MANALAPAN — A 20-year-old Middlesex County man was charged with underage driving while intoxicated for allegedly causing a crash in Manalapan that left his two teenage passengers with serious injuries, police said. Matthew Wasek, of Monroe, was driving a 2001 Honda Accord south on Route 9 when the accident occurred at midnight Friday, according to a press release from...

Google MapsRoute 9 south approaching Taylors Mill Road, where police say a Monroe man tried making an illegal left turn last night and was struck by another car.

MANALAPAN — A 20-year-old Middlesex County man was charged with underage driving while intoxicated for allegedly causing a crash in Manalapan that left his two teenage passengers with serious injuries, police said.

Matthew Wasek, of Monroe, was driving a 2001 Honda Accord south on Route 9 when the accident occurred at midnight Friday, according to a press release from Patrolman Robert Kelly.

Kelly said Wasek started to make an illegal left turn onto Taylors Mills Road and was hit on the passenger side by a 1997 Mercury Sable. The Sable was operated by 19-year-old Christopher Keri of Middlesex, who was traveling north on Route 9.

Wasek’s two backseat passengers suffered life-threatening injuries, according to police. Freehold resident Andrew Oksman, 18, was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. An unidentified 16-year old Freehold girl was flown by a medevac helicopter to Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune.

Neither driver was injured, according to Kelly’s report.

In addition to the underage DWI charge, Wasek was charged with driving while intoxicated with a passenger under 18 years, reckless driving, improper U-turn and other driving infractions, police said.

By ERIK LARSEN/Asbury Park Press TRENTON — To state Sen. Robert W. Singer, it's a way of ensuring justice for families of slain children, police officers and victims of mass murder. To Sen. Raymond Lesniak, it's something that will not deter those killings, or any others. But regardless of where you stand on the issue of the death penalty...

By ERIK LARSEN/Asbury Park Press

TRENTON — To state Sen. Robert W. Singer, it's a way of ensuring justice for families of slain children, police officers and victims of mass murder.

To Sen. Raymond Lesniak, it's something that will not deter those killings, or any others.

But regardless of where you stand on the issue of the death penalty — abolished in New Jersey in 2007 — there is no political groundswell for a return to capital punishment in New Jersey any time soon.

Singer has introduced a bill to bring back the death penalty for those convicted of certain capital crimes — including the murder of police officers and children under the age of 14. He said the contentious, divisive bill has the support of Gov. Chris Christie, a fellow Republican — but even so, it's an emotional issue in an election year.

But there's another glaring consideration: During the 24 years in which it was on the books in New Jersey — at a cost to the state over that time of about $253 million, according to a 2005 report from New Jersey Policy Perspective — the death penalty was never imposed.

The last time anyone was put to death in New Jersey was in 1963. The only death row inmate to be "executed" since then was killed not by the electric chair or lethal injection, but by another inmate. Robert "Mudman" Simon was kicked and stomped to death in September 1999 by Ambrose Harris, who also was on death row.

And not everyone in law enforcement agrees that the death penalty is effective.

All this has made capital punishment in New Jersey the subject of a political impasse fueled by strong emotions, political considerations and debate about whether some lives are more important than others.

One thing Singer feels strongly about is that anyone who kills a police officer should be put to death. In Lakewood, where Singer is a former township committeeman and mayor, Officer Christopher Matlosz, 27, was shot and killed in his patrol car.

Matlosz had stopped his car to speak to Jahmell W. Crockam about 4 p.m. on Jan. 14. Crockam, 19, of Lakewood, has been indicted in Matlosz's murder. Matlosz, of Manchester ter, was the first officer shot to death in the line of duty in Ocean County, authorities have said.

Singer said he believes Crockam, if convicted, should be able to face the death penalty, even though his legislation could not be made retroactive even if it became law tomorrow.

"The people who protect us are front-line defenders," Singer said.

About two weeks after Matlosz's death, Singer, R-Ocean, introduced his bill to reinstate the death penalty for those convicted of the murder of on-duty police officers and children under the age of 14.

The bill would also cover those who perpetrate mass murders or terrorist attacks resulting in more than one death.

"I think right now, if that bill came up in the Senate to reinstate it, it would pass," Singer said.

But so contentious and divisive is his bill that state Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney flatly told Singer during the annual state Chamber of Commerce trip to Washington in late January that he would not even post it.

Lesniak, D-Union, agreed that Singer's bill has little chance of going anywhere in the Legislature as things stand now. He was the primary sponsor of the bill to abolish the death penalty in New Jersey.

"It's not going to bring back the life of the slain officer," Lesniak said. "It would not have deterred his murder or any other murder." That provides little comfort to Kelly Walsifer, Matlosz's fiancee.

"I believe bringing back the death penalty for cop killers will make communities safer," Walsifer said. "For anyone to kill a cop, justice should be served." Part of the impasse over capital punishment in New Jersey is that it's an emotional issue in an election year. Unfortunately, Singer said, that's politics — but it doesn't make the need any less crucial.

"You had in the month of January of this year — nationwide — 10 police officers were murdered," Singer said. "In 2010 — the whole year — 43 were murdered. In just one month, we had 10 murdered." Singer said that even among his colleagues in the Legislature — including those who co-sponsored the legislation that ended the death penalty — there is a sense that more needs to be done to shore up that blue line separating civilization from chaos.

At least one legislator, Singer said, has privately told him that he would reverse his previous stance against the death penalty and vote for the Singer bill if it came up for a vote.

Gary L. Przewoznik, president of Lakewood Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 71, said law enforcement would appreciate that kind of support.

"Bringing back the death penalty may help deter criminals from committing violent crimes — and at this point, law enforcement can use all the help we can get," Przewoznik said.

For Singer, the debate is personal.

His wife, Caryl, lost her grandfather to homicide more than 40 years ago. In 2003, Singer's then-29-year-old daughter, Sarri, was nearly killed when a suicide bomber blew up the Jerusalem bus she was riding on, killing 16 people. She was four seats from the bomber, her father said.

The 1982 statute that reinstated the death penalty in New Jersey the last time around was written by Caryl's father — former state Sen. John F. Russo Sr., a Democrat, who represented Ocean County for 18 years and served as senate president from 1986 to 1990.

Russo's 77-year-old father was murdered in his Asbury Park home on New Year's Eve 1970 by Daniel Brewer, who came to the door looking to rob the family and fired seven shots into the living room as Russo's brother was slamming the door. At the time, the future state senator was an assistant Ocean County prosecutor.

