prison time when factoring in jail credit and Greene’s lack of a prior criminal history.

Greene has been in jail on high monetary bail since members of the Mercer County Homicide Task Force arrested him Nov. 18, 2013. Fury said his client cannot be sentenced to the maximum 10 years of incarceration.

“What he got convicted of, possession of a weapon, is his first conviction of any kind,” Fury said, “so there are no aggravating factors to go to the maximum sentences.”

With Greene having over four years of jail credit, he would serve very little time in state prison if he gets sentenced to the minimum of five years’ imprisonment.

Murder cases

The partial verdict in State v. Isiah Greene is similar to the partial verdict that came down in State v. Masiyah Howard.

A jury on May 9, 2017, found Masiyah “Chicken” Howard guilty of unlawful possession of a handgun but was hung on the counts of murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. The jury was firmly convinced that Howard unlawfully possessed a firearm, but the 12 jurors could not unanimously agree on whether Howard was the gunman who had shot 25-year-old Louis Bryan Alvarez to death with a fatal bullet to the chest.

The state declined to retry Howard on murder charges and disregarded the jury’s partial verdict. He ended up serving less than one year in state prison because he had four-plus years of jail credit and got sentenced to five years of incarceration in an unrelated armed robbery case.

Lots of defendants over the last two years have pleaded guilty in Trenton homicide cases, but there are some recent cases where the state lost at trial. For example, a jury last February found Zaire Jackson not guilty of murdering 22-year-old Irvin “Swirv” Jackson, and juries in the last two years found defendants William Mitchell and Andre Romero not guilty of murdering 23-year-old Daquan Dowling.

But the state has also won multiple murder convictions in the last two years:

A jury on Jan. 25 found Mada Eoff, 18, to be fully responsible for the murder of 19-year-old Lance Beckett.

A jury last July found Randy K. Washington guilty of murdering 64-year-old Silas Johnson, and he ultimately received 70 years of incarceration.

A jury last June found Danuweli Keller guilty of murdering U.S. Army veteran Dardar Paye execution style, and he ended up receiving a 61-year prison sentence.

A jury last May found Dante Alexander guilty of murdering 26-year-old Brandon Nance, and he consequently received a 50-year prison sentence.

Greene is scheduled to appear in court next Tuesday for a status conference on his murder case. The judge will likely schedule a sentencing date at that conference hearing.

Isiah Greene’s third murder trial begins this summer

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Mon, 15 May 2017 18:23:05 -0400

Alleged killer Isiah Greene is scheduled to be retried this summer on murder charges.

Greene, 23, of Trenton, is accused of shooting and killing 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013. The slaying occurred at Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex.

Isiah Greene

The upcoming murder trial is slated to begin with jury selection on July 17. It will be the third time prosecutors seek to win a conviction against Greene, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case. The first trial in October 2015 and the second trial in January 2017 each ended with a hung jury.

Greene, who has been held in custody since police arrested him Nov. 18, 2013, appeared in court Monday wearing his orange Mercer County Correction Center jumpsuit. Rukiya Blackwell represented him on behalf of defense attorney Mark Fury.

At the brief hearing, Mercer County Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi set Greene’s new trial date.

For the third time, Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor James Scott will again handle the prosecution of Greene at the murder retrial.

Isiah Greene’s second murder trial ends in another hung jury

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 19:57:47 -0500

Isiah Greene

Twelve jurors once again could not unanimously agree on whether Isiah Greene is guilty or not guilty of murder.

Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi declared a mistrial on Tuesday after the jurors sent the court a note indicating they had failed to reach a verdict and were done deliberating.

“We are leaning toward trying this case again,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott said. “The information that we had in this trial was different, better than we had in the first trial, and we are going to continue to work very hard to bring Isiah Greene to justice.”

Greene, 23, of Trenton, is accused of shooting and killing 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013. The murder occurred at Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex.

The state previously tried Greene on murder charges in an October 2015 criminal trial that also ended in a hung jury.

“The jury obviously worked very hard,” Greene’s defense attorney Mark Fury said on Tuesday. “We have to respect their effort. Maybe the proofs just are not there.”

Fury said his client “is elated he was not convicted” of the murder charges and weapons offenses, adding Greene “is prepared to defend himself as many times as it takes to prove his innocence.”

Over the course of Greene’s second murder trial that began Jan. 5, the 12-member, racially diverse jury heard hours of witness testimony and began deliberating on Jan. 18. The jurors soon reached an impasse over deliberations but tried to find a way forward.

Accomplice liability

Last Thursday, the jurors asked the court whether they could potentially convict Greene as an accomplice to the slaying.

Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi settled the jury’s curiosity Tuesday morning when he read them new instructions informing them they could judge the facts, evidence and testimony to determine whether Greene had aided an unknown gunman in the commission of the violent crime.

Without doubt, an armed perpetrator shot and killed Gurley at Donnelly Homes. Prosecutors have long identified Greene as the alleged gunman, saying Greene accidentally shot himself in the foot while intentionally firing multiple shots at Gurley, striking the victim eight times in the body.

But with Massi allowing the jury to consider whether or not Greene was an accomplice to the murder, Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott on Tuesday told the jurors that “the unusual trajectory” of the gunshot wound that Greene suffered shows the injury was either self-inflicted or that Greene was “standing next to the shooter.”

“The evidence proves that the defendant murdered Quaadir Gurley,” Scott said. “He is responsible for the death of Quaadir Gurley.”

Furthermore, Scott said the evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Greene was present at the scene when Gurley was fatally gunned down and suggested it is possible for the jurors to infer that Greene had aided an unknown gunman in the murder of Gurley.

During the retrial, Greene acknowledged he had suffered a gunshot wound at Donnelly Homes but testified he did not shoot himself and that he was not the triggerman responsible Gurley’s death. Greene presented himself as an innocent victim of a shooting, suggesting he was at the wrong place at the wrong time when someone popped off numerous shots in the courtyard.

