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Opposing versions of defendant's role argued in Newark schoolyard shootings closing statements

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Defense attorney calls the killings a 'spontaneous event' Godinez could not have foreseen; prosecutor says Godinez was 'a willing participant'

newark-schoolyard-killings-trial.JPGRodolfo Godinez is led into the courtroom this morning for the start of closing arguments in his trial at the Essex County Courthouse. Lawyers for the defense and the prosecution presented opposing arguments on Godinez's role in the slayings.
NEWARK — Both sides in the Newark schoolyard trial agree on one thing: Rodolfo Godinez was drinking beer on Aug. 4, 2007, when four college-aged friends entered the Mount Vernon School playground.

But what Godinez did after a precise moment that night — 11:30 p.m., and 49 seconds — remains in dispute. At that time, Terrance Aeriel sent a worried text message to his sister. Minutes later, he and two of his friends were killed.

Today, during more than four hours of closing statements, the lawyers in the triple murder case outlined opposing versions of Godinez’s role that night.

"He was a willing participant in that event," said Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas McTigue. "He set it up ... The brutality, the callousness, the very random nature of this crime was a massacre of innocence, no more, no less."

Pacing before the jury of 16, Roy Greenman, Godinez’s attorney, disagreed. He called his client a helpless witness who had nothing to do with lining Aeriel, 18, Iofemi Hightower, 19, and Dashon Harvey, 20, against a wall and then shooting them.

Calling the killings a "spontaneous event" Godinez could not have foreseen, Greenman noted that four cold beer bottles were found at the scene of the crime.

"Who would bring sweating bottles of beer to a pre-planned robbery and then leave them there?" Greenman asked. "That makes no sense."

Godinez, now 26, has pleaded not guilty to several counts of robbery, murder and weapons charges. He is the first of six defendants charged in triple killing. The others will be tried separately.

Greenman and McTigue reviewed the graphic details of the slayings before a packed and emotionally charged courtroom.

James Harvey, Dashon’s father, broke down in tears and wiped his face when McTigue spoke of his son’s final day. Shalga Hightower rocked back and forth and bit her lip when the assistant prosecutor showed an autopsy photo of her daughter, Iofemi.

"Remember, Mr. Godinez says he’s just a witness, he’s just casually observing this," McTigue said, as he held a blood-stained machete he said was used to slash Hightower. "Just watching? Those blows were all pre-mortem."

To prove Godinez played an active role in the killings, McTigue pointed to the 55-minute statement Godinez made to detectives shortly after he was arrested. In it, Godinez boasts of his "big homie" rank in the MS-13 street gang and admits he picked up some items stolen from the victims.

"There was only one person who knew the caliber of the gun right away," McTigue said, referring to the .357 Colt Trooper used to shoot all four victims. "Rodolfo Godinez; he discussed it in that statement."

But Greenman dismissed the tape, which was recorded at 3:30 in the morning, as the tired ramblings of a scared young man with limited intelligence.

"The state has to show he shared the same purpose as the actual perpetrators," Greenman told the jurors. "That’s why I bring in his low IQ and drinking. You have to determine his state of mind."

Greenman also questioned the credibility of a number of witnesses, including Natasha Aeriel, the sole survivor of the attack. He noted Aeriel never identified Godinez when detectives handed her a photo array while she was recuperating in a hospital.

"She looks, makes absolutely no identification, not even says, ‘Looks like him, resembles him.’ Nothing," he said.

The jury will begin deliberations this morning after hearing instructions from the judge.


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Orange resident arrested in Toms River hospital robbery

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TOMS RIVER - A 47-year-old Orange man was arrested this afternoon when hospital staff members spotted him rifling through a cash register inside a gift shop at Community Medical Center, police said. Quentin Hunt was charged with robbery after he allegedly stole $350 in cash and other undisclosed items from the gift shop just after 4 p.m., Toms River Police...

TOMS RIVER - A 47-year-old Orange man was arrested this afternoon when hospital staff members spotted him rifling through a cash register inside a gift shop at Community Medical Center, police said.

Quentin Hunt was charged with robbery after he allegedly stole $350 in cash and other undisclosed items from the gift shop just after 4 p.m., Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy said.

Hospital staff members told police they saw Hunt going through a gift shop drawer. They were able to detain him until police arrived, according to Mastronardy, who said the arresting officers found money and other proceeds of the alleged robbery in Hunt's possession when they captured him.

Hunt is being held at the Ocean County Jail on $150,000 bail.

Authorities say evidence backs charges against Newark pastor in Linden sex assault case

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NEWARK — At the Newark church where his congregants dress all in white, he was known as a husband, father and respected pastor for more than 20 years. But, authorities said, Moises Cotto, the 55-year-old pastor, had been meeting for the past two years with a female congregant at a motel in Linden where the pair had sex —...

Cotto.jpgRev. Moises Cotto, 55, pastor of the Congregation Yahweh on Chester Avenue in NewarkNEWARK — At the Newark church where his congregants dress all in white, he was known as a husband, father and respected pastor for more than 20 years.

But, authorities said, Moises Cotto, the 55-year-old pastor, had been meeting for the past two years with a female congregant at a motel in Linden where the pair had sex — and forced two teenage girls to videotape them in the act.

Cotto was arrested at his apartment in East Orange on Monday night, and charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, attempted aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a minor.