After his conviction, Brewer was given a life sentence.

In 2006, Russo was the only one of 13 members on the state's death penalty commission to vote against a recommendation to abolish the death penalty.

"Was my wife's grandfather's life any less important than the life of someone else? The answer is absolutely not," Singer said. "His life was just as important. He was taken, stolen from my wife's family. . . . I feel for that." Nevertheless, Singer said, he must deal in political realities.

Getting a Legislature controlled by Democrats to reverse itself on abolishing the death penalty would not sit well with the party's liberal base in an election year, he contends. Under the circumstances, Singer said he thought narrowing the bill to apply only to cop and child killers was the best way to get broad bipartisan support.

But if Republicans were to gain control of the Assembly and Senate this November, Singer said he would immediately move to introduce a bill that would effectively reinstate the death penalty for any capital crime.

Like the current version of the cop killer bill, the appeals process would be streamlined to correct the bureaucratic flaws of the 1982 statute that left murderers permanently on death row.

Former Ocean County Prosecutor and current Toms River Mayor Thomas F. Kelaher, a Republican, said New Jersey's flirtation with the death penalty is better left in the past.

Like Singer's father-inlaw, Kelaher served on the Death Penalty Study Commission in 2006 and was an assistant prosecutor with Russo in the 1960s. He remembers the 1970 murder of his colleague's father.

As an assistant prosecutor, and later as prosecutor in the mid-2000s, Kelaher had supported the death penalty in principle. But in practice, it was a bureaucratic and judicial quagmire.

The appeals process was time-consuming, cost-prohibitive and painful for the families of the victims who, with each appeal, were thrust back into the public spotlight.

Always, the cases seemed to hit a roadblock with activist judges substituting their own moral scruples for jurisprudence on capital punishment, Kelaher observed.

"It was a lot of trouble, nothing ever happened and it was absolutely frustrating," Kelaher said. Repeatedly, judges would explain that they had no issue with the merits of a conviction, but would quibble on issues of procedure associated with the death penalty phase of a trial.

In 2004, Kelaher made the decision not to retry the death-penalty phase of one of the Jersey Shore's most notorious murder cases. In 1986, Robert O. Marshall was convicted of the contract killing of his wife, Maria P. Marshall, two years earlier at a wooded picnic area on the Garden State Parkway in Lacey. The case inspired the best-selling book "Blind Faith" by Joe McGinnis.

Twenty years later, some of the witnesses had died of natural causes. Memories were unreliable. The state Attorney General's Office had a staffer assigned to the decades-old case full-time, Kelaher remembered.

Al-Mustafa Shabazz is a 72-year-old, white-haired Muslim who briefly appeared in a 2010 re-election video ad for Mayor Cory Booker and is married to a community leader who owns a boxing gym in Newark

Star-Ledger file photoAl-Mustafa Shabazz, above in this 2004 file photo, is named as the chief assassin of Malcolm X in the book "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention" by Columbia University professor Manning Marable.

NEWARK — For 45 years, the chief assassin of Malcolm X has been hiding in plain sight in Newark, according to a major new biography of the African-American leader set for release tomorrow.

Al-Mustafa Shabazz is a 72-year-old, white-haired Muslim who briefly appeared in a 2010 re-election video ad for Mayor Cory Booker and is married to a community leader who owns a boxing gym in Newark.

On Monday, however, with the publication of "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention," by historian and Columbia University professor Manning Marable, Shabazz will become the central player in a reignited debate about the assassination of one of the 20th century’s most iconic — and controversial — civil rights leaders.

In his book, Marable claims to have evidence that Shabazz was once known as William Bradley, who many people over the years have placed at the Malcolm X shooting. Marable writes that he confirmed that the two men are one and the same through multiple sources inside the black Muslim community.

New Jersey Department of Corrections records reviewed Saturday by The Star-Ledger list Bradley’s alias as Al-Mustafa Shabazz. On Saturday, East Orange Sgt. Andrew Di Elmo also confirmed the mug shot accompanying the record belonged to Bradley, aka Shabazz.

William Bradley was accused of being one of the killers more than 30 years ago in a sworn affidavit by Talmadge Hayer, one of the three men convicted of Malcolm X’s assassination. In his book Marable also credits Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, a historian who writes for the Association of African American Life and History, with linking Bradley’s name to that of Shabazz.

Shabazz’s wife, Carolyn Kelley Shabazz, who spoke last night to a Star-Ledger reporter, said she and her husband were taken by surprise by Muhammad’s allegations as well as those of Marable, who had been ill recently and died on Friday, three days before the publication of his 594-page book.

"As God, Allah, is my witness, there’s no way my husband could have had a negative thought in his head about Malcolm X," said Carolyn Shabazz. "My husband is no more guilty about what happened with Malcolm than you or I."

Courtesy of Abdur-Rahman MuhammadEast Orange police mug shot of William Bradley, a.k.a. Al-Mustafa Shabazz

Al-Mustafa Shabazz and his wife live in a brick house on quiet Vassar Avenue in Newark’s South Ward. The elderly man was not at home Saturday. But when his wife was asked if his name was formerly William Bradley, she said, "Legally, his name is Al-Mustafa Shabazz."

In the book, Marable claims that "Willie Bradley" was just 15 feet away from Malcolm X in the auditorium in New York City where he was about to speak, on the afternoon of Feb. 21, 1965, when "he elevated his sawed-off shotgun from under his coat, took careful aim, and fired … This was the kill shot, the blow that executed Malcolm X …"

Clement Price, a history professor at Rutgers University-Newark, said Saturday that he and Marable come from the same generation of professionally trained African-American historians and while he had not yet read the new biography and therefore couldn’t comment about the specific assertions, the historian’s scholarship is impeccable.

"Manning Marable was a very conscientious historian, a masterful researcher, and an interpreter of complicated truths," Price said. "It would be out of character for him to not be duly diligent in this very important matter of Malcolm’s assassination."

Since Abdur-Rahman Muhammad accused Bradley last year of being "the man who fired the first and deadliest shot" at Malcolm X, not only Marable, but others, including investigative journalist Karl Evanzz and documentary filmmaker Omar Shabazz, have named Bradley.

"There’s never been a question that William Bradley pulled the trigger. This information is well-established. The only question has been, who is Bradley and where does he live?" said Muhammad.

According to state Department of Correction records, "William Bradley, aka Al-Mustafa Shabazz," served time in prison for charges including threatening to kill three people. He was released in February 1998.

