Rodney Sutphin | Homicide Watch Trenton

Trenton woman defends her dead grandson against murder accusation

Isaac Avilucea — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 22:04:47 -0400

Rodney Sutphin

The grandmother of now-deceased Rodney Sutphin has a message for a defense attorney who has accused her grandson of ordering the murder of Enrico Smalley Jr.

“A dead man can’t speak,” Deborah Ellis, who raised brothers Rodney and Raesean Supthin at her home on Grand Street, said from inside a cavernous conference room at The Trentonian’s office. “But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let [Edward Heyburn] or the prosecutor rip my grandkids who I love very much with my heart. It’s bull---t. And they can stop it right now. Please, leave Rodney alone. Let him rest. If you find Enrico’s killer, then you’ll find Rodney’s killer.”

Ellis spoke out Tuesday in order to address statements Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley and defense attorney Heyburn made about her grandsons.

Shaheed Brown, 30, has been arrested and charged with killing Smalley outside of crime-riddled La Guira Bar in July 2014.

Heyburn’s theory that Rodney Sutphin orchestrated Smalley’s murder is part of a third-party guilt defense he plans to raise at his client’s trial in October. Ellis said the theory is implausible for numerous reasons.

For starters, she said, her grandchildren did not know Smalley and were never sought out as suspects by police.

“It’s impossible,” she said. “When that boy ’Rico got killed, [the police] came to my house. The police have a tape. They have Raesean on the tape. They have Rodney on the tape. They asked for Raesean. They didn’t question my grandson, Rodney. And they get paid for that. Why would you walk past somebody who put out a hit?”

Like everyone, Ellis said her grandsons had a right to be at the bar the night Smalley was gunned down. Raesean Sutphin, 20, was not of legal drinking age at the time of Smalley’s murder.

“They were there, but they wasn’t together,” Ellis said. “It’s a public bar. They weren’t the only ones at the bar. A lot of people was at the bar.”

Ellis does not pretend to know whether Rodney Sutphin’s murder is related to the slaying of Smalley.

“That’s up for the police to find out,” she said.

The 22-year-old Sutphin was found dead in October, three months after Smalley’s death. No arrests have been made and the murder remains unsolved.

Meanwhile, Brown’s trial is set for Oct. 5, and the Sutphins figure to be a part of the proceedings, as witnesses or as people implicated by Heyburn.

Heyburn has alleged Smalley was gunned down by a man known only as “King,” still at large, on orders of Rodney Sutphin, claiming it was payback for a murder Smalley allegedly committed.

In surveillance footage obtained by The Trentonian, Rodney Sutphin is seen fading back as King appears to reach for something tucked in his waistband seconds before Smalley was shot. The footage is silent but people are seen scattering in all directions as shots ring out. Rodney Sutphin takes off running away from the shots.

“He was scared to death,” Ellis said.

Heyburn went public with the allegations at a pretrial hearing last week, basing his assertion on a statement he contends one of Smalley’s friends made to former Mercer County Detective Joseph Itri, implicating Smalley in a separate homicide.

The man, John “Buck” Meyers, denied in an interview with The Trentonian accusing Smalley of murder and said Heyburn is motivated by getting his client off a murder rap.

“[Heyburn] is getting paid to represent his client,” Meyers said last week. “He’s going to say whatever he’s got to say to get his client free. It’s bull---t. That’s what I think.”

Ellis said her grandsons are easy targets.

Surveillance showed they were at the bar that night; their uncle is the oft-arrested Lawrence Sutphin, who is incarcerated on attempted murder charges; Raesean Sutphin also faces attempted murder charges stemming from a shooting that injured two people last October; and Rodney Sutphin is dead and can’t defend himself against the accusations.

“I’m taking it very hard for somebody to keep slandering his name,” Ellis said. “Don’t slander my grandkids name. Point blank. Don’t do that. Go for someone else. As far as their last name, if they had a right to choose someone else’s last name, they could have did that. What the other Sutphin family did, do not take it to hold my grandkids responsible.”

Ellis said her grandson was not a leader and did not have the capacity to order a murder. Rodney Sutphin had difficulty living by himself and performing chores.

“How can he order a murder and I was washing his clothes,” she said. “His IQ was not that strong. I did everything for him. And I buried him. I buried my grandson, but I’m not gonna allow this attorney to try to drag him in the dirt. Heyburn needs to piss somewhere else.”