His parishioner, Brenda Pabon, 37, of Middlesex County, has been charged with kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a minor.

But Wednesday, the assistant pastor of the Newark church, Yahweh Templo El Candelero, said he is convinced Cotto is innocent. He called Pabon a "problematic parishioner," saying she had recently threatened the pastor and vowed to leave his congregation along with her husband.

"I do think that an injustice is being done, based on my friendship with the minister," said Assistant Pastor A. Diaz. "There’s no truth to the allegations. He’s been an upstanding pastor for more than 20 years."

The church carefully screens pastors, Diaz said, and holds them to "high standards."

Prosecutors say they have significant physical evidence that corroborates the victims’ allegations.

Cotto’s sexual affair began with Pabon after she sought counseling from the pastor, authorities said. The pair met at the Benedict Motel on Routes 1&9 in Linden, where they allegedly forced two teenage girls to videotape them engaged in sexual acts, and several times instructed at least one girl to undress and pose for photos with Cotto.

During at least one of their weekly meetings at the motel, the pastor was accused of attempting to sexually assault one of the girls, who resisted, authorities said.

The motel meetings continued until about two weeks ago, when one of the teenage victims reported the abuse to a parent, Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said.

Cotto, who is also affiliated with Yahweh Congregations in Jersey City and Paterson, was being held at the Union County Jail on $1.3 million bail, authorities said. Pabon surrendered to authorities Tuesday and was being held on $750,000 bail.

The door was locked Wednesday on the white stone church of Templo El Candelero — Spanish for "Temple Menorah" — on Chester Avenue in the North Ward, where about 50 mostly Puerto Rican congregants gather for Friday and Saturday services.

Their religious movement, called the Congregation of Yahweh, follows many Jewish practices although the church is not officially recognized by Jewish organizations.

During his four years as pastor at this temple, Cotto helped senior citizens with home repair and assisted in distributing food to the needy in Newark and other cities, Diaz said.

In the high-rise apartment building in East Orange where Cotto lived with his wife and son and worked as superintendent, residents said they were taken aback by the charges.

Cotto was polite and meticulous, an early-riser often seen sporting a bright white fedora on his way to church with his wife and grown son, who each wore immaculate white suits.

"It’s extremely hard for me to believe," said Marcia Austin, 58, a longtime resident of the building. "To me, he’s an honorable man. "

Ex-N.J. Assemblyman Van Pelt is found guilty of accepting of $10K bribe

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OCEAN COUNTY -- Outside a crowded upscale restaurant in Atlantic City last year, Daniel Van Pelt surreptitiously accepted a white envelope stuffed with $100 bills from a real estate developer seeking special favors and tucked it in his doggie bag. With that exchange secretly captured on videotape, the state Assemblyman from Ocean County not only gave his promise to...

van-pelt.JPGFormer N.J. Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt heads to his car after he leaves federal court during his corruption trial on Wednesday in Trenton. A jury convicted him of taking a $10,000 bribe.
OCEAN COUNTY -- Outside a crowded upscale restaurant in Atlantic City last year, Daniel Van Pelt surreptitiously accepted a white envelope stuffed with $100 bills from a real estate developer seeking special favors and tucked it in his doggie bag.

With that exchange secretly captured on videotape, the state Assemblyman from Ocean County not only gave his promise to help the developer, but he also gave federal investigators the evidence they needed to show he was willing to sell his political influence.

On Wednesday, a jury in U.S. District Court in Trenton convicted the former Republican legislator of bribery and extortion charges, rejecting his claim that the $10,000 was a fee for his consulting services.

"This conviction should remind public officials that no matter what you call it, a bribe is a bribe," U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement.

Wednesday's verdict was the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s second conviction in court stemming from last summer’s massive public corruption and money-laundering sting. Seventeen other have pleaded guilty. That investigation led to charges against 46 people, including public officials, rabbis and one man accused of trying to sell a human kidney. The verdict also kept intact the office’s unbroken string of more than 150 public corruption convictions in the past eight years.

Van Pelt, 45, did not look at the jury as the forewoman announced the verdict. Dressed in a dark suit with a blue-striped tie, he bowed his head at the first pronouncement.

Van Pelt declined to comment after court, but said earlier in the day he was ready to accept the jury’s verdict. His wife, who attended a portion of the three-week trial, was not in court Wednesday for the verdict but her father kept vigil throughout.

Robert Fuggi Jr., one of Van Pelt’s two defense attorneys, said he was "very disappointed" with the outcome.

"I respect the resolution. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but the jury has spoken," Fuggi said. "It’s unfortunate the verdict went down the way it went down, but that’s how litigation goes."

He said he has to confer with Van Pelt on whether to file an appeal.

U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano allowed Van Pelt to remain free on $100,000 bond until his sentencing on Aug. 24.

Van Pelt, a former mayor and committeeman in Ocean Township, could face up to 30 years in prison, but Fuggi said the term would more likely be between 41 months and 51 months.

Van Pelt met at least eight times between December 2008 and May 2009 with Dwek, who posed as fictitious developer David Esenbach. Dwek began working with the FBI in 2006 after being arrested on bank fraud charges.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rachael Honig and Dustin Chao argued Van Pelt fabricated the consultant’s arrangement to cover up the bribe. They said he agreed during a Feb. 11, 2009, meeting with Dwek to take a bribe in exchange for helping Dwek obtain expedited environmental permits for a development project in Ocean Township. He took the cash 10 days later after a dinner meeting at Morton’s Steakhouse in Atlantic City.