Marable and Muhammad claim some of the plotters accused of killing Malcolm X came from Newark’s Mosque No. 25, where Bradley was a member.

West Ward Councilman Ron Rice said speculation about the Newark mosque’s role in Malcolm X’s assassination had been circulating for as long as he could remember.

"There has been a long belief in the underbrush, argued by some, disputed by others, that a number of Malcolm X’s alleged murderers came out of Number 25 — the Newark mosque," Rice said. "But I’ve never heard the rumor of Carolyn’s husband being associated."

Rice said the group had once fostered a reputation for militancy and had called for the death of Malcolm X.

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerThe First Class Championship Gym on Bergen Street allegedly owned by the wife of Al Mustafa Shabazz, who has been named in an upcoming book as the primary assassin of Malcolm X.

"The Newark mosque was seen as a radical mosque or extremist mosque. That’s always been alleged," he said.

John Sharpe James, son of former Mayor Sharpe James, also said the rumors surrounding Al-Mustafa Shabazz’s alleged involvement have been well-known for years, but he knew Carolyn Shabazz as a strong community advocate.

"Her First Class boxing gym has trained a lot of Newark youth," James said. "I know she was a supporter of my father. Every Thanksgiving she manages to secure hundreds of turkeys and give them out."

Shabazz’s wife said Saturday, "We are not going to take this lying down. They are looking for a scapegoat. Nobody has to take this character assassination."

By Amy Ellis Nutt and Barry Carter/The Star-Ledger

Staff writers Aliza Appelbaum, Jessica Calefati, David Giambusso, Tom Meagher and Stephen Stirling contributed to this report.

Vienna prosecutors contend Machold fleeced clients by pocketing cash for instruments he sold on consignment and by refusing to return other instruments worth millions of dollars

Noah Addis/The Star-LedgerDietmar Machold holds a violin made by his grandfather at Castle Eichbuchl in Eichbuchl, Austria, in this 2004 file photo.

At his height, he was one of the world’s most prolific dealers of rare stringed instruments, amassing a fortune as he bought and sold the iconic works of Antonio Stradivari, Guiseppe Guarneri del Gesù and other masters of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Dietmar Machold, who played a central role in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s ill-fated purchase of "Golden Age" instruments eight years ago, counted among his clients famous musicians, wealthy collectors, cultural institutions and the governments of Austria, Russia and North Korea.

But for all his heady success, Machold could never quite shake an air of skullduggery.

The FBI twice investigated him amid claims he grossly exaggerated the value of violins, including those in the NJSO deal, to abet tax fraud by his most important client, former New Jersey philanthropist Herbert Axelrod. Others questioned the authenticity of instruments he sold.

Machold repeatedly dismissed the allegations as the ravings of jealous competitors.

Today, he has a lot more explaining to do.

In what amounts to a seismic event in the genteel world of fine violins — and a recurring bad dream for the NJSO — the 61-year-old dealer has been jailed in Switzerland pending extradition to Austria, where he faces a litany of criminal charges alleging fraud and theft.

The Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office contends Machold fleeced clients by pocketing cash for instruments he sold on consignment and by refusing to return other instruments worth millions of dollars.

And in an echo of his dealings in New Jersey, he allegedly inflated the appraised value of violins he used as collateral for huge bank loans. At a minimum, the prosecutor’s office said, losses to banks and individuals amount to 25 million euros, or just over $35 million.

That figure could grow significantly as more people come forward.

"The file is getting bigger and bigger every day," said Lukas Kollman, a Vienna lawyer who represents Kyra Sator, one of Machold’s alleged victims in Austria. "I spoke to the prosecutor just last week, and there are more and more people telling the same story of what happened with him. We are just in the beginning."

Machold, who holds dual citizenship in Austria and his native Germany, was arrested March 16 in Zermatt, Switzerland, a resort village at the base of the Matterhorn, said Folco Galli, a spokesman for the Swiss federal police.

If Machold does not fight extradition, he is likely to make his first court appearance in Vienna within weeks.

Noah Addis/The Star-LedgerView of tools used by instrument restorers at Dietmar Machold's shop in Vienna, Austria, in this 2004 file photo.

TRAIL OF TROUBLE

"It’s a very sad story for the whole business," said Peter Biddulph, an acquaintance of Machold and a London-based dealer of Strads and other high-end instruments. "I’m just hoping that Dietmar will comply with the authorities and tell them the trail of what happened so all these people who have been hurt will at least stop hoping they’ll get paid."

Messages left with Machold’s son, Lüder Machold, and his lawyer in Austria were not returned.

The arrest caps the slow-motion collapse of an empire that once spanned the globe. The fair-haired son of a violin-maker in Bremen, Germany, Machold set out on an ambitious course of expansion in the mid-1990s. By 2005, he had opened shops in Zurich, Vienna, New York and Chicago. He had additional sales representatives in Tokyo, Seoul and Seattle.

No other violin dealer could claim such an expansive territory, and few could match his volume. Machold swiftly became one of the world’s top three dealers, drawing on good looks and a sophisticated charm to woo musicians, millionaires and the curators of government-owned collections.

"He seemed to come out of nowhere," said Philip Kass, a violin expert and appraiser in Philadelphia. "He was doing a tremendous amount of the trade in big-name instruments."

Machold specialized in the most expensive instruments, the coveted Italian violins, violas and cellos of Stradivari and his contemporaries. Anything less was "Mickey Mouse," he declared in one of a series of interviews with The Star-Ledger in 2004.

Earning commissions as high as 30 percent on multimillion-dollar deals, Machold wore his wealth well. On the outskirts of Vienna, he bought a 14th-century castle, its parlors and terraces once host to lavish parties thrown by the youngest sister of Napolean Bonaparte.

Noah Addis/The Star-LedgerView from Castle Eichbuchl, home of Dietmar Machold, in Eichbuchl, Austria, in this 2004 file photo.

The courtyard held a collection of classic cars. In a finished attic space, he displayed millions of dollars worth of antique cameras.

Machold’s critics have long contended he built that fortune through deceit and fraud.

Roger Hargrave, a top violin-maker and scholar of stringed instruments, once worked for Machold in Bremen. He quit in the late 1980s, he said, unwilling to be a party to lies about the value and authenticity of instruments Machold sold.

"There’s just a trail of bodies, basically," said Hargrave, 63, a Briton now living in Schwanewede, Germany, a village near Bremen. "He’s been cheating people for years and years and years."

MUSICIANS DEVASTATED

While not unsympathetic to the banks involved, Hargrave said the greater harm is to the musicians who invest their life savings in instruments, only to find later that what they bought was either "highly inflated or not right."