Rodney Sutphin’s grandmother believes he suffered from an untreated case of obsessive-compulsive disorder as he often showered for hours, scrubbing every inch of his body, including behind his earlobes, repeatedly.

“I knew I would have to use the bathroom before he goes in,” Ellis said. “We had to respect that. There’s nothing you can do for him. It was like a disease. Now he can’t take a shower because he’s dead.”

Raesean Sutphin is a potential witness in Brown’s murder trial, although McCauley said there is no negotiated plea deal that would require him to testify against Brown.

Ellis also took issue with McCauley’s jab at Raesean Sutphin, when he claimed he is no stranger to the system.

“He’s a Sutphin,” McCauley said, according to a recording of last week’s hearing. “Of course, he’s in the system.”

Ellis said she regularly speaks to Raesean Sutphin, who is still behind bars awaiting the resolution of his attempted murder case.

“He’s innocent until proven guilty,” she said. “The case he’s held on has nothing to do with what they’re trying to put him into. He’s in a whole different thing. We’re not going to talk about his case. I’m here to clear my grandson’s name. Because a dead man can’t talk to you.”

Attorney for defendant believes he has cracked the Trenton homicide case

Isaac Avilucea — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 11:51:44 -0400

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.

Did a dead man order the murder of Enrico Smalley Jr.?

The attorney for a Trenton man accused of gunning down Smalley outside a crime-riddled city bar in July 2014 believes he has cracked the case.

If true, his bombshell allegations would not only exonerate his client, 30-year-old Shaheed Brown, but implicate now-deceased Rodney Sutphin for ordering the murder of Smalley as retribution for another homicide Smalley allegedly committed. One of Smalley’s friends who was at the bar with him the night he was murdered slammed Brown’s attorney in an interview with The Trentonian, saying the suggestion Smalley was killed as payback for another murder is “bull---t.”

Defense attorney Edward Heyburn went public with his allegations Thursday, at a pretrial hearing ahead of his client’s upcoming murder trial, which is slated to start in the fall.

Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson, who has taken over the case for another judge, set the start of trial for October, despite Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley’s request to have it delayed until next year.

McCauley disclosed that a close family member has medical issues that require his attention.

Smithson discussed the issue with the attorneys inside his chambers for about 30 minutes before announcing the trial, which had been scheduled to start in September, would be postponed until Oct. 5.

The judge said it wasn’t prudent to have another prosecutor take over the case for McCauley.

Heyburn’s allegations hint at a possible third-party guilt defense. Heyburn had previously released to The Trentonian surveillance from outside La Guira Bar, where Smalley was shot.

The release of the video prompted Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier, who was previously assigned the case, to implement a gag order on the attorneys and seal Brown’s case file from the public purview.

Heyburn contends the video shows a man, known only as “King,” reaching for something tucked in his waistband seconds before Smalley was shot. King, who Heyburn contends is the real killer, was accompanied to the bar by two men, Raesean and Rodney Sutphin, the latter who allegedly ordered the hit as payback, Heyburn said.

Rodney Sutphin, 22, was fatally shot in October, three months after Smalley was killed. His murder remains unsolved, and his family has accused of police of not aggressively investigating because of the victim’s last name.

Raesean Sutphin is locked up in the county jail, charged with attempted murder for a shooting in October 2014 that injured two people.

McCauley said at this point there is no negotiated plea deal between prosecutors and Raesean Sutphin that would require him to testify against Brown.

The prosecutor, however, did say Raesean Sutphin is no stranger to the system.

“He’s a Sutphin,” he said. “Of course, he’s in the system.”

Heyburn said he has tried without success to obtain from prosecutors police records related to Rodney Sutphin’s murder as well as the attempted murder case against Raesean, hoping it would help piece together the circumstances he believes led to the Smalley slaying.

Billmeier previously ruled the police records would not be turned over because they were not relevant, but Heyburn has asked Smithson to reconsider the ruling in light of a statement Raesean Sutphin provided police.

His name appears on a five-page witness list, and he could be called to the stand to testify, Heyburn said.

Additionally, Heyburn told the court he had contacted one of Smalley’s friends, a man named John “Buck” Meyers.

Heyburn said during a two-minute phone call Meyers mentioned giving a statement to former Mercer County Detective Joseph Itri in which he told the detective he did not known anything about Smalley’s murder but had information allegedly implicating Smalley in another murder, the details of which remain scant.