Van Pelt’s case was the second of last year’s arrests to go to trial. In February, former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini was found guilty of accepting $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions from that same developer, Solomon Dwek, who was secretly working with the FBI.

But unlike Beldini’s case, where jurors never saw money directly change hands, the jury in Van Pelt’s trial watched a video of the legislator taking an envelope stuffed with cash.

They also watched a video offered by the defense in which Van Pelt declines Dwek’s offers of gifts and cash three months later, telling him to ‘‘keep your money.’’

Testifying over two days, Van Pelt told jurors he consulted with a state ethics attorney who he said advised him he was permitted to do consulting work as long as he did not introduce legislation that benefited his clients and he did not represent clients to any state agencies or boards.

Van Pelt did not finish his first Assembly term. He resigned eight days after being arrested, four months before his planned re-election bid.

Gov. Chris Christie, who gave the green light to that portion of the investigation involving Van Pelt while he was U.S. Attorney, said he was saddened by the conviction.

"It is always a personal tragedy to watch a public official convicted of a crime," he said. "But I will also commend the U.S. Attorney’s Office for continuing to do the work that needs to be done, to hold elected officials and appointed officials accountable for their conduct."

The jury of seven women and five men delivered the verdict after 11 hours of deliberations over three days.

Staff writer Claire Heininger contributed to this report.


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Ex-N.J. Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt is convicted of taking $10K bribe

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Jurors expected to begin deliberations in Newark schoolyard killings trial

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NEWARK — Jurors in the Newark schoolyard trial will likely begin deliberations this morning. Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin must first instruct the jury, which currently has 16 members, including four alternates, in the charges facing Rodolfo Godinez. The 26-year-old has pleaded not guilty to several counts of murder, felony murder, robbery and weapons charges. Godinez is one...

Godinez-trial-enter-newark-schoolyard.jpgRodolfo Godinez is escorted into the courtroom during his trial at the Essex County Courthouse in Newark. Godinez is charged with the murder of three young people and the attempted murder of a fourth in a Newark schoolyard.
NEWARK — Jurors in the Newark schoolyard trial will likely begin deliberations this morning.

Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin must first instruct the jury, which currently has 16 members, including four alternates, in the charges facing Rodolfo Godinez. The 26-year-old has pleaded not guilty to several counts of murder, felony murder, robbery and weapons charges.

Godinez is one of six defendants to be charged in the schoolyard killings, which occurred nearly three years ago. Iofemi Hightower, Dashon Harvey and Terrance Aeriel were set upon on Aug. 4, 2007, and shot, execution-style. Terrance's sister, Natasha, now 22, was also shot but survived.

The other defendants will be tried separately.

In his closing statement Wednesday, Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas McTigue argued Godinez played a crucial role in setting up the killings. Godinez's attorney, Roy Greenman, countered that Godinez was helpless witness who could not have foreseen the slayings.


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Newark police officer pleads not guilty to witness tampering, obstruction

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NEWARK — A Newark police officer pleaded not guilty today in federal court to witness tampering and obstruction for allegedly pressuring a man to lie to the FBI about sexual encounters authorities say they had when the alleged victim was a minor. Sgt. Michael J. Lalley, 43, was arrested in February at his home in Ocean County. The FBI...

michael-lalley-police-sex-assault.jpgThe FBI had been investigating allegations that Sgt. Michael J. Lalley, a 20-year police veteran, had been giving cash, marijuana and cocaine to minors between 1991 and 1999 in exchange for sex, authorities said. In some cases, the sexual encounters occurred at a Newark police station, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Newark.
NEWARK — A Newark police officer pleaded not guilty today in federal court to witness tampering and obstruction for allegedly pressuring a man to lie to the FBI about sexual encounters authorities say they had when the alleged victim was a minor.

Sgt. Michael J. Lalley, 43, was arrested in February at his home in Ocean County. The FBI began investigating him as early as the Spring of 2009 on suspicions he was stealing money and narcotics from drug dealers and paying minors for sex, according to the indictment.


Prosecutors have not filed drug or sex assault charges against Lalley, who is married with children. He remains free on on $100,000 bail. The 20-year veteran served a six-day unpaid suspension following his arrest and has since been placed on limited duty.

His trial is scheduled for July 20. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison, said Christopher Gramiccioni, an assistant U.S. attorney.

Lalley's attorney, Michael A. Robbins, said his client has had a exemplary career in law enforcement and deserves the benefit of the doubt along with the presumption of innocence.

"For 20 years Michael J. Lalley has protected and served the people of the city of Newark with honor and distinction," Robbins said.

Camden sex offender charged with lying to get job as Census worker

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PENNSAUKEN — A sex offender has been charged with using a fake name and someone else's Social Security number to get a job as a Census canvasser in New Jersey. It was a concerned mom who alerted authorities earlier this month. Amy Schmalbach of Pennsauken has said she thought she recognized a Census worker who came to her door...

frank-kuni.jpgFrank J. KuniPENNSAUKEN — A sex offender has been charged with using a fake name and someone else's Social Security number to get a job as a Census canvasser in New Jersey.