Fury said the jury had asked a “fascinating” question that has “never happened” in his many years of practicing law but suggested the jury was “reaching” out of bounds in trying to probe whether his client could be convicted as an accomplice to murder.

“Mere presence at the scene is not enough to make one an accomplice,” Fury told the jurors, adding the state has presented “no motive” behind why Greene allegedly wanted Gurley dead.

“I guess what I feel compelled to say: If it’s difficult to say ‘Guilty,’ that’s OK,” the defense attorney said. “It’s not that bad to say ‘Not guilty.’ It’s OK. It’s supposed to be easier to say ‘Not guilty’ than ‘Guilty,’” he added, calling that the American system of jurisprudence. “We are not just reaching for ideas. If you have to ask the question, ‘What if?’ … that is by definition reasonable doubt.”

If the state of New Jersey thought Greene was an accomplice who has aided an unknown gunman in the shooting death of Gurley, “Don’t you think they would have offered it to you?” Fury said.

“It is easy to say ‘Not guilty’ theoretically,” Scott said in response, “but that is only if you ignore the evidence before you. The evidence here is powerful and overcomes reasonable doubt.”

In order for the jurors to have convicted Greene on “accomplice liability” murder charges, prosecutors would have had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an unknown person committed the violent crime and that Greene facilitated or promoted the commission of the violent crime and that Greene solicited, aided, agreed to aid or attempted to aid an unknown gunman in the violent crime and that Greene had the “criminal state of mind” to play a role in the brutal murder of Quaadir Gurley.

In the end, the jury could not unanimously agree on whether Greene was an accomplice to murder, and the jurors could not overcome their inability to unanimously decide whether Greene was or was not the principal gunman responsible for the death of Gurley, a street-tough city man survived by six children.

Quaadir Gurley (center) with two of his six children. (Contributed Photo)

“It is a shame they were not able to come to a verdict,” Scott said, “but I do have great gratitude to them for agreeing to serve for that period of time and taking their job very seriously. I have nothing but admiration for a jury that’s willing to do that.”

The evidence

Prosecutors had circumstantial evidence — including new DNA test results not available in the first murder trial — that linked Greene to the murder scene. One eyewitness, Lalisa Thompson, testified to seeing a dark-skinned man wearing a white tank top and armed with what she believed to be a handgun. She said she did not actually see the gunman firing any shots.

Before the shooting, someone drove Greene from Trenton’s West Ward to the Donnelly Homes housing complex in the North Ward. Greene, wearing all-white clothing, exited the car and shortly thereafter suffered a gunshot wound to his left foot in the courtyard. He hopped back inside the vehicle, and the driver transported him to Sanhican Drive, where Greene called 9-1-1 and falsely reported he was shot at Sanhican. He said he had lied to the cops to avoid being called as a witness in the shooting that killed Gurley.

The state has amassed lots of evidence in the case, but prosecutors have never found the murder weapon and did not have any co-defendants or cooperating criminals testifying against Greene. No co-conspirator has pointed the finger at Greene. To date, Greene is the only defendant to be arrested and charged in connection with the murder of Gurley.

“We always have our investigations going and we are always looking for new evidence to go to trial,” Scott said Tuesday after Judge Massi declared a mistrial. “Nonetheless, even with this set of evidence, we think we have a very strong case and the proof of guilt against Isiah Greene is very strong, and that’s why we are leaning toward trying this case again.”

Zaire Jackson’s murder trial approaches as Isiah Greene’s retrial lingers

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 18:09:05 -0500

Nearly five years ago, a then-17-year-old Zaire Jackson allegedly shot and killed a city man execution style.

Jackson, now 22, will finally have his day in court to defend himself before a jury of his peers.

Jury selection began Tuesday at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse for Jackson’s imminent murder trial.

Jackson, a Trenton resident also known as “Philly” and “Cory,” is accused of shooting at 22-year-old Irvin “Swirv” Jackson in broad daylight and then chasing the victim down and fatally shooting him in the head April 9, 2012.

Irvin Jackson, who was not related to the defendant, died in a West Ward alleyway off North Hermitage Avenue.

Zaire Jackson has been charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Retired Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson has been recalled to the bench to preside over Jackson’s trial.

Meanwhile, the murder retrial for alleged killer Isiah Greene remains in limbo as a jury on Tuesday indicated it was nowhere near reaching a verdict.

“At this time we are unable to reach a unanimous decision,” the 12-member jury said Tuesday afternoon in a written message read aloud by Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi.

With the jury at an impasse, Massi instructed the jurors to continue deliberating for the rest of the afternoon, reminding them that “each of you must decide the case for yourself” and that “you are not partisans; you are judges of the facts.”

Despite Massi’s motivational pep talk, the jurors remained at an impasse and the judge excused the jury for the day about 4 p.m. Tuesday and instructed them to return at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday for continued deliberations.

Like Zaire Jackson, Greene, 23, of Trenton, has been charged with murder and weapons offenses for a crime he allegedly committed when he was a teenager. Greene has been accused of shooting and killing 24-year-old city man “Ace” Quaadir Gurley at the city’s Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Greene’s initial murder trial in October 2015 ended in a mistrial as 12 jurors failed to unanimously decide whether he was guilty or not guilty. His retrial could prove to be déjà vu.

Isiah Greene’s murder retrial has weaknesses on both sides

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 18:46:48 -0500

Isiah Greene

A jury may once again have a hard time judging whether or not alleged killer Isiah Greene is guilty of murder.

Prosecutors say Greene shot and killed 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013. The slaying occurred at Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex.

The state previously tried Greene on murder charges in an October 2015 criminal trial that ended in a hung jury. The state brought the case to a retrial earlier this month in hopes of securing a conviction this time around.