"It’s devastating to them," he said. "They’re lost."

As authorities tally the damage, one question that remains unanswered is where all the money went.

Machold declared bankruptcy in October, claiming debts that reportedly top $40 million. His shops have been closed, his castle seized by creditors. The Vienna prosecutor is now investigating whether Machold has stashed some of his cash in secret accounts, either in Switzerland or overseas.

In light of the repeated allegations of fraud, even Machold’s old friend Axelrod has turned against him.

A former Deal resident now living in Zurich, Axelrod said he didn’t know about the arrest when contacted by The Star-Ledger, but he said it neither surprised nor troubled him, contending Machold tried to cheat him in a violin deal.

"Good to hear it," said Axelrod, 84. "He deserves it. It’s a long time coming."

THE NJSO DEAL

Noah Addis/The Star-LedgerDietmar Machold holds a violin made by his grandfather at Castle Eichbuchl in Eichbuchl, Austria, in this 2004 file photo.

It was through Machold that Axelrod amassed a vast collection of Golden Age instruments in the 1990s. And it was with the dealer’s help that Axelrod sold 30 of the instruments to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for $16 million, purportedly $34 million less than what Machold said they were worth. The 2003 deal was the most audacious ever undertaken by an orchestra, and it nearly bankrupted the NJSO. It also drew the scrutiny of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service, which were looking into a pattern of massive tax write-offs by Axelrod.

He later served 16 months in federal prison on an unrelated tax fraud charge.

The instruments came under scrutiny, too. In 2004, a Star-Ledger investigation involving the world’s leading violin experts found that at least five pieces in the collection were of questionable authenticity and that the collection’s overall value was vastly overblown.

A special investigative panel assembled by the NJSO confirmed the newspaper’s findings.

The orchestra sold the instruments in 2007 for $20 million, just about breaking even when interest payments were taken into account. The new owners, twin investment bankers Seth and Brook Taube, have allowed the orchestra to continue playing them through 2012.

An NJSO spokesman, Gus Gomide, declined to comment.

DOVER — An early morning raid on Saturday in Dover put a stop to a busy drug den, police said. At 5:15 a.m., the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Tactical Team broke through the door at 72 A Thompson Avenue, according to Dover Detective Sgt. Richard Gonzalez. Dover police obtained the search warrant after a two-month investigation, which began when...

Google MapsA map view of 72 Thompson Avenue, the scene of Saturday morning's drug raid.

DOVER — An early morning raid on Saturday in Dover put a stop to a busy drug den, police said.

At 5:15 a.m., the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Tactical Team broke through the door at 72 A Thompson Avenue, according to Dover Detective Sgt. Richard Gonzalez.

Dover police obtained the search warrant after a two-month investigation, which began when several informants told police that the home was being used as a place to purchase and use heroin, Gonzalez said.

Police also believe that some of the people in the home were selling goods from burglaries committed in several towns.

Lamont Walker, 48, of Dover, allegedly flushed heroin down the toilet as the tactical team secured the home, Gonzalez said.

Walker was charged with possession of heroin, destruction of evidence and possession of drug paraphernalia. He is also wanted by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office on drug-related charges and was taken to the Morris County Jail.

Derrick Hicks, 42, of Dover, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. He also had an outstanding drug related warrant from East Orange.

Michael Brown, 20, of Dover, was charged with possession of marijuana.

Leroy Hunt, 47, of Newark, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

Three female juveniles from Morris County were taken into custody and released to their parents.

Additional arrests are pending, Gonzalez said.

“Though we did not seize a substantial amount of narcotics,” Gonzalez said, “we did close down a bustling drug den that no longer will be used for drug activity in this neighborhood.”

Three men were convicted of the murder of Malcolm X, but author Manning Marable and others have long asserted there were other assailants, including Bradley

Star-Ledger file photoAl-Mustafa Shabazz, above in this 2004 file photo, is named as the chief assassin of Malcolm X in the book "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention" by Columbia University professor Manning Marable.

NEWARK — A lawyer representing Al-Mustafa Shabazz today disputed an allegation that the 72-year-old Newark man was the main assassin of Malcolm X in 1965, an accusation made in a controversial book published today.

"I’ve spoken to him (Shabazz) and he categorically denies he was involved in the assassination of Malcolm X," said his attorney, J. Edward Waller.

In his major new biography "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention," author Manning Marable, claims William Bradley, who many people over the years have placed at the shooting of Malcolm X, is married to Carolyn Kelley, now Carolyn Kelley Shabazz, a prominent civic leader in Newark. Marable died unexpectedly Friday from a long illness.

On Saturday, Carolyn Shabazz said her husband did not have any association with the death of the controversial black leader 46 years ago. He was not available to speak at the time and today Waller said he was now speaking for the couple.

"There’s nothing that ties him with the death of Malcolm X directly or indirectly," Waller said. "There’s nothing to support this."

In his book, Marable wrote extensively about Newark Mosque 25 and its alleged role in the conspiracy to assassinate Malcolm X. According to historian Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, who worked with Marable and interviewed many of the members of Newark’s Muslim community, the involvement of Mosque 25 had been "an open secret" for years.

Three men were eventually convicted of the murder of Malcolm X, who had publicly split with the Nation of Islam, but Marable and others have long asserted there were other assailants, including Bradley.

Marable spoke with a Star-Ledger reporter last year about the impending publication of his books and his allegations against Bradley.

Courtesy of Abdur-Rahman MuhammadEast Orange police mug shot of William Bradley, a.k.a. Al-Mustafa Shabazz

"This isn’t a court of law," Marable said. "Rather, it’s how a historian pieces together evidence. You make judgments about people based on the totality of their lives."

Speaking of Bradley, he added, "He has turned his life around over the last 20 years. He has a positive and constructive reputation within the Muslim community. And his life has been turned around through marriage and local activities."

As Marable’s book was set to be released, some in Newark’s Muslim community said today there was renewed discussion about the assassination.

"My concern now is, how will it play out and how will it affect us as a community," said Amin Nathari, who grew up attending Mosque 25 and is the founder of a mosque in East Orange where he was imam from 1995 to 1998. He says Shabazz attended his mosque for several months in 1998 after his release from prison. Department of Corrections documents list William Bradley, aka Al-Mustafa Shabazz, as serving time in jail in the 1980s and ’90s. He was freed, according to the records, in 1998.