It was a concerned mom who alerted authorities earlier this month.

Amy Schmalbach of Pennsauken has said she thought she recognized a Census worker who came to her door on May 4 from the state's sex offender registry. After he left her porch, she called police. He was arrested the next day.

Federal authorities charged him Wednesday with providing false statements to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The man is named Frank Kuni, but authorities say he used the alias Jamie Shepard to get the Census job.

Census officials say they fired him in early May over a problem with his fingerprint records.

More Pennsauken news:

pennsauken-sex-offender-census.jpgA map view of Pennsauken, in Camden County, where a woman recognized a Census worker to be a sex offender.

U.S. report shows 16 people linked to terror plots passed undetected through airport security

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WASHINGTON — At least 16 people later linked to terror plots passed through U.S. airports undetected by federal officials who were on duty to spot suspicious behavior, according to a government report. The airport-based officials were part of a federal behavior detection program designed to spot potential terrorists and others who pose a threat to aviation. The program, started...

newark-liberty-international-airport.JPGContinental Airlines planes sit at the terminal at Newark Liberty Airport.
WASHINGTON — At least 16 people later linked to terror plots passed through U.S. airports undetected by federal officials who were on duty to spot suspicious behavior, according to a government report.

The airport-based officials were part of a federal behavior detection program designed to spot potential terrorists and others who pose a threat to aviation. The program, started in 2003, is one of 20 layers built into the nation's aviation security system.

The General Accounting Office questioned the scientific basis of the entire program in a report released Thursday. The program, dubbed SPOT — Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques — was instituted by the Transportation Security Administration "without first validating the scientific basis for identifying passengers in an airport environment," the GAO said.

"A scientific consensus does not exist on whether behavior detection principles can be reliably used for counterterrorism purposes," the congressional auditors added.

The public version of the GAO report did not include the names of the 16 terror suspects who eluded detection. But among the 16 who slipped past the behavior detection officials at Newark Liberty International Airport, the report said, was an individual who "in August 2008 later pleaded guilty to providing material support to al-Qaida."

Both Najibullah Zazi, the Denver-area shuttle driver who led the plot to blow up the New York City subway system, and an accomplice, Zarein Ahmedzay, pleaded guilty to providing material support to al-Qaida. Federal investigators said both men also traveled through the Newark airport in August 2008.

"TSA has bungled the development and deployment of a potentially important layer of aviation security," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who requested the report. Mica, the top Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called on the Obama administration to reorganize the TSA so it can better carry out its mission.

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate the current deputy director of the FBI to lead the TSA. Two previous nominees dropped out after concerns were raised about their backgrounds.

Between May 2004 and August 2008, behavior detection officers who work for the TSA have made about 1,100 arrests, but none were for terrorism, the GAO said. TSA spokesman Greg Soule said behavior detection officers at Orlando International Airport spotted a person in April 2008 who was carrying components and instructions for a pipe bomb in his luggage.

The agency did not agree with all the GAO's findings.

"TSA strongly believes that behavior detection is a vital layer in its aviation security strategy. ... Leaders within the community of behavior detection researchers agree," Jerald Levine, the director of the Homeland Security Department's GAO liaison office, said in a response included in the report.


Elizabeth teen recounts shooting of friend during trial of accused killer

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Alleged gang member thought middle schooler was member of Bloods, authorities say

we-remember-elijah.JPGFollowing the death of Elijah Henderson in 2007, mourners gathered for a prayer vigil in front of the 13-year-old's memorial.
ELIZABETH — Isaiah Davis says the only thing he remembers about the man who stepped out of the shadows to fire a barrage of bullets at himself and his two middle school friends, killing one of them, is this: he wore jeans and some sort of a mask.

"I didn’t see his face," Isaiah said in court today, on the first day of the trial of Edariel "Riddick" Melendez, charged with the 2007 death of 13-year-old Elijah Henderson.

Melendez, who was 19 years old at the time and an alleged member of the Crips street gang, stands accused of fatally shooting Elijah and another person just days later in cases of mistaken identity.

Elijah was shot in the head while riding on the back of a bicycle pedaled by a friend along an Elizabeth street at about 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 12, after the boys had sneaked out of the house during a sleepover.

Isaiah, then 13 and riding a second bike, was shot three times and survived.

Now 16 years old and more than 6 feet tall, Isaiah took the witness stand today as a row of his relatives and Elijah’s mother sat silently in the court’s gallery. He said he recalls riding bikes with his friends and taking a random turn in the dark down Fulton Street. Being shot and struggling to get up off the ground was "like a dream," he said.

"Did you see what happened to Elijah?" the Assistant Prosecutor Bruce Holmes asked.

"Do I got to answer that question?" Isaiah said. After a pause, he spoke.

"I looked at him. I couldn’t cry because it hurt so bad. But I wanted to."

Isaiah said he was hit in the right bicep, the thigh and the calf. Before limping off to get help, he saw Elijah on the ground, bleeding profusely from a head wound.

isiah-davis-elizabeth.JPGIsaiah Davis in his Elizabeth bedroom while recovering from gunshot wounds in 2007. Now 16, Davis took the stand today. Elijah’s mother, Jacqueline Purdie, wept in court as a police officer reviewed a list of the bloodstained clothing removed from her son’s body that night.