Prosecutors have circumstantial evidence linking Greene to the scene of the murder and have made reasonable inferences to conclude that Greene shot himself in the foot while shooting Gurley multiple times with a .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun.

Greene, 23, denies shooting himself or Gurley. He took to the witness stand in his own defense last week and said he was walking in the courtyard of Donnelly Homes and got low on the ground upon hearing gunshots. Realizing he was shot, Greene in sworn testimony said he got up and hopped into an occupied vehicle that drove him to the area of Sanhican Drive.

Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Jim Scott said Greene went to Sanhican Drive and made a “fake 911 call to police” to falsely report he was shot on Sanhican Drive, saying Greene did that “so that he is not tied to the murder of Quaadir Gurley.”

Case weaknesses

Police have not found the murder weapon in the case. If Greene was the triggerman, that would mean the people who helped him flee the scene in a motor vehicle were accessories to the violent crime. But police have not made any other arrests in connection with the homicide of Gurley.

As such, there are no co-defendants or cooperating criminals testifying against Greene. No co-conspirator has pointed the finger at Greene.

The state has one eyewitness to the murder, Lalisa Thompson, who testified to seeing a dark-skinned man wearing a white tank top and armed with what she believed to be a handgun. She said she did not actually see the gunman firing any shots. Greene is an African-American with relatively light skin, although he conceded his skin generally tans a darker shade in the summer compared with the winter.

Prosecutors say Greene fired 10 shots and that one of the shots struck himself in the foot and that eight struck Gurley in the body. Prosecutors have not presented a motive in the case — an explanation for why Greene allegedly wanted Gurley dead — but have said they have enough circumstantial evidence that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Greene is guilty of murder and weapons offenses.

Greene testified he did not know Gurley, a street-tough father who leaves behind six children, but said he had heard of him.

Defense weaknesses

Greene said he was hanging out with three friends and drinking alcoholic beverages on Highland Avenue when his crew decided to drive over to Donnelly Homes to get a designated driver who was supposed to take them to a Philadelphia nightclub. According to his sworn testimony, Greene got out of the parked vehicle off Rossell Avenue and was going to knock on the front door of the designated driver’s home when he heard gunshots. One of those shots struck him in the foot, he said.

But Greene’s defense attorney Mark Fury has not called any witnesses to corroborate his client’s story about the botched nightclub plan. Greene has admitted to previously lying to police about the shooting — saying he falsely reported he was shot on Sanhican Drive because he did not want to be called as a witness in the shooting that killed Gurley.

Medics transported Greene from Sanhican Drive to Capital Health Regional Medical Center to treat his gunshot wound, which was not considered life-threatening. Greene could have arrived at the hospital much sooner if his crew drove him from Donnelly Homes to the nearby trauma center. Instead, his crew dropped him off at Sanhican.

Investigators found Greene’s blood at the murder scene. Fury and Greene suggested police may have tampered with evidence or manipulated the scene in a way to make it appear as if Greene committed the violent crime. That argument, however, is highly speculative in nature as no evidence has been presented to prove any evidence-tampering occurred. Fury said investigators have conducted “unfortunately sloppy police work at the scene,” but several police officers have testified in the case about the thoroughness of their investigation.

Under cross-examination, Greene became defensive in answering questions posed to him by the prosecution, repeatedly accusing a prosecutor of misinterpreting or taking his statements out of context. “Unlike every other witness in this case, the defendant was excitable, evasive and combative,” Assistant Prosecutor Scott told the jury in closing arguments. “There is a complete lack of corroboration to what the defendant told you.”

Legal proceedings

Greene’s murder retrial began Jan. 5. After several days of witness testimony and evidence being submitted into the record, the 12-member jury began deliberating over whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty.

The jury failed to reach a verdict last week but is scheduled to continue deliberating Tuesday morning behind closed doors at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse.

Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi is presiding over the case.

Jurors rehear cop’s testimony in Isiah Greene’s murder retrial

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 20:30:32 -0500

Isiah Greene

The fate of alleged killer Isiah Greene continues to remain in limbo as a jury ponders over the facts and evidence in his murder retrial.

Greene, 23, of Trenton, is accused of possessing a semiautomatic .40 caliber handgun without a permit and using the weapon to shoot and kill “Ace” Quaadir Gurley, a 24-year-old father who had six kids. The slaying occurred at the Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Prosecutors say Greene accidentally shot himself in the foot while shooting Gurley eight times in the abdomen and chest area. The triggerman fired 10 shots that morning. Greene this week testified in his own defense saying he did not shoot Gurley or himself.

The 12-member jury conducted deliberations for about an hour on Wednesday and followed up with several more hours of deliberations on Thursday, but the jurors still could not reach a unanimous decision on whether Greene is guilty or not guilty of murder and weapons offenses.

During Thursday’s backroom deliberations, the jury requested to sit inside Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi’s courtroom to listen to an audio recording of prior testimony in the case.

Specifically, the jurors wanted to once again listen to the testimony of Trenton Police Officer Matthew Bledsoe. Bledsoe took to the witness stand earlier this month and said he had responded to hundreds of shooting incidents since becoming a cop 11 years ago. Based on his “training and experience,” Bledsoe said it is his belief that Greene shot himself in the foot.

The jurors appeared to be focused and could be seen jotting down notes on notepad paper while Bledsoe’s testimony was being played back.

The testimony over whether Greene shot himself while allegedly gunning down Gurley has been a major sticking point in the case going back to the initial October 2015 murder trial that ended in a hung jury.

“They ran with the ‘shot himself in the foot’ thing because they want to think that every criminal is dumb, because it fits their idea,” Greene’s defense attorney Mark Fury said Wednesday in closing arguments. “It satisfies their need to be smart. Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit the facts. And frankly, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Comparing Greene’s .40 caliber gunshot wound to Gurley’s .40 caliber gunshot wounds, “It is plain that he did not shoot himself,” Fury said. “It’s more likely what he told you: He was hit by a ricochet.”