Itri apparently stopped Meyers, turned off the recording and asked him to give a second statement about the murder Smalley allegedly committed. Heyburn has requested that prosecutors produce the statement.

“There’s a nexus between Enrico Smalley’s actions and the people who were within feet of him when he was murdered,” Heyburn said. “Essentially, it was a retaliatory action.”

The judge was taken aback by Heyburn’s allegation.

“What kind of world are we living in?” Smithson said. “My god.”

McCauley said he was unaware of any statement implicating Smalley in a murder, but said he would check with Itri, who has been transferred to Essex County. The prosecutor said that by contacting Meyers, Brown’s attorney has now made himself a witness in the case.

Meyers said Brown’s attorney is making up his allegations whole cloth, and he never provided police with a statement implicating Smalley in another murder. He said he considered Smalley “a little brother.”

“[Heyburn] is getting paid to represent his client,” Meyers said. “He’s going to say whatever he’s got to say to get his client free. It’s bull---t. That’s what I think. He’s saying, ‘Oh, well John Meyers is saying that Enrico got killed because of something he did.’ I never said that. I said, ‘Enrico was up there and [he] had a situation with these people. I never said Enrico murdered one of them peoples and they came back and they killed him. I said they had a disagreement in a bar which led to his killing.

“That (stuff) right there, it’s crazy. He’s putting me out there in the wrong type of way. The police know that. They’re fighting the case against him. I don’t know if his client is guilty or not guilty. But at the end of the day, by doing that, it makes his client look guilty by trying to put me on the bus.”

While shocking, Heyburn’s allegations come as no surprise. Brown’s case has been chock full of startling revelations and jousting between the attorneys.

Earlier this year, McCauley said the murder weapon used to kill Smalley, which has not been recovered, was linked with a separate murder in Essex County and two shootings in Trenton. McCauley did not outright accuse Brown of being involved in the Essex County murder but said it occurred around the same time Brown was believed to be in the county.

The weapon was linked to those crimes through a database of images of spent bullets and shell casings, known to New Jersey State Police as the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, or NIBIN.

That evidence, however, has been deemed unreliable because police cannot make a definitive ballistics comparison without the murder weapon and will not be allowed at trial.

Family claims police are not investigating Rodney Sutphin’s murder because of his last name

Penny Ray — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 17:42:39 -0500

A couple of days after Rodney Ellis Sutphin’s death, police raided his Grant Avenue home around 4 a.m. and pointed guns equipped with laser sights at the occupants of the house.

“The cops yelled, ‘Come downstairs right now; open the f***ing door,’” Sutphin’s aunt Tina Ellis said. “As soon as I opened the door, they had their shields up with laser beams all over the place.”

Rodney Sutphin

Police were looking for Raesean Sutphin — Rodney’s brother — but his family said the officers didn’t make it clear why they wanted to arrest him.

One day prior to the raid, a man and a woman were wounded by gunfire near the intersection of Girard and St. Joe’s avenues. Raesean Sutphin was identified as one of four suspects in that shooting and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force then set out to find him.

When officers raided the Ellis / Sutphin home, they should have provided the arrest warrant when asked by the family whether they had a search warrant. The officers also should have explained that an arrest warrant gives police the right to search any location they believe the suspect to be living or hiding. But, according to Raesean’s family, police didn’t make any of that clear.

“They were very disrespectful,” Tina said. “We didn’t find out why they were looking for Raesean until it hit the newspaper.”

According to the family, when they asked police whether they had a search warrant, the officers replied, “No.” Technically, police didn’t need a search warrant as long as they had reason to believe Raesean was in the house. But the lack of communication by police angered Sutphin’s family, which led to vulgar language and shouting matches, the family said.

“They tore up my house like it was nothing,” Sutphin’s grandmother Deborah Ellis said. “How can a human being be hiding underneath a cushion?”

Raesean Sutphin

At the time of the raid, the Ellis / Sutphin family had one thing on their mind: the burial of Rodney Sutphin. So, when police raided the home looking for Raesean, they didn’t understand why. Tina said she asked an officer to explain what was going on, and he replied, “Don’t act like you’re stupid, we need to get Raesean off of the streets. The shooting needs to stop.”

Police then searched the family’s entire house, including areas where no human could possibly fit. The officers also threatened to shoot two caged dogs because of their loud consistent barking, the family said. Police eventually left after not finding Raesean that morning, but they returned a couple of days later and went through the entire routine again without explaining the arrest warrant, the family said.

