Gun expert in Newark schoolyard slaying case testifies four victims were shot with same revolver

The .357 Colt was found in a Long Island home six months after the shootings

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerRoy Sineo, a forensic scientist with New York's Suffolk County crime lab, testifies that the bullets form the Newark schoolyard murders were fired from the gun the is holding, during the trial of Rodolfo Godinez.

NEWARK -- When a black .357 Colt Trooper revolver that prosecutors say was used to shoot four friends in the back of the head in a Newark schoolyard three years ago was shown today for the first time in court, the room became hushed.

There were no muffled sobs of the kind that could be heard from the audience last week, when prosecutors presented a rusted machete, also allegedly used in the 2007 killings.

The gun made an appearance at the murder trial of Rodolfo Godinez, the first of six defendants expected to stand trial in the case. Two forensics experts testified that the same Colt Trooper was used to shoot all four victims on Aug. 4, 2007.

Essex County assistant prosecutors allege Godinez, and five others, set upon the four college friends behind Mount Vernon School. Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, both 20, Terrance Aeriel, 18, and his sister Natasha Aeriel, 19, were all shot. Only Natasha survived.

Godinez, 26, has acknowledged being at the schoolyard that night but denies taking part in the violence. He has not been directly linked to either weapon, but forensics experts last week confirmed he drank from a beer found at the schoolyard shortly after the shooting.

The .357 Colt Trooper was recovered from a Long Island home six months after the schoolyard slaying, during an unrelated raid on a reputed gang member. The gun was entered into a law enforcement database, then tested against bullets taken from the victims shot in the schoolyard.

Newark Police Detective Frank Faretra, a ballistics expert, said today that bullet jackets and fragments recovered from the schoolyard victims had identical markings left by the .357 Colt. “The projectile going down the barrel leaves a unique fingerprint,” Faretra said. A forensic scientist with the Suffolk County crime lab came to the same conclusion. Roy Sineo, who test fired the gun, testified the grooves on the bullet he test fired matched those on bullets recovered from the victims.

The .357 Colt was found in the home of Alvaro “Lobo” Delgado, who, police say, belongs to a Central American gang known as MS-13. Prosecutors say the shootings were gang related and that Godinez and the other five defendants have ties to MS-13.

On cross examination, Godinez’s attorney, Roy Greenman, pointed out that Godinez has not been accused of firing the weapon, and that this was the only gun involved in the killings.

“The bullets came from the same gun that shot all four victims?” Greenman asked Faretra. “Correct,” Faretra said.

Before today’s session started, Greenman filed a motion for a mistrial. He called “highly prejudicial” a Star-Ledger article that said four of the other young men charged in the crime had made statements to police about Godinez’s alleged involvement. The presiding judge, Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin, denied the motion.

The trial resumes today with testimony expected from a man who says Godinez talked to him about the shooting while the two were in jail. An Essex County sheriff’s officer from the K-9 unit, who was supposed to appear today, is also expected to testify Wednesday.