The prosecution and defense both agree Greene was at Donnelly Homes and was wounded in the early morning July 2013 shooting, resulting in some of his blood being left at the murder scene where Gurley died that same morning.

Quaadir Gurley (center) with two of his six children. (Contributed Photo)

But the defense suggests police had possibly planted evidence or tampered with certain items and materials to make it appear as if Greene was responsible for Gurley’s death, while prosecutors say they have legitimate circumstantial evidence and reasonable inference from key facts that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Greene murdered Gurley in “brutal” fashion.

“In a criminal trial, the evidence tells you the story of what happened,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott said Wednesday in closing arguments. “And the evidence in this case points in only one direction: That Isiah Greene murdered Quaadir Gurley on July 21, 2013, at about 1:30 in the morning.”

“In the midst of firing 10 shots, one of them hit himself in the leg, and the trajectory is in such a point that it has to be self-inflicted,” Scott added.

“The defendant is throwing out this comment, this invitation for you to speculate that this is planted evidence, that the blood is planted, that this is a frame job on Isiah Greene,” Scott said in his closing arguments to the jury, according to an audio recording of the proceeding. “The timeline here knocks that out of the water. The evidence does not support that claim.”

Jury deliberations are scheduled to resume at 9:15 a.m. next Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Trenton murder suspect Isiah Greene remains cool during cop’s testimony

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 19:59:17 -0500

Alleged killer Isiah Greene

Freshly groomed and nicely dressed, murder suspect Isiah Greene appeared cool, calm and collected in court Tuesday as a police officer testified that she photographed the defendant several years ago when he was recovering from a gunshot wound to the foot.

With the image being projected on a screen, Trenton Police Detective Maricelis Rosa-Delgado said she took that photo depicting Greene on a hospital bed with his left foot bandaged at Capital Health Regional Medical Center on the morning of July 21, 2013 — the same date that Greene allegedly shot and killed 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley at Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex.

When a prosecutor asked Rosa-Delgado if the man in the photo was present in the courtroom and if she could see him, the detective looked at Greene and talked about the clothing he was wearing.

“White dress shirt, tie; I believe that’s a sweater,” Rosa-Delgado said of the black sweater vest Greene was sporting on top of his long-sleeved shirt.

Greene, 23, appeared unfazed through Rosa-Delgado’s testimony. At times he placed his right hand under his chin and slightly reclined in his chair. On another occasion he yawned.

It wasn’t Greene’s first rodeo as a defendant on trial for murder. Prosecutors previously tried him 15 months ago in a court of law, but an indecisive jury could not render a verdict, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial on Oct. 16, 2015.

In the initial trial that ended in a hung jury, prosecutors said Greene shot himself in the foot while shooting Gurley. Greene took the stand and offered a different explanation, saying he had been struck by a wayward bullet, possibly one that had ricocheted off buildings when another gunman opened fire on Gurley. He said he saw the gunman run past him but he didn’t get a good glimpse of his face.

Murder victim Quaadir Gurley

Rosa-Delgado arrived at the murder scene at 2:07 a.m. — not long after Gurley died — and took photographs till about 6 a.m. Then she headed to 29 Sanhican Drive to take pictures of reddish-brown stains suspected to be Greene’s blood at 6:55 a.m. After that, she went to Capital Health Regional Medical Center and collected clothing and other items that belonged to Greene and Gurley at 7:10 a.m., according to her testimony in the retrial.

Personal belongings

While on the witness stand Tuesday, Rosa-Delgado displayed the white Air Jordan speakers that belonged to Gurley. Several hours after the murder, a hospital security officer turned over the slain victim’s possessions to Rosa-Delgado, who testified that the items on Tuesday appeared to be the same or substantially similar to the condition she originally found them in three-plus years ago.

The detective on the witness stand also displayed some of the items that belonged to Greene, including the socks that Greene wore on the day he was hospitalized for his gunshot wound to the foot. One of those socks appeared to have a dark brown stain on the sole area, presumably Greene’s dried blood. Greene’s hospital items on Tuesday appeared to be the same or substantially similar to the condition Rosa-Delgado originally found them in, she said.

When Greene’s defense attorney Mark Fury got the chance to cross examine Rosa-Delgado Tuesday afternoon, he immediately jockeyed for a position to possibly insert reasonable doubt into the minds of the 15-member-strong racially diverse jury.

“It was a full moon, wasn’t it?” Fury said.

“I’m not sure, sir,” Rosa-Delgado responded.

“You didn’t note in your report that lighting was poor and you were having trouble finding stuff,” the defense attorney said.

“No, I did not,” the police detective responded.

Mentioning how Rosa-Delgado found multiple shell casings, several spots of suspected blood and a ring at the scene where Gurley was slain, Fury said, “You didn’t have any trouble finding this stuff, right?”

Catching his stride, Fury moments later said, “No one suggested this was a robbery, did they?”

“No,” the veteran police detective responded.

“You didn’t find anything that ties Mr. Greene to the scene?” he asked her.

“No, I did not,” she said in response.

Fury went on to suggest that a bad cop could have tampered with evidence without Rosa-Delgado ever noticing.

Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Matos countered with the courtroom equivalent of a Hail Mary pass, asking Rosa-Delgado if she sees better at night.

“I have glaucoma,” Rosa-Delgado responded. “I see better at night than day.”

Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi told the jury to disregard Rosa-Delgado’s final remark.

Staff writer Isaac Avilucea contributed to this report.

Murder suspect Isiah Greene’s retrial begins

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 19:08:33 -0500

Murder suspect Isiah Greene

Here we go again.

Fifteen months ago after Isiah Greene’s murder trial ended in a hung jury, Mercer County prosecutors Thursday made good on their promise to retry the suspected killer in a court of law.