When asked Saturday whether her husband was Bradley, Carolyn Shabazz did not deny it, but said, simply, that legally his name is Shabazz.

Waller says he only knows his client by the name Al-Mustafa Shabazz, and that he "never had the opportunity to respond to the allegation prior to the publication of the book. The first time they heard about this was (Saturday). They were caught off guard."

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerThe First Class Championship Gym on Bergen Street allegedly owned by the wife of Al Mustafa Shabazz, who has been named in an upcoming book as the primary assassin of Malcolm X.

At least two others journalists, Richard Prince and Karl Evanzz, wrote about the connection last year, and filmmaker Omar Shabazz mentioned the connection in a documentary, according to Marable’s book.

Nathari, 47, now an author, scholar and civic leader, said today he has reached out to some of the imams in the area in the wake of the accusations in Marable’s book.

"A person is innocent until proven guilty," Nathari said. "So allegations don’t make a person guilty. At the same time, I will say this, as Muslims we have to stand upon the truth. We don’t let our love or our hatred cause us to be unjust."

By Amy Ellis Nutt and Barry Carter/The Star-Ledger

CLIFTON — Closing arguments are expected today in the trial of a California man charged with killing his estranged wife and another parishioner inside a New Jersey church. Joseph Pallipurath of Sacramento is facing two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. Prosecutors say the 29-year-old drove across country intending to kill his wife. Pallipurath testified last...

Mike Derer/APJoseph Pallipurath responds to a judge's question during his arraignment on murder charges at the Passaic County courthouse in Paterson in this 2008 file photo.

CLIFTON — Closing arguments are expected today in the trial of a California man charged with killing his estranged wife and another parishioner inside a New Jersey church.

Joseph Pallipurath of Sacramento is facing two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Prosecutors say the 29-year-old drove across country intending to kill his wife.

Pallipurath testified last week that he entered the Clifton church on Nov. 23, 2008, with two loaded handguns. He said he only meant to scare, not harm anyone.

The church is home to an ancient Christian sect that hails from Southern India.

Previous coverage:

• Man accused of fatally shooting ex-wife in Clifton church might testify
• California man accused in fatal shooting of 2 at Clifton church was on 'deadly mission,' prosecutor says

• California man accused of Clifton church shooting seeks insanity defense

• Accused Clifton church shooter indicted by N.J. grand jury

NEWARK — Jurors will resume deliberating this morning in the schoolyard triple killings trial after failing to reach a verdict on Friday. The defendant, Alexander Alfaro, 20, was one of six young men charged in the Aug. 4, 2007, fatal shooting of three college-bound friends and wounding of a fourth behind Mount Vernon School in Newark. The trial in...

NEWARK — Jurors will resume deliberating this morning in the schoolyard triple killings trial after failing to reach a verdict on Friday.

The defendant, Alexander Alfaro, 20, was one of six young men charged in the Aug. 4, 2007, fatal shooting of three college-bound friends and wounding of a fourth behind Mount Vernon School in Newark.

The trial in Superior Court enters its sixth week, with the jury having begun deliberating Thursday afternoon.

Alfaro, who was 16 at the time of the killings, is charged with murder, attempted murder and related counts, although the jury may consider a duress defense, which would expose him to far less prison time.

Prosecutors said the killings were gang-motivated, and have said all six defendants had ties to the violent Central American street gang known as MS-13. Alfaro is an admitted MS-13 member, but testified at trial that his half-brother, Rodolfo Godinez, forced him into it and forced him to the schoolyard that night.

Godinez and another man, Melvin Jovel, are serving life sentences for their part in the killing.

That night, Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, both 20, and Terrance Aeriel, 18, were lined up against the school wall and shot in the head, execution-style. Terrance's sister, Natasha Aeriel, was shot in the face but survived. All four friends were either enrolled in or planning to attend Delaware State University that fall, and were not connected to any gang.

Previous coverage:

• Jury ends deliberations for the day in Newark schoolyard triple killing trial

• Jury deliberations set to begin in Newark schoolyard slayings trial

• Defense attorney in Newark schoolyard killings says there is no physical evidence to tie Alfaro to slayings

• Judge denies prosecutor's request to change definition of 'duress' in Newark schoolyard slayings trial

• Judge allows jury to consider duress defense in Newark schoolyard slayings

• Essex County detective testifies he never promised deal to defendant in Newark schoolyard slayings trial

• Defendant says he was forced to join MS-13 gang, summoned to Newark schoolyard

• Detective investigating Newark schoolyard shootings says Alfaro was willing to cooperate

TOMS RIVER — A 34-year-old man was Friday sentenced to three years in prison for driving while intoxicated in a crash that killed his best friend, according to a report on APP.com. Jamal Lomax of Toms River was behind the wheel when his 2008 Subaru Legacy struck another SUV and overturned on Route 37 over the Barnegat Bay in...

Google MapsA map view of Route 37 in Toms River, where a fatal 2009 crash killed a man. The driver was sentenced to three years in prison Friday.

TOMS RIVER — A 34-year-old man was Friday sentenced to three years in prison for driving while intoxicated in a crash that killed his best friend, according to a report on APP.com.

Jamal Lomax of Toms River was behind the wheel when his 2008 Subaru Legacy struck another SUV and overturned on Route 37 over the Barnegat Bay in November 2009.

The victim's family asked the judge to impose the minimum sentence allowed by law.

Read the full story from the Asbury Park Press.

OAK BEACH, N.Y. — Investigators have resumed their search of a remote New York beach area for more possible victims of a serial killer. A fifth set of human remains was found last week along the highway that leads to Jones Beach on Long Island. That victim has not been identified. On Monday, searchers climbed fire truck ladders to...

Police search in the brush by the side of the road on Cedar Beach, Long Island, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

OAK BEACH, N.Y. — Investigators have resumed their search of a remote New York beach area for more possible victims of a serial killer.

A fifth set of human remains was found last week along the highway that leads to Jones Beach on Long Island. That victim has not been identified.

On Monday, searchers climbed fire truck ladders to get aerial views into a dense thicket that stretches for miles. The tick-infested sea grass is up to 4 feet deep.

The bodies of four women were found in December.

Police found all five while searching for a Jersey City prostitute last seen in the area in May. She is still missing.

Police suspect a serial killer but so far have no suspects.

NEWARK — As they began a third day of deliberations in the schoolyard triple slayings trial, the jury has requested a read back of testimony from the defendant’s cousin, who spoke with him a day after the attack. The defendant, Alexander Alfaro, visited the home of his cousin, Nancy Ramirez, a day after the Aug. 4, 2007, killings behind...