Melendez, now 22 and dressed in a black suit, listened without expression. His brother and several other young men sitting behind the defense table were sternly warned by Superior Court Judge Joseph Perfilio not to speak to jurors or witnesses.

Melendez also stands accused of killing 54-year-old Celso Pedra two days after Elijah’s death. The shootings happened just blocks apart, authorities said.

They believe the two homicides were retribution for the Nov. 11 killing of Rahshad Thomas, a member of the Crips known as "Twin," the assistant prosecutor said. Melendez had mistakenly believed Pedra, a construction worker, and the three eighth graders on bikes were members of the rival Bloods gang, authorities said.

A second Elizabeth man, Bryant "Smoke" Lee, then 19, has also been charged in the killings and will be tried separately.

Holmes said Melendez admitted to at least six people at a party that he had mistakenly killed the 13-year-old, then asked them to help hide the .40-caliber handgun used in both shootings.

But defense attorney Fredric Pearson argued the state’s case is faulty at best.

"It’s a word-on-the-street case, it’s a rumor case, it’s a reputation case," he told the jury today.

Morris County corrections officer found dead at home is ruled as suicide

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MORRIS TOWNSHIP – The death of a Morris County corrections officer found inside his Morris Township apartment was ruled a suicide, authorities said today. Michael Bell, 42, a 22-year veteran of the county corrections department found Wednesday at 4:11 p.m. at his Lindsley Arms apartment, died from a gunshot wound to the head, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office said. No...

MORRIS TOWNSHIPThe death of a Morris County corrections officer found inside his Morris Township apartment was ruled a suicide, authorities said today.

Michael Bell, 42, a 22-year veteran of the county corrections department found Wednesday at 4:11 p.m. at his Lindsley Arms apartment, died from a gunshot wound to the head, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office said.

No further details were released.

On Tuesday, Bell had been questioned by prosecutor’s office investigators about his interactions with certain inmates at the Morris County Jail, according to three law enforcement officials who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about Bell’s death. The prosecutor’s and sheriff’s offices would not comment on whether Bell had been questioned.

Bell’s survivors include a wife and two children. Word of his death stunned his friends and colleagues.

"This was one person you’d never expect this from," said Ron Flammer, former president of Bell’s union, PBA Local 298. "I spent 10 years of my career with the guy. He was always level-headed. This just comes as a shock to me."

In June, Bell and another jail officer, Jerry Ugrina, filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the sheriff’s and corrections departments and the former undersheriff who oversaw the lockup.

That lawsuit, which remains pending in Superior Court in Morristown, claimed Bell, who is African-American, and Ugrina, who is Hispanic, suffered discrimination and retaliation based on their race and national origin.

The lawsuit now will proceed with Bell’s estate becoming the co-plaintiff, said his attorney, Robert Tandy. Mediation in the case was unsuccessful, though in January the plaintiffs dropped the former undersheriff as a defendant.

"I’m devastated by the news" of Bell’s suicide, Tandy said. "My thoughts and prayers are with his family. This is a tragedy. Mike’s been through a lot at the sheriff’s office stemming from his allegations" in the lawsuit.

Those allegations include that in 2007, Bell and Ugrina were assaulted by an inmate, used force to control the inmate, and were injured. The inmate was administratively found guilty of assault, but the former undersheriff dismissed all disciplinary charges against the inmate. Though Bell and Ugrina were cleared of any wrongdoing by internal affairs, two housing sergeants, a security captain, a warden and the prosecutor’s office, they still suffered "threats and retaliation" by their then-superior, the lawsuit alleges.

Lindsley Arms-apartments-morris-suicide-police.jpgA map view of Lindsley Arms apartments in Morris Township, where a corrections officer found dead in his apartment was ruled to be a suicide, authorities said.

No verdict is reached yet in Newark schoolyard killings trial

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NEWARK — Before they can decide Rodolfo Godinez’s fate, a jury of eight women and four men must decide if he "knowingly and purposely" killed three college-aged friends in a Newark schoolyard on Aug. 4, 2007. They must consider, as Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin told them today, if it was Godinez’s "conscious object" to cause the victims’...

jury-newark-schoolyard.jpg Holding a note from the jury stating that one jury member refuses to vote on all the counts against Rodolfo Godinez, Judge Michael Ravin looks to the jury as he states he cannot rule or interfere on the matter and that the jury should go back and deliberate, and solve the issue on their own.
NEWARK — Before they can decide Rodolfo Godinez’s fate, a jury of eight women and four men must decide if he "knowingly and purposely" killed three college-aged friends in a Newark schoolyard on Aug. 4, 2007.

They must consider, as Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin told them today, if it was Godinez’s "conscious object" to cause the victims’ deaths. And they must make their decisions without any reasonable doubt — that is, "an honest and reasonable certainty ... about the guilt of the defendant."

For more than two hours Thursday, Ravin instructed jurors on the 17 counts against Godinez, 26, the first of six defendants charged in the killings of Iofemi Hightower, 19, Dashon Harvey, 20, and Terrance Aeriel, 18. Natasha Aeriel, now 22, was also shot but survived.

"Ask yourselves: is it probable? Is it logical? Is it reasonable?" Ravin said.

Godinez has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The other defendants will be tried separately.