Greene is the alleged gunman charged with the July 2013 murder of 24-year-old city man Quaadir “Ace” Gurley. The slaying occurred in the courtyard of Trenton’s Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Police arrested a then-20-year-old Greene on Nov. 18, 2013, in connection with the murder of Gurley. When the case finally went to trial nearly two years later, a jury heard many hours of testimony over a two-week period but could not render a verdict, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial on Oct. 16, 2015.

“We’re trying him again,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott said at the time. “I think we have a strong case.”

When Greene’s second murder trial opened on Thursday, Assistant Prosecutors Scott and Daniel Matos worked in tandem in an attempt to paint the defendant guilty as charged while defense attorney Mark Fury gave measured remarks intended to introduce reasonable doubt into the minds of the jurors.

The 15-member jury in Green’s retrial is composed of 11 women and four men. The state Superior Court judge presiding over the case, Anthony Massi, told the jurors they are prohibited from reading about the case in the press. He also told them they must not communicate with anyone about the murder trial in any form, including social media, text messages or email.

Four witnesses testified at the retrial on Thursday: Mercer County Medical Examiner Dr. Raafat Ahmad; Gurley’s fiancée Dana Washington; eyewitness Lalisa Thompson; and Trenton Police Detective Maricelis Rosa-Delgado, who was the primary crime-scene investigator who had responded to the fatal shooting of Gurley.

Gurley lived a street-tough life, but his fiancée testified to his softer side as a family man. Washington later told The Trentonian about how Gurley is missed by his loved ones. In addition to being engaged to Washington, Gurley also had five children.

Murder victim Quaadir Gurley

Washington is the mother of two of Gurley’s children, both of whom are girls who were ages 1 and 6 when their father was gunned down in cold blood. The daughters are now ages 5 and 10.

Murder scene

The July 2013 shooting littered spent shell casings outside 101 Rossell Ave. and blood stains along a nearby sidewalk. The incident quickly turned into a homicide when on-duty Detective Rosa-Delgado arrived on the scene in the pre-dawn hours. She took photographs at the crime scene from about 2 a.m. when it was dark up to 6 a.m. after the sun had risen on that fair-weather summer day.

Rosa-Delgado took to the witness stand on Thursday and testified as a factual witness, not an expert. The prosecutors meticulously questioned her about her crime-scene investigation into the murder of Gurley and displayed several of her photographs on a projector screen depicting evidence of the shooting.

After a long day of opening statements and witness testimony, Judge Massi recessed the trial at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday. The retrial for Greene, now 23, is scheduled to recommence 9:15 a.m. next Tuesday with Rosa-Delgado expected to resume her testimony.

Jury hung in Isiah Greene murder trial in Trenton

John Berry — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 19:06:43 -0400

Isiah Greene

TRENTON >> The jury foreman said everything without saying much at all.

“Further discussion will be futile,” he told Judge Robert Billmeier around noon Friday.

Twenty hours of deliberations could not un-hang the jury, which was up against a self-imposed deadline in suspected killer Isiah Greene’s murder trial. Many jurors were unable to return next week to continue deliberating the case. So Judge Robert Billmeier had little choice but to declare a mistrial.

That meant there would be no verdict – and thusly – no resolution for the family of slain high-ranking Bloods gang member Quaadir “Ace” Gurley, who was shot eight times in the early-morning hours of July 21, 2013 in the courtyard of the Donnelly Homes housing complex.

Assistant Prosecutor James Scott was succinct when he emerged from the courtroom.

“We’re trying him again,” he said. “I think we have a strong case.”

One female juror, hurrying to leave the courthouse, declined to comment as she rushed to the elevator. Others spoke with attorneys about how their trial tactics might have impacted their ability to reach a verdict. Jurors hadn’t emerged from the room by 1:50 p.m. and had apparently been led out of the courthouse through a Houdini door numerous sheriff’s officers said did not exist.

Quaadir Gurley

The Trentonian was unable to query 11 jurors about their feelings on the case because they were corralled and led away from a reporter who had posted outside the same door jurors entered and exited through for the duration of the trial.

For Greene, it is back to the county jail where he has been since his arrest in November 2013. He appeared dejected as the jurors left the courtroom, slumping back in his chair and pursing his lips.

“Nobody wants to do it again,” defense attorney Mark Fury said of his client’s reaction. “He hoped it would be over and that he could go on with his life.”

While Gurley’s family was present throughout the trial, no one was in court when jurors walked into the courtroom for the final time to inform the judge they were deadlocked. They had emerged about an hour before, passing a note to the judge, saying as much.

Billmeier ordered jurors back into the deliberation room to see if anyone changed their minds. They didn’t.

The jury foreman said the panel “profoundly regretted” it was unable to arrive at a verdict, setting up a second clash in the retrial between Scott and defense attorney Mark Fury.

Fury has treated gang murder trials in Mercer County like a personal game of hangman, spotting jurors several letters while daring them to decipher the words “guilty” or “not guilty.”

He did as much in the infamous first trial of Latin Kings gang leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete and he did as much for Greene despite what some legal observers have opined appeared to be overwhelming DNA evidence of Greene’s guilt.

“I’m very satisfied that the jury took into account all the relevant facts and simply could not agree on what happened on that night,” Fury said. “This is exactly the kind of case that should be presented to a jury. That the state’s evidence was not sufficient to produce a verdict rings loudly.”

Greene’s blood was found at the Donnelly Homes housing complex and a scientist testified the match to his profile was astronomical.

Still, the jurors were unable to come to a conclusion, at least one seemingly swayed by Greene’s third-party guilt defense in which he took the stand and accused cops of planting evidence while also accounting for why his blood was present at the housing complex.

Prosecutors’ explanation was that Greene bled after he shot himself in the foot while shooting Gurley.

Greene took the stand and offered a different explanation, saying he had been struck by a wayward bullet, possibly one that had ricocheted off buildings when another gunman opened fire on Gurley. He said he saw the gunman run past him but he didn’t get a good glimpse of his face.