Alexander Alfaro testifies during his trial at the Essex County Courthouse in Newark. (John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger)

NEWARK — As they began a third day of deliberations in the schoolyard triple slayings trial, the jury has requested a read back of testimony from the defendant’s cousin, who spoke with him a day after the attack.

The defendant, Alexander Alfaro, visited the home of his cousin, Nancy Ramirez, a day after the Aug. 4, 2007, killings behind Newark's Mount Vernon School. Alfaro, 20, was one of six young men charged with murder and related counts in connection with the execution-style killing of three college-bound friends and wounding of a fourth. Prosecutors have called the attack gang-motivated.

In tearful testimony, Ramirez recounted how her cousin, Alfaro, told her about the killing when he visited her home in Orange, and admitted he had “done something very bad.” Alfaro also admitted to holding a knife at the schoolyard, she said.

That testimony is crucial because prosecutors allege Alfaro used a machete on one of the victims, slashing her repeatedly before she was fatally shot. They also allege that he was a willing participant in the killings. Alfaro confessed to the machete attack in a recorded statement he made to police but denied it during his testimony last week, saying a detective had coerced him into taking the blame.

Alfaro has put forward a duress defense, alleging his half-brother, Rodolfo Godinez, forced him to the schoolyard and forced him to bring the machete. The jury may consider that as they weigh the evidence against him.

Ramirez never testified that Alfaro used the machete, however, only that he held it that night. Alfaro’s attorney, Raymond Morasse, did not dispute his client brought the weapon to the schoolyard, saying Godinez, 24 at the time, ordered the younger man to bring it.

The jury started deliberating Thursday afternoon, following five weeks of testimony. They have already asked for testimony from the lone surviving victim, Natasha Aeriel, who described the killing as a group effort. That stands in contrast to Alfaro’s testimony, in which he said he froze in panic while the killings unfolded, and played no part

Previous Coverage:

• Jury ends deliberations for the day in Newark schoolyard triple killing trial

• Jury deliberations set to begin in Newark schoolyard slayings trial

• Defense attorney in Newark schoolyard killings says there is no physical evidence to tie Alfaro to slayings

• Judge denies prosecutor's request to change definition of 'duress' in Newark schoolyard slayings trial

• Judge allows jury to consider duress defense in Newark schoolyard slayings

• Essex County detective testifies he never promised deal to defendant in Newark schoolyard slayings trial

• Defendant says he was forced to join MS-13 gang, summoned to Newark schoolyard

• Detective investigating Newark schoolyard shootings says Alfaro was willing to cooperate

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said today it will hear the case of a man who claims that strip searches in two New Jersey jails violated his constitutional rights. Albert Florence was searched twice in seven days after he was arrested on a warrant for a traffic fine he had already paid. The justices will review an appeals court...

William Perlman/The Star-LedgerA file photo of the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said today it will hear the case of a man who claims that strip searches in two New Jersey jails violated his constitutional rights.

Albert Florence was searched twice in seven days after he was arrested on a warrant for a traffic fine he had already paid. The justices will review an appeals court decision upholding the searches.

Most other federal courts have found routine strip searches to be unconstitutional, although more recent decisions have gone the other way.

Florence argues the jailhouse searches were unreasonable because he was being held for failure to pay a fine, which is not a crime in New Jersey.

Florence's lawsuit over his treatment arose from his arrest in March 2005. A state trooper stopped the family SUV as Florence, his wife, April and 4-year-old child were headed to dinner with Florence's mother-in-law.

His wife was driving, but Florence identified himself as the vehicle's owner. The trooper ran a records check and found an outstanding warrant for an unpaid fine. Florence, who is African-American, had been stopped several times before, and he carried a letter to the effect that the fine, for fleeing a traffic stop several years earlier, had been paid.

Despite the letter, the trooper handcuffed Florence and drove him to the Burlington County Jail in southern New Jersey. At the time, the State Police were operating under a court order, spawned by allegations of past racial discrimination, that provided federal monitors to assess state police stops of minority drivers. But the propriety of the stop is not at issue, and Florence is not alleging racial discrimination.

The first strip search took place in Burlington jail. Florence was made to undress and submit to a second search when he was transferred to a jail in Newark six days later.

The next day a judge freed Florence and dismissed all charges. The fine had been paid, as Florence had insisted.

A federal judge agreed with Florence that the searches were improper, but the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said that is reasonable to search everyone being jailed, even without suspicion that a person may be concealing a weapon or drugs. Since 2008 — and in the first appellate rulings on the issue since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — appeals courts in Atlanta and San Francisco decided that authorities' need to maintain security justified a wide-ranging search policy, no matter the reason for someone's detention.

Those rulings stand in sharp contrast to a series of decisions over 30 years that held that strip searches without suspicion violated the Constitution.

The appeals court decisions flow from a 1979 Supreme Court ruling that upheld a blanket policy of conducting body cavity searches of prisoners who had had contact with visitors on the basis that the interaction with outsiders created the possibility that some prisoners got hold of something they shouldn't have.

The case will be argued in the fall.

The case is Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, 10-945.

DOVER — Police were called to the home of a man who reported being stabbed with a broken beer bottle over an alleged harassing text message, according to a report on DailyRecord.com. The victim, whose name was withheld by police, said he was sleeping in bed early Sunday morning when he woke up to see Dover resident Walter Urquia...

Google MapsA map view of Penn Avenue in Dover, where a man was allegedly attacked with a broken beer bottle by his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend Sunday morning.

DOVER — Police were called to the home of a man who reported being stabbed with a broken beer bottle over an alleged harassing text message, according to a report on DailyRecord.com.

The victim, whose name was withheld by police, said he was sleeping in bed early Sunday morning when he woke up to see Dover resident Walter Urquia climbing through the window. The two began to struggle when Urquia allegedly used the broken bottle to stab the victim in the forearms, the report said.

Urquia fled the scene but was later arrested at his home. He claimed to be upset with the victim after receiving a harassing text message.

The victim told police he is dating Urquia's ex-girlfriend.

Read the full report in the Daily Record.

CLIFTON — A 24-year-old Wayne man was arrested Friday and charged with killing his 85-year-old grandmother, according to a report on NorthJersey.com. Authorities found Clifton resident Barbara Tysbir lying face down in the basement of her Knapp Avenue home with stab wounds to her back and neck. Investigators believe the wounds were caused by both a kitchen knife and...

Google MapsA map view of Knapp Drive in Clifton, where an 85-year-old woman was found stabbed in her basement. He grandson has been charged in her death.