After listening to the instructions, the jurors began deliberating at 1:50 p.m. but did not reach a verdict before they were dismissed at 5 p.m. They will return Monday morning.

As he went through the indictment, which includes robbery, murder, attempted murder, felony murder and weapons charges, Ravin tried to translate the grisly killings on Aug. 4, 2007, into legal jargon and definitions.

Prosecutors allege Godinez set up the homicides, but he insists he was a helpless witness.

"Whether presence has any probative value depends upon the total circumstances," Ravin instructed. "To constitute guilt, there must exist a community of purpose and actual participation in the crime committed."

For James Harvey, Dashon’s father, the instruction meant his family was another step to closure.

"I’ve been waiting for this," he said. "Hour by hour, minute by minute, I want to finally get some relief, not only for my family, but for the Hightowers, the Aeriels, and all the other relatives."

Five minutes after they began deliberations, the jurors passed a written note requesting a full copy of Ravin’s instructions.

Then, at 2:45 p.m., they passed another note: "We’re having a very serious issue in here," it read. "We have a young lady who says we are not going to vote on the issues."

Ravin told the jurors they had to resolve the problems on their own and sent them back into the jury room.

Near the end of his instructions earlier in the day, Ravin also warned the jurors not to speak with officers in the court unless they had one thing to say: "Would you please tell Judge Ravin we have reached a unanimous agreement with regard to every count? Thank you."


Previous Coverage:

Prosecutor delivers closing statement in Newark schoolyard slayings trial

Expert says Newark schoolyard killings defendant scored 'borderline retarded' in mental ability tests

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Convicted murderer Jonathan Zarate's assault trial stays in Morris County, judge rules

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MORRIS COUNTY -- A trial on assault charges against convicted murderer Jonathan Zarate will he held here, a judge ruled Thursday, according to a report in The Daily Record. The report said a lawyer representing Zarate sought a change in venue due to publicity about Zarate's 2005 killing of Randolph neighbor Jennifer Parks. While in jail awaiting trial on...

jonathan-zarate.jpgJonathan Zarate MORRIS COUNTY -- A trial on assault charges against convicted murderer Jonathan Zarate will he held here, a judge ruled Thursday, according to a report in The Daily Record.

The report said a lawyer representing Zarate sought a change in venue due to publicity about Zarate's 2005 killing of Randolph neighbor Jennifer Parks. While in jail awaiting trial on the murder charge, Zarate allegedly assaulted two officers.

The Zarate murder trial

Co-owner of North Brunswick deli is convicted of hiring man to kill business partner

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Raymond Troxell (right) hired a hit-man to kill his partner in the Mezzaluna deli over a financial dispute

Raymond_Troxell.JPGRaymond Troxell in 2008 at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick.
NORTH BRUNSWICK -- A Superior Court jury today found a South Brunswick man guilty as an accomplice to murder in the killing of his business partner in a North Brunswick deli.

Raymond Troxell, of South Brunswick, was accused of hiring Frank Marsh, 45, of Lower Macungie, Pa., to kill Vincent Russo, 48, of Staten Island. Troxell believed Russo was taking money out of their store, the Mezzaluna deli at Route 130 and Adams Lane. Marsh will be tried separately because statements made by Troxell implicate him in the slaying.

Troxell, a father of two, showed little reaction as the verdict was announced. His wife sobbed and fell into the arms of a relative, while Russo's mother wiped away tears.

Troxell faces up to life in prison at sentencing.

During the trial, jurors watched a video-taped interrogation of Troxell in which he admitted talking with friends at a bar, saying he wanted Russo dead. But Troxell claimed he was only joking and Marsh wrongly took him seriously.

According to the taped interview, Troxell said Marsh came to his house after the killing and he paid Marsh $3,000 because he was scared of the alleged killer.

Authorities allege Marsh went to the store about 7 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2008, on the pretense of seeking OxyContin. Authorities said Russo may have been selling the painkiller.

While in the deli office after the business was closed, Marsh allegedly shot the Staten Island resident in the head. Russo was found dead the next day, after relatives and his girlfriend searched for him at the deli when he never returned home.

N.J. housekeeper is accused of stealing more than $10K jewelry from River Vale homes

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RIVER VALE — A Saddle Brook housekeeper was charged Thursday with stealing more than $10,000 worth of jewelry from homes, according to a report on NorthJersey.com. Kinga Malkowska, 27, was arrested after a township resident reported the theft, the report said. Officials tracked the jewelry to a store in Washington Heights, N.Y. More River Vale news: theFeed();

RIVER VALE — A Saddle Brook housekeeper was charged Thursday with stealing more than $10,000 worth of jewelry from homes, according to a report on NorthJersey.com.

Kinga Malkowska, 27, was arrested after a township resident reported the theft, the report said. Officials tracked the jewelry to a store in Washington Heights, N.Y.

More River Vale news:

Four N.J. residents are arrested in Mississippi for possessing 11 pounds of cocaine in car

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ATLANTIC CITY — Police arrested four New Jersey residents in Mississippi for carrying 11 pounds of cocaine in their rented car, according to a report by PressofAtlanticCity.com. A sniffing dog notified police and a search led to finding the cocaine. The four passengers said they were returning to Atlantic City, said the report.

ATLANTIC CITY Police arrested four New Jersey residents in Mississippi for carrying 11 pounds of cocaine in their rented car, according to a report by PressofAtlanticCity.com.