The seeds for a hung jury were sowed even before that, when a 28-year-old woman who lived next to Gurley testified she saw a dark-skinned black man dressed in all-white with a gun in his hands fleeing the housing complex shortly after gunfire erupted. She admitted on the stand that she did not believe Greene to be dark-skinned, offsetting the fact Greene had also been dressed in white clothing the day of Gurley’s murder.

However, he said he was wearing a white T-shirt whereas the shooter was reportedly clad in a white tank top.

Greene explanation for why he was at the housing complex was that he had been there to convince a friend to take him and some friends to a nightclub in Philadelphia after they had been drinking at an all-white affair on Highland Avenue. He said they didn’t want to drive to Philly for fear of getting caught by the cops, but they still drove over to the housing complex.

Onlookers were stunned by the hung jury. That included Greene’s arch-nemesis, defense attorney Caroline Turner, who was present in the courtroom when the judge declared a mistrial. Turner sat behind the prosecutor, in the first bench of the courtroom gallery. Greene locked eyes with Turner, a moment of seething disgust that paralleled Greene’s reaction to the non-verdict.

His relatives, too, looked on stunned at the decision.

A woman who refused to give her name but identified herself as Greene’s sister had said minutes before her brother was going to “be another Keith Wells-Holmes.” She was referring to the Trenton man who was acquitted this year for the January 2013 murder of city graffiti artist Andre Corbett.

Greene’s name came up repeatedly during Well-Holmes’ trial as Turner scapegoated Greene, saying as part of a third-party guilty defense he was the more likely murderer – not Wells-Holmes in Corbett’s death, which occurred six months to the day before Gurley was murdered. Greene’s DNA had been found on a can inside the getaway car, but he was never charged and got on the stand and invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Wells-Holmes, who has been described as a “hanger-on” with Greene’s Sanhican Drive crew, was present in Mercer County criminal court earlier this week for portions of jury deliberations.

Turner said she believed her former client was “concerned” about the outcome. She didn’t elaborate. But she didn’t have to.

As a sheriff’s officer shackled Greene’s hands, the prosecutor, Scott, asked the judge to maintain bail at $500,000 cash.

Greene has pending attempted murder and drug charges in two separate cases but has posted the combined $150,000 on those files.

Billmeier told Greene he would consider at a later date whether to alter his bail following the mistrial.

Greene simply replied, “All right,” before being led out of the courtroom.

Jury in Trenton murder case still deadlocked as deadline looms

Isaac Avilucea — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 16:23:47 -0400

Without a verdict and up against a deadline for a possible mistrial, the jury in the murder trial of a Trenton man accused of killing a high-ranking Bloods gang members asked Thursday to be released early, apparently deadlocked in their deliberations.

Quaadir Gurley

The panel has been deliberating for about 17 hours over four days on whether it believes Isiah Greene is responsible for the shooting death of Bloods gang member and drug crew leader Quaadir “Ace” Gurley in the early-morning hours of July 21, 2013.

The foreman for the 12-member panel passed a note to Judge Robert Billlmeier around 3:15 p.m. asking that they be allowed to go home an hour early and return to court to continue their deliberations Friday morning.

After consulting with opposing attorneys to see if they objected to the request, the judge dismissed the jurors around 3:30 p.m.

Earlier in the day, jurors passed a note to the judge asking to see gunshot wounds on Greene’s left leg and foot. The prosecutor, James Scott, objected to the request, saying Greene’s “leg was not in evidence.”

Billmeier allowed jurors to examine Greene’s foot, which was being scrutinized because prosecutors contend Greene shot himself in the foot when he shot Gurley in the courtyard of the Donnelly Homes housing complex.

Isiah Greene

Investigators later found Greene’s blood at the scene and tied him to the murder after he had reported being shot on Sanhican Drive minutes after Gurley was shot.

As part of a third-party guilt defense, Greene took the stand and offered a different explanation for the wound on his foot, saying he had been struck by a wayward bullet, possibly one that had ricocheted off buildings when another gunman opened fire on Gurley. He said he saw the gunman run past him but he didn’t get a good glimpse of his face.

Another witness, a 28-year-old woman who lived next to Gurley, testified she saw a dark-skinned black man dressed in all-white with a gun in his hands fleeing the housing complex shortly after gunfire erupted. Greene had also been dressed in white clothing the day of Gurley’s murder, but he said he was wearing a white T-shirt whereas the shooter was reportedly clad in a white tank top.

Greene has contended he had been the housing complex to convince a friend to take him and some friends to a nightclub in Philadelphia after they had been drinking at an all-white affair on Highland Avenue. He said they didn’t want to drive to Philly for fear of getting caught by the cops, but they still drove over to the housing complex.

If jurors do not arrive at a verdict in the case Friday, Billmeier has said he will declare a mistrial.

The judge made the decision after he learned from jurors that it would be a “hardship” on them to continue deliberating past this week and many would be unavailable to serve next week.

Prosecutors would have to decide whether to retry the murder case against Greene, who is also facing attempted murder and drug charges in two separate cases.

If past history has been an edict, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office would likely retry Greene much the same way it chose to retry Latin Kings gang leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, who was finally convicted after a fourth trial.

Jurors did not say much to each other as they exited the courthouse. One was overheard discussing taking off time from work as they filed out and climbed into an elevator.

Is jury hung in Trenton man’s gang-related murder trial?

Isaac Avilucea — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 19:23:51 -0400

TRENTON >> “Looking for a hung jury? Call Mark Fury” is probably not a catchphrase the defense attorney would use to attract clients.

But it has been Fury’s propensity in gang-related cases in Mercer County that look unwinnable on their face.

It was that way in the infamous first trial of Latin Kings gang leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, who was finally convicted this year after a fourth trial. (Fury was no longer Negrete’s defense attorney at that point.)