CLIFTON — A 24-year-old Wayne man was arrested Friday and charged with killing his 85-year-old grandmother, according to a report on NorthJersey.com.

Authorities found Clifton resident Barbara Tysbir lying face down in the basement of her Knapp Avenue home with stab wounds to her back and neck. Investigators believe the wounds were caused by both a kitchen knife and scissors.

Her grandson, Mark Dubas, was arrested early Friday morning on unrelated drug charges, but police found him in possession of Tysbir's house keys, jewelry and car. After her body was discovered, he was charged with murder in addition to armed robbery, possession of heroin and cocaine, and numerous motor-vehicle violations.

Police said they believe the motive was drug-related.

Read the story in The Record of Woodland Park.

William Barger is accused of recruiting 3 men to kidnapping of Jeffrey Muller from the parking lot of his pet supply store on Jan. 8, 2010

Courtesy Vernon County, Missouri sheriff's office William Barger, 48, of Nevada, Mo., is accused of orchestrating the plot to kidnap pet store owner Jeffrey Muller. Barger pleaded not guilty in court today.

NEWTON — A Missouri man who is charged with masterminding the mistaken-identity kidnapping of a Newton businessman pleaded not guilty today as a judge set a plea bargain cutoff deadline for two of the men accused of carrying out the abduction.

William Barger pleaded not guilty to recruiting three men who are accused of carrying out the kidnapping of Jeffrey Muller from the parking lot of his pet supply store on Jan. 8, 2010. One of the three men pleaded guilty last week to first-degree kidnapping.

Barger is charged with enlisting Andrew Wadel, Douglas Strangeland and Wadel’s uncle, Lonnie Swarnes, to kidnap Muller by telling them they would be considered for membership in a new Hells Angels motorcycle chapter he was forming, if they kidnapped Muller, authorities have said.

Barger had hoped to recoup some of the $500,000 that was lost by Roy Slates to Jeffrey Muller, a money broker from New York, in a business deal. Barger was paid $10,000 by Slates to try to recoup some of the lost money, authorities have said.

The kidnapping plot went awry when the three suspected kidnappers abducted the wrong Jeffrey Muller.

During two other separate court hearings in Newton, Superior Court Judge N. Peter Conforti set a June 20 plea cutoff date for Stangeland and Swarnes, who have each been offered prison sentences of 23 years in exchange for their guilty pleas.

Wadel pleaded guilty Wednesday to kidnapping, and the state will recommend an 18-year prison term when he is sentenced on June 10.

First assistant prosecutor Gregory Mueller told Conforti that Barger will not be offered a plea bargain deal in the case. Wadel, Strangeland and Swarnes are being held in the Sussex County jail while Barger is being held in the Morris County Jail to keep him separated from the other defendants, Mueller has said.

Slates pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to commit theft by deception.

Previous coverage:

• Missouri man admits kidnapping Newton pet store owner in mistaken-identity case

• Missouri man admits conspiring to commit theft in mistaken Newton kidnapping

• Bail set at $750K for Missouri mastermind behind kidnapping of Newton businessman

• Fifth Missouri man is arrested in kidnapping of Newton pet sore owner

• Missouri man is charged with leading role in abduction, beating of Newton businessman

• Family of Newton pet shop owner copes with accidental kidnapping

HANOVER — A Dover man was arrested early Saturday morning in Hanover Township after allegedly undressing an underage girl in her bedroom. Victor Guardia, 33, was in the girl’s room at 3:41 a.m. when a family member walked in and called police, according to Capt. Shawn Waldron. Guardia was found in the driveway, attempting to leave, when police arrived, Waldron...

HANOVER — A Dover man was arrested early Saturday morning in Hanover Township after allegedly undressing an underage girl in her bedroom. Victor Guardia, 33, was in the girl’s room at 3:41 a.m. when a family member walked in and called police, according to Capt. Shawn Waldron.

Guardia was found in the driveway, attempting to leave, when police arrived, Waldron said.

He was charged with criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

He received motor vehicle summonses for driving while intoxicated, driving without insurance and failure to change his address. He was taken to the Morris County Jail in lieu of $15,000.

OAK BEACH, N.Y. — Searchers looking for more victims of a suspected serial killer along a remote New York beach have now found a total of eight sets of human remains. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer announced today that the remains of three more people had been found. Five sets of remains were found previously along the highway...

Two photos of Shannon Gilbert from a missing persons handout. The 24-year-old Jersey City prostitute went missing in May, and police say she may have become a victim of a serial killer on Long Island.

OAK BEACH, N.Y. — Searchers looking for more victims of a suspected serial killer along a remote New York beach have now found a total of eight sets of human remains.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer announced today that the remains of three more people had been found.

Five sets of remains were found previously along the highway that leads to Jones Beach, about 45 miles east of New York City.

A set of remains was found last week. Police have not positively connected that case to the bodies of four prostitutes found nearby in December.

Investigators have searched seven miles of dense undergrowth several times since the first discoveries.

Previous coverage:

• Search for missing Jersey City woman continues at remote N.Y. beach where five others have been found

• None of 4 bodies found on Long Island match missing Jersey City prostitute

• Investigators scour Long Island beach access road in area where Shannon Gilbert of Jersey City was last seen

• Police investigating disappearance of Shannon Gilbert remove SUV from home

• Boyfriend and the driver of Shannon Maria Gilbert recount hours just before Jersey City woman went missing

• Missing Jersey City woman identified attacker in frantic 911 call before disappearance

Diana Hoffman also pleaded guilty to eluding, a second-degree offense, and two motor vehicle offenses, for reckless driving and speeding Watch video

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerA 2010 file photo of Diana Hoffman. Hoffman is handed a copy of one of numerous complaints lodged against her by executive assistant Monmouth County prosecutor Richard Incremona during her initial appearance in State Superior Court in Freehold.

HOWELL — A woman facing a slew of charges related to a false police report, which led to the death of New Jersey state trooper Marc Castellano last summer, pleaded guilty today to a first-degree offense of raising a false public alarm.

Diana Hoffman, 30, of Blackwood, who pleaded guilty to the rare charge in Superior Court in Monmouth County, also pleaded guilty to eluding, a second-degree offense, and two motor vehicle offenses, for reckless driving and speeding.

Prosecutors said the first-degree false public alarm charge may have never been used before in the county. They recommended a 15-year sentence for the false public alarm charge, which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years. They recommended that sentence run concurrently with a 10-year sentence for eluding.