“They tossed my shoes,” Deborah said. “Who’s gonna hide under a pair of shoes? They opened the freezer. How am I gonna fit a person in my freezer? It didn’t make any sense.”

To law enforcement, though, it did make sense. Police say they often search for a suspect in the most obscure places because they sometimes hide. According to the county prosecutor’s office, that’s exactly what Raesean did when police found him a few days later in a home on Walnut Avenue.

“Sutphin was in a closet under a pile of clothes,” spokesperson Casey DeBlasio said.

Now that Raesean is behind bars, his family said, police have stopped answering their calls in regards to the murder of Rodney Sutphin. His family feels that police are not investigating the case as aggressively as other cases because he has the last name Sutphin. Rodney was found shot dead behind the wheel of an idling minivan on Oct 19. Police found the van around 1:20 a.m. in the area of Mulberry Street and Nottingham Way.

His family said police told them the van was found parked in the middle of Mulberry Street, and that “the bullets were not meant for him.” The owner of the van was warned not to drive through a particular area, according to street sources, and he then asked Rodney Sutphin to drive the vehicle. His family believes someone was in the van with Rodney, but police have not confirmed that suspicion. Rodney’s death certificate lists his “location of injury” as the 100 block of Breunig Avenue. The family has questions about how the van moved from Breunig to Mulberry without crashing or jumping a curb.

“Police told us, 'We know for a fact the shooting was not meant for Rodney; it was meant for the person who owned the van,’” Tina said. “If he was an innocent person, why not work the case as if he was a person walking down the street who got shot? They are biased to the case and are not investigating Rodney’s death because of his last name. The van owner can be seen as an accomplice. Police said they took him in and questioned him, but they let him go.”

Lawrence Sutphin

His family feels that police are not treating the case like other murder cases because of Lawrence Sutphin’s history with law enforcement. In April, Lawrence Sutphin was arrested in connection with the Galilee Baptist Church shooting, though prosecutor’s have since said that he never fired a shot. Lawrence Sutphin was then arrested at least four additional times over a six-month period, which includes an arrest for threatening to shoot up The Trentonian newsroom after his picture was placed on the cover in connection with the church shooting.

Lawrence Sutphin, though, has little contact with the Ellis side of the family, Deborah said. Meanwhile, all of Deborah’s grandchildren, which includes Rodney and Raesean, lived and grew up in the Ellis’ Grant Avenue home. Lawrence Sutphin is the uncle of Rodney and Raesean. Lawrence and Rodney were arrested together in September after police allegedly witnessed them sell drugs to another man.

“Rodney wasn’t a bad kid; he wasn’t a gangbanger,” Deborah said. “He (may have been in trouble), but that doesn’t mean you can throw his case in a cold case pile.”

Mercer County prosecutors said they are continually investigating all of Trenton’s unsolved murders, and that there have been no new developments in Rodney Sutphin’s case.

Man found shot behind wheel of minivan in Trenton

Scott Ketterer — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 11:41:22 -0400

Two and a half months of relative calm was shattered early Sunday morning after a shooting left one man dead.

According to Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, police were called to the area of Mulberry Street and Nottingham Way on report of a person shot around 1:19 a.m.

When police arrived they found the victim, 22-year-old Rodney Sutphin of Trenton, dead behind the wheel of a still running minivan, DeBlasio said.

No suspects have been identified and the murder remains under investigation. The New Jersey State Police Crime Scene Unit is processing the van.

Rodney Sutphin

The 22-year-old’s death is the first to hit the city since July 30 when Tyshawn Goodman and George Jamison were gunned down in separate incidents. Those incidents were believed to have been robberies gone awry.

The city saw a record number of murders last year, and in the first seven months of this year saw 23 murders.

Police have not yet determined a motive in Sunday’s slaying.

Rodney Sutphin was arrested in September along with Lawrence Sutphin, who threatened to shoot up the Trentonian newsroom after his photo was placed on the cover in connection with the Galilee Baptist Church shooting. The pair were arrested following an alleged drug deal out of a minivan in the 800 block of Greenwood Avenue. Both were charged with possession of crack cocaine and related drug distribution charges. The relationship between the Sutphins is unknown by police.

Anyone who may have information is asked to contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at (609) 989-6406. Or use the Trenton police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663.

Tipsters may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tipline at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.