A sniffing dog notified police and a search led to finding the cocaine. The four passengers said they were returning to Atlantic City, said the report.

lauderdale-mississippi-atlantic-city.jpgA map view of Lauderdale County in Mississippi, where four New Jersey residents were arrested for possessing cocaine.


Elizabeth man is sentenced to eight years in prison for sex assault of 14-year-old he met online

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ELIZABETH — A 31-year-old man was sentenced to eight years in prison today for having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl from Union County he met on a social networking website. As part of a deal with prosecutors, Jesse Goodman, who lives in Annandale, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and criminal sexual contact, and will serve his term...

jesse-goodman-sex-predator.jpgJesse Goodman, 30, of Annandale, a registered sex offender, was arrested last week for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl he met on a social networking website, authorities said.

ELIZABETH — A 31-year-old man was sentenced to eight years in prison today for having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl from Union County he met on a social networking website.

As part of a deal with prosecutors, Jesse Goodman, who lives in Annandale, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and criminal sexual contact, and will serve his term at the state's Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avanel.

Today, Goodman stood handcuffed before Superior Court Judge Joseph Donohue and spoke agitatedly for nearly an hour, reading a prepared statement from a 40-page stack of looseleaf papers.

He gave this rambling speech against the advice of his defense attorney, Donald DiGioia, who had previously informed the judge that Goodman suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident in 1997, which lowers his level of inhibition and makes him act on impulse.

Goodman, who fidgeted and frequently ran his hand over a large white scar across the right side of his head, apologized to the victim and to his own family. He said his injury "scrambles" his thoughts and makes him feel more on par with teenagers than adults, and he had viewed the 14-year-old as his girlfriend.

"I liked her, I felt myself similar to her," Goodman told the judge, as a row of his relatives cried in the court's gallery. "I felt ahead, but not that much. She said that everything about me was like a teenager---the way I looked, dressed."

Goodman had suffered the injury to the frontal lobe of his brain in a car crash when he was a college freshman. Before the accident, he was an exemplary student who had earned early acceptance to New York University, his attorney said.

But in another letter read aloud by Assistant Prosecutor David Hummel, the victim told Goodman she was "a weak and easy target seeking attention. You took advantage of me emotionally."

As the girl wept quietly, her mother rose to address the court. She is a special education teacher who works with children with traumatic brain injuries, she said.

"This makes it much more conflicted for me," the victim's mother said, adding she empathizes with Goodman's situation. But her daughter, whose father died when she was 11 years old, was very vulnerable and "what you did was wrong," her mother told the defendant.

Goodman also faces charges of attempted sexual assault and luring in connection with another 14-year-old from Cherry Hill who he met online, authorities said. In October 2004, he was convicted in Middlesex County on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child, and under Megan's Law was required to register as a sex offender.

Hummel called Goodman a compulsive sexual predator and "a time bomb waiting to go off," and in the end, the judge agreed.

"There was something very disturbing about that monologue," Donohue said of Goodman's speech. "It convinced me that unless he's dealt with appropriately, he will reoffend in the future."

More Elizabeth news:

Perth Amboy teacher charged with sex assault of student for six years

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PERTH AMBOY — A Perth Amboy middle school teacher was arrested today on charges he sexually assaulted a student over a six-year period, beginning when the girl was 13, authorities said. Guillermo Santamaria, 56, of Perth Amboy, a social studies teacher in the city's two middle schools for the last 16 years, was charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault,...

PERTH AMBOY — A Perth Amboy middle school teacher was arrested today on charges he sexually assaulted a student over a six-year period, beginning when the girl was 13, authorities said.

Guillermo Santamaria, 56, of Perth Amboy, a social studies teacher in the city's two middle schools for the last 16 years, was charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and official misconduct, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said in statement.

Santamaria, also known as William Santamaria, allegedly assaulted the girl on numerous occasions from the fall of 1997 up to the victim's 18th birthday in 2004, Kaplan said in a joint statement with Perth Amboy police Chief E.J. McDonald.

Investigators Michael Daniewicz and Dave Carmen of the prosecutor's office began investigating the case after the woman contacted that office last month.

Authorities ask that anybody with information on this or similar incident call the investigators at (732) 745-3000.

Santamaria, also an adjunct professor in the software engineering department at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, is being held on $250,000 bail.

More Perth Amboy news:

North Brunswick deli co-owner faces life in prison for ordering hit on business partner

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NORTH BRUNSWICK — Moments after he was found guilty of hiring someone to kill his business partner, Raymond Troxell turned to relatives in the New Brunswick courtroom and in a low voice said, "I didn’t do this. I didn’t do this." "He’s always said that to me," his lawyer, Robert Corbin, said of the 50-year-old South Brunswick man who...

Raymond_Troxell.JPGRaymond Troxell in 2008 at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick.NORTH BRUNSWICK — Moments after he was found guilty of hiring someone to kill his business partner, Raymond Troxell turned to relatives in the New Brunswick courtroom and in a low voice said, "I didn’t do this. I didn’t do this."

"He’s always said that to me," his lawyer, Robert Corbin, said of the 50-year-old South Brunswick man who was convicted as an accomplice in the Dec. 15, 2008, shooting death of Vincent Russo, 48, in the office deli the two owned in North Brunswick.