In exchange, prosecutors dismissed additional counts of drug possession, hindering her own apprehension and making false reports to law enforcement.

Hoffman, who will appear July 8 for sentencing, was dressed in a maroon jumpsuit, and sighed heavily during the proceedings. She broke down in tears, covering her mouth and staring at the ground, when answering questions about the June 6 incident and Castellano's death.

Family members of Castellano's were also in the courtroom.

"It's supposed to, I guess, make our family feel better," said Nick Castellano, an Ocean Township patrolman and younger brother of Marc. "But it doesn't. He's gone. He's gone forever."

During a series of questions about the events on June 6, Hoffman admitted to speeding, driving recklessly and upon apprehension, lying to the police and saying that a man had held her at gunpoint.

The faulty information given by Hoffman prompted a manhunt around Route 195 in Howell Township. Trooper Castellano responded to the widespread call for assistance, and was on foot near the shoulder of westbound Route 195, when he was struck by a passing motorist and killed. Hoffman was already in custody at the time Castellano was killed.

The driver, Robert R. Swan, was issued motor vehicle summonses and was not charged criminally.

Swan, 21, of Jackson, is a West Point Academy first class cadet and is set to graduate in May, said Jim Fox, a spokesperson for the academy.

Previous coverage:

• Grand jury indicts woman on charges she caused false public alarm that led to N.J. State trooper's death

• Authorities say N.J. woman raised false public alarm that led to State Police trooper's death

• Woman involved in N.J. State Police trooper's death to face false public alarm charge

• Woman arrested in search that led to N.J. State Police trooper's death faces court hearing

• N.J. State Police trooper dies from injuries suffered in Howell Township crash

• N.J. State Police trooper seriously injured in Howell during search

CLIFTON — Jurors in the trial of a California man who admitted to killing two people and wounding another in a New Jersey church must decide whether he plotted to hunt down his estranged wife and shoot anyone who tried to intervene, or simply acted in the heat of the moment. Closing arguments concluded today in the trial of...

Mike Derer/APJoseph Pallipurath responds to a judge's question during his arraignment on murder charges at the Passaic County courthouse in Paterson in this 2008 file photo.

CLIFTON — Jurors in the trial of a California man who admitted to killing two people and wounding another in a New Jersey church must decide whether he plotted to hunt down his estranged wife and shoot anyone who tried to intervene, or simply acted in the heat of the moment.

Closing arguments concluded today in the trial of Joseph Pallipurath, 29, of Sacramento, who is charged with killing his estranged wife, 24-year-old Reshma James, and 25-year-old Dennis John Mallosseril, a parishioner who had tried to come to James' aid. Pallipurath is also accused of shooting James' cousin, Silvy Perincheril, who survived but was left wheelchair bound after being shot in the head.

Jurors will likely begin deliberations Tuesday to determine if Pallipurath is guilty of two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, or qualifies for lesser charges of manslaughter or "passion provocation." He could face up to life in prison on the murder charges, while the lesser charges could carry a five- to 10-year prison term each, according to prosecutors.

Both the prosecution and the defense focused their summations today on what they said was Pallipurath's state of mind during the shootings.

Defense Attorney Harley Breite said in closing arguments that Pallipurath had entered the Clifton, N.J., church on November 23, 2008, with the intention of talking to his wife privately, away from what he viewed as the constant meddling of her family and members of their tight-knit religious community. He had a loaded gun on him, Breite said, only because he wanted to scare away anyone who tried to come between them. When a parishioner did intervene, the gun went off accidentally during the struggle, Breite said.

"He (Pallipurath) had spent all this time trying to convince her to come back to him and make this marriage work," Breite said. "In that split second, when the bullet hit her and she fell, in that split second as he watched her life end, he fell into a darkness from which neither would ever recover. Reshma was dead, and he wanted to be dead."

Breite said Pallipurath had lost control at seeing his wife injured.

"He had just seen Reshma fall to the ground he was no longer in possession of his senses," he said. "It was just instinct and adrenalin, not intention, at that time."

Passaic County Chief Assistant Prosecutor John Latoracca, during his summations, laid out two handguns and 60 rounds of ammunition for jurors to see, taking the items from what he called "a box of intent" that Pallipurath had brought with him on his cross-country drive from California to New Jersey.

"You understand this has nothing to do with love," he told jurors, referring to comments the defense had made about the couple's relationship. "Absolutely nothing. The question is not whether he wanted his wife back, we all know that, the question was what was he willing to do to accomplish that and what was he willing to do when she said no."

Latoracca said the couple had a marriage marked by Pallipurath's violent, obsessive behavior, as well as numerous separations and reconciliations, some of which James initiated. Pallipurath's obsession with persuading his wife to come back to him reached the point where he registered a fake email address, posing as one of James' girlfriends, to find out what she thought of him, Latoracca said. The emails went so far as to warn James about her dangerous husband, according to Latoracca.

"He can find you anywhere you are in the U.S., what if he comes to your door and hurts you or the people who have been helping you? I think you and your family are in danger," read one of the emails sent by Pallipurath to his estranged wife, posing as her friend.

Latoracca read James' email response:

"I go back to him, I'm dead. I don't go back to him, I'm dead. It's the same thing. I am ready to die and my family is ready to die," she wrote.

The case has riveted members of the close-knit Knanaya community worldwide, a Christian minority who largely hail from the South Indian state of Kerala.

The St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton, where the shootings took place, is part of the Syriac Orthodox branch of the Knanaya. Their strict inter-marriage customs — meant to preserve ancient bloodlines — mean many families know one another, regardless of where they live.

NEW BRUNSWICK — Authorities are looking for the person who stabbed a New Brunswick man to death Sunday following a dispute in the city. Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said police, responding to an emergency call at 3:46 a.m.,found Benjamin Luis Gomez Mora, 27, on the sidewalk on Seaman Street, near the Remsen Avenue intersection. An autopsy revealed Mora received...

NEW BRUNSWICK — Authorities are looking for the person who stabbed a New Brunswick man to death Sunday following a dispute in the city.

Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said police, responding to an emergency call at 3:46 a.m.,found Benjamin Luis Gomez Mora, 27, on the sidewalk on Seaman Street, near the Remsen Avenue intersection.

An autopsy revealed Mora received multiple stab wounds.

Investigators determined the stabbing occurred during a dispute on Seaman Street.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Kenneth Abode of the New Brunswick Police Department at (732) 745-5200 or county Investigator Scott Crocco at (732) 745-4471.