Isiah Greene

And it could go that direction again in the murder trial of Isiah Greene, who is accused of gunning down Bloods gang member Quaadir “Ace Gurley” in the courtyard of the Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early-morning hours of July 21, 2013.

Gurley, a notorious gang member and drug crew leader, was hit eight times and later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

Jurors in the Greene trial deliberated for a second full day Wednesday without arriving at a verdict. They have deliberated close to 12 hours over a span of three days, starting last week.

A deadline of Friday has been set for a verdict as Judge Robert Billmeier said jurors informed him it would be a “hardship” on them if the case continues past this week and many would be unavailable to continue deliberating.

Quaadir Gurley

If the panel cannot decide the case by then, the judge would declare a mistrial, and it would be up to Assistant Prosecutor James Scott to decide whether to retry the case. If the “Boom Bat” case is any indication, prosecutors would retry Greene.

Either way, Fury isn’t holding his breath.

“I never want to prejudge what a jury might do,” he said. “But in my mind, there are grounds for reasonable doubt.”

What Fury thinks of the case doesn’t matter. But what does matters is how he puts on a case.

And in the “Boom Bat” case, earned a stalemate when former Latin King gang members were practically lining up to testify against their former leader in hopes of a reduced sentence.

In Greene’s case, bloods spots link him to the murder scene. Prosecutors believe he shot himself while shooting Gurley. The math on the match that it was Greene’s DNA is astronomical, a scientist testified.

But so far the evidence has not been enough to convince this jury to return a verdict one way or another.

“You flatter me,” Fury said. “I’m not gonna say it’s something that I do. I wanna say the state didn’t make its case. I wouldn’t be so bold as to say it’s me. The process has to run its course. I’ve had plenty of cases that are straight guilty and plenty of cases that are straight not guilty. The hung juries are rare.”

Greene accounted for investigators finding his blood at the housing complex by saying he had been struck by a wayward bullet, possibly one that had ricocheted off buildings when the gunman opened fire on Gurley.

Greene said he had been the housing complex to convince a friend to take him and some friends to a nightclub in Philadelphia after they had been drinking at an all-white affair on Highland Avenue. He said they didn’t want to drive to Philly for fear of getting caught by the cops, but they still drove over to the housing complex.

One legal observer said DNA evidence is hit or miss with juries, especially when considering the element of human error in deciphering and analyzing results.

“There’s no such thing as conclusive DNA evidence,” said Jack Furlong, a veteran criminal defense attorney who is not connected to Greene’s case. “What is largely understood or misunderstood is that the science of DNA is compelling, but the human application of the science and the testing is a whole different kettle of fish.”

Furlong said human error when it comes to DNA results happens “way more frequently than people realize.” That’s part of the reason DNA cases like Greene’s are not slam dunks for prosecutors.

“Mark Fury is a very effective advocate, and he is a very likable,” Furlong said. “He is living proof that if you have the right skillset, you can persuade at least one juror. On any given day, you can get a guilty verdict or on any given day you can get a not guilty verdict. I’ve seen utterly incompetent prosecutors and utterly incompetent defense lawyers win in spite of themselves. The biggest problem I have with what I do is the level of chance is much higher than people assume.”

Furlong said a courtroom is similar to a roulette table at a casino.

“With a casino, you know your odds are just short of 50-50 because half the numbers are red or black and there are a couple that are green,” he said. “Criminal trials are similar to that. There is a house edge, and in this case, by a house edge I mean a state’s edge. Defendants are overwhelmingly presumed guilty. The lawyer who can extract a hung jury is certainly worth his weight.”

Deliberations continue in Trenton murder trial

Isaac Avilucea — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 17:50:55 -0400

Isiah Greene

Jurors deliberated for their first full day without arriving at a verdict in the case of a Trenton man accused of killing a high-ranking Bloods gang member in 2013.

Isiah Greene sat with his attorney, Mark Fury, in a Mercer County courtroom as jurors asked for playback of various camera angles captured by surveillance cameras at the Donnelly Homes housing complex in the early-morning hours of July 21, 2013.

That’s when Bloods gang member Quaadir “Ace” Gurley was shot and killed, allegedly by Greene, as he went to open the door of his apartment. Prosecutors believe it was an ambush-style killing but have not supplied a motive as to why Greene would have wanted Gurley dead.

Jurors also asked to re-hear Greene’s testimony from earlier in the trial. They will return to court Wednesday to finish hearing Assistant Prosecutor James Scott’s cross examination of Greene before returning to the deliberation room.

Gurley, a notorious gang member and drug crew leader, had been shot on at least two separate occasions before the fatal encounter, according to published reports. He was hit eight times and later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

Greene’s defense attorney has proposed the shooting was done at close range, relying on testimony that there was gunpowder residue on Gurley’s body.

Greene has raised a third-party guilt defense, pegging an unidentified black man dressed in all white with a dark complexion as the real shooter. Greene had also been captured by surveillance cameras from a grocery mart on Sanhican Drive wearing a white tank top, white shorts and whie shoes the day before the murder. But he claimed on the stand his clothing was slightly different than the shooter.

He accounted for investigators finding his blood at the housing complex by saying he had been struck by a wayward bullet, possibly one that had ricocheted off buildings when the gunman opened fire on Gurley.

Photo controversy shrouds Trenton man’s gang-related murder trial

Isaac Avilucea — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 18:48:58 -0400

TRENTON >> In 1994, Time Magazine faced an onslaught of criticism and accusations of racism when it published a darkened image of O.J. Simpson’s mugshot from the Los Angeles Police Department on its front cover.

The doctored image was accompanied by the headline, “An American Tragedy,”

Quaadir Gurley

describing the circumstances that led to the once-beloved NFL running back being charged with the heinous murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and Ronald Goldman.