Troxell faces life in prison without parole because jurors, who deliberated for more than three days, also found an "aggravating factor," that the defendant paid for the killing.

Looking gaunt and tense, Troxell showed no reaction when the verdict was announced.

His wife, Carolyn, who was seated behind her husband, fell into a relative’s arms, sobbing.

Vincent Russo’s mother, at the opposite end of the gallery, wiped away tears.

Corbin said he was surprised by the verdict.

"I felt there was substantial reasonable doubt," said Corbin, who plans to file an appeal after the Aug. 20 sentencing.

Superior Court Judge Frederick De Vesa revoked the $2.5 million bail that had kept Troxell in jail since his arrest. Sentencing was schedulef for Aug. 20.

Troxell was accused of paying a long-time acquaintance, 45-year-old Frank Marsh, of Lower Macungie, Pa, $3,000 to carry out the hit.

Authorities allege Marsh went to the Mezzaluna deli on Route 130 and Adams Lane at about 7 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2008, on the pretense of seeking OxyContin. Authorities said Russo may have been selling the painkiller.

Once inside the deli, Marsh allegedly shot Russo in the head. Russo, of Staten Island, was found the next day after relatives and his girlfriend went searching for him when he failed to return home.

Marsh will be tried separately because Troxell made statements implicating him.

During the trial, jurors saw a videotaped interrogation of Troxell in which he admitted that in September 2008, while drinking at a bar, he told friends he wanted Russo killed for taking money out of their business.

Troxell claimed he was joking, and that Russo wrongly took him seriously. Troxell said hours after the shooting that he gave Marsh $3,000 because he was afraid of the alleged gunman.

In his closing argument, Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Manuel Samiero said a witness saw Troxell and Marsh talking hours before the shooting. Another witness, Troxell’s long-time friend John Kissel, known by the nickname "J.C.," testified Troxell repeatedly asked him to kill Russo, but he refused.

Corbin said phone records showed that shortly after the shooting, Marsh called Kissel, not Troxell. He also said police never investigated the OxyContin pills.

Newark man is sentenced to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting mother of four

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NEWARK — A Newark man was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for the 2006 fatal shooting of his longtime friend, a 25-year-old mother of four. Superior Court Judge Joseph Cassini III ordered that Lamar King, 27, serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before he is eligible for parole, at the age of 44. King had...

sweat-king-newark-shooting.jpgView of the scene of a shooting near a check-cashing store, left, and a firehouse, right, in Newark in 2006 where Taheerah Sweat, a 25-year-old mother of four, was shot and killed along Springfield Avenue at the corner of Hunterdon Street in Newark.
NEWARK — A Newark man was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for the 2006 fatal shooting of his longtime friend, a 25-year-old mother of four.

Superior Court Judge Joseph Cassini III ordered that Lamar King, 27, serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before he is eligible for parole, at the age of 44. King had pleaded guilty in April to aggravated manslaughter in a plea agreement in the shooting death of Taheerah Sweat.

It was back on Dec. 10, 2006, when, authorities said, King shot Sweat several times with a .32 caliber revolver when the two — friends since their teenage years — got into an argument after drinking with friends at Paul’s Lounge on Stuyvesant Avenue.

taheerah-sweat.jpgCopy photo of Taheerah Sweat, center, with her sons Tamar Sweat, left, and Tyheem Sweat, right. After drinking at the bar, the six people piled into a white sports utility vehicle and planned to go by Penn Station to drop off King’s friends, police said. But in the car, Sweat and King begin to argue, and Sweat demanded to get out of the car, which pulled over at Springfield Avenue. Police said King, who was intoxicated, also got out of the car, yelled at her and then shot her in the face and neck.

On Dec. 28, an anonymous tip led to King’s arrest.

"It’s a tragedy that’s affected both families," Maria Noto, King’s defense attorney, said after this morning’s sentencing.

Noto had argued for a lighter sentence, noting witness statements that the defendant had been intoxicated and remarks by King’s one-time fiancee that he was remorseful for killing someone he cared about.

"It seemed like he was sincere," Taheerah' mother, Gail Sweat, said today, "but you can’t bring her back."

Two more from Jersey City are sentenced for roles in prostitution ring

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JERSEY CITY — Two more people have received state prison terms for their roles in a New Jersey prostitution ring that prosecutors say enslaved women and forced them to use drugs. Annie "China" Cooper, who helped oversee the women and girls — some as young as 17 — and physically assaulted them if they didn't follow the rules, was...

jersey-city-pimps.jpgAnnie "China" Cooper and Anthony Evans, both sentenced today for their involvement in a Jersey City prostitution ring. JERSEY CITY — Two more people have received state prison terms for their roles in a New Jersey prostitution ring that prosecutors say enslaved women and forced them to use drugs.

Annie "China" Cooper, who helped oversee the women and girls — some as young as 17 — and physically assaulted them if they didn't follow the rules, was ordered today to serve six years. The 41-year-old Jersey City resident had pleaded guilty to racketeering last July.

Fifty-two-year-old Anthony Evans of Jersey City was sentenced to three years for promoting prostitution and for assisting Allen "Prince" Brown, who led the human trafficking ring.

Brown, who pleaded guilty in April to racketeering and theft by extortion, was sentenced Wednesday to 18 years in state prison.


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