Unlike the Simpson image, the image of a black man on trial for murder in Mercer County did not appear to be doctored. And while it is unlikely to attract the same level of outrage, it has some legal observers drawing parallels between this murder case and the racially divisive “Trial of the Century” involving the famous former football star who is now serving time in Nevada for robbery.

The attorney for suspected killer Isiah Greene, who is on trial for the murder of high-ranking Bloods gang member Quaadir “Ace” Gurley, said the decision by Assistant Prosecutor James Scott to introduce the photograph of his client at trial could turn out to be “A Mercer County Tragedy” for prosecutors.

The photo, which The Trentonian was unable to obtain despite it being shown to jurors in court, depicts Greene asleep in a hospital bed. Greene is light-skinned but he appears darker in the photograph.

It is an important piece of evidence because a state witness said she saw a black man with a dark complexion running away after Gurley was shot in the courtyard of a Trenton housing complex in July 2013.

“In the African-American community, skin color and complexion is as an important factor in identification as hair color and eye color is in the general population,” said defense attorney Mark Fury. “[The witness] was unequivocal in her rejecting the proposition that Mr. Greene was as dark as the person she saw.”

Isiah Greene

Legal experts were split about whether there was anything unethical or wrong with Scott’s decision to introduce the photograph of Greene, which was taken in 2013 by a crime scene detective at a local hospital. Greene had been admitted to the hospital after he suffered an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, prosecutors said.

One unintended effect the photo could have is to introduce race in a case where it did not exist before.

The issue of the photograph could also come up at appeal if Greene is found guilty of Gurley’s murder by a jury.

“Extremely poor judgement on the part of the prosecutor,” said Bennett Gershman, a Pace University law professor who is an expert on prosecutor ethics. “It could mislead the jury. I also fault the judge who has to guard against evidence that I think it’s confusing and misleading. The prosecutor behaved foolishly to get in this photograph of the defendant.”

Judge Robert Billmeier allowed the hospital photograph of Greene into evidence and for it to be published to the jury over objections from Fury, who said it was misleading.

Fury said it was impossible to determine the reliability of the photograph, which could be impacted by lighting conditions and the fact police did not use flash when they took Greene’s portrait in a dimly lit hospital.

The photograph was shown to the panel to rebut testimony from one of the state’s witnesses, a 28-year-old woman who lived near Gurley in 2013.

She testified Wednesday that she saw a dark complected black man dressed in a white tank top, white shorts and white sneakers fleeing from the housing complex within seconds of shots ringing out outside of her door.

Fury asked the woman on cross examination to describe someone she considered dark complected. She said she considered her skin tone dark and Fury’s skin tone dark.

When Fury’s question turned to his client, the woman said she did not consider Greene to have a dark complexion.

It was a major coup for the defense. Scott looked to address the complexion issue in his cross examination of Greene Thursday morning.

The prosecutor asked questions about whether Greene, who was known to frequent a stretch of Sanhican Drive, spent significant time outside during summer 2013. Greene acknowledged the area was where he would “regulate.”

Scott then asked questions about whether Greene had gotten a tan while he was outside before showing a photograph of Greene laying in a hospital bed. He was recuperating from a gunshot wound to the shin that prosecutors believed was self-inflicted when Greene accidentally shot himself while shooting Gurley.

The prosecutor said Greene appeared “snuggled up” in the hospital bed, asked Greene if he knew he was being photographed and why he had his eyes closed.

Greene said he was not asleep when the photo was taken and that he kept his eyes closed because he didn’t like having a camera in his face.

Gerhman said if the prosecutor was trying to suggest Greene’s skin tone was darker, he “engaged in deceptive and misleading conduct” that the judge must remedy before the jury begins deliberations. The law professor said comparisons to the Simpson case were fair because of the opposing attorneys’ interjection of race into the trial.

“In both cases, you’re using race in a way that could produce a wrongful verdict,” Gershman said. “There might really be a case of mistaken identification. The skin color may be a key factor in the jury’s decision.”

Another legal expert said he did not find anything problematic with Scott’s tactics and said the onus was on Fury to convince the judge the photo of his client was unfair and should have been excluded from evidence.

“I don’t see a problem with it, and it is probably a good strategy by the prosecutor,” said J.C. Lore, a law professor at Rutgers who is an expert in criminal procedure. “If you have evidence of that, you would certainly want to put that in. You would have to have some good faith basis for believing he had a darker complexion at the time. If the prosecutor knew he didn’t have a darker complexion and was intentionally trying to mislead the jury that would be wrong.”

Lore said Fury could have presented another photo of Greene from the same time period showing he was, in fact, lighter complected if he wanted the judge to bar the photograph.

It remains to be seen how much of a factor the photograph – and its racial implications – have in closing arguments, which are slated for Friday morning. Fury did not want to tip his hand and say whether he plans to touch on race.

So far, Fury has built his defense of Greene on the premise of mistaken identity – that someone other than his client shot and killed Gurley on July 21, 2013, in the courtyard of the Donnelly Homes housing complex.

The state has countered with blood spots containing Greene’s DNA which prosecutors say link him to the murder scene.

Greene got on the stand and told jurors he was at the Donnelly Homes housing complex to try to convince a friend to take him and his friends to a Philadelphia nightclub after they had been drinking.

Prosecutors showed jurors surveillance footage from a Sanhican grocery mart that captured Greene wearing a white tank top, white cargo shorts and white sneakers the day before the shooting.

Greene has testified he put on a white T-shirt above the tank top sometime later in the day.

Gershman, the law professor, said he believed prosecutors had enough evidence without the hospital photograph to convict Greene. Now they have jeopardized that.

“The photograph is totally irrelevant,” Gershman said. “The photograph, to me, is lacking in reliability. And therefore, to me, it’s irrelevant. We don’t know what the true lighting conditions were. It might have portrayed him in a way that is totally inaccurate.”