Thread: Newark schoolyard killings: Jury selection begins in trial

Newark schoolyard killings: Jury selection begins in trial of sixth suspect in 2007 shootings

nj.com
By Alexi Friedman/The Star-Ledger
Sunday, December 04, 2011, 9:08 PM


In this 2008 file photo, Jose Carranza, center, appears at his arraignment. Jury selection began Friday in Carranza's trial, in which he is charged with the execution-style murders in the 2007 Newark schoolyard killings.

NEWARK — Powerfully built, with a weather-worn face and menacing scowl, Jose Carranza stood out as the oldest and toughest defendant among the six young men charged in the Newark schoolyard killings.

Twenty-eight at the time of his arrest and now 32, Carranza still stands out, but for a very different reason.

He remains the only defendant never to have given a statement to police about his alleged role in the execution-style slayings that shocked a city and drew national attention. Four college-age friends gathered behind Mount Vernon School on Aug. 4, 2007, listening to music and enjoying the summer night together, were robbed, brutalized and shot in the head. Only one survived.

The killing prompted a nationwide manhunt, and the defendants were apprehended days later. Carranza’s status as an illegal immigrant from Peru who had been out on bail on two separate criminal charges, also prompted a sweeping policy change in New Jersey regarding illegal immigrants.

In their statements to police, five of the arrested — ranging in age from 15 to 24 — mitigated their involvement while pointing the finger at each other. Carranza, one said, had shot all four victims in the schoolyard attack. Another said Carranza committed the attack to gain status within their gang.

Through it all Carranza stayed silent. His only public comments came this June, when he rejected the state’s plea offer of 40 years in prison. Through a Spanish interpreter, Carranza maintained his innocence then added, "my conscience and hands are clear of all this."

But in jailhouse letters Carranza allegedly wrote and then passed to another inmate, "he implicated himself in the overall action," according to Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas McTigue.

The admissibility of those letters — written in pencil — remain in dispute even as Carranza’s murder trial began Friday with jury selection in Superior Court in Newark. Once a jury is chosen, the court will recess and then start with opening statements Jan. 10. By then, Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin will have ruled on the letters.

Carranza will face a jury knowing the prosecutor’s office has secured murder convictions against two of his co-defendants, Rodolfo Godinez and Alexander Alfaro, at separate trials. A third defendant, Melvin Jovel, now 22, pleaded guilty to being the lone shooter. All three are serving multiple life sentences. Carranza can expect a similar sentence if convicted of murder.

At his trial, prosecutors will not have a recorded statement from the defendant, as they did with Godinez, 28, and Alfaro, 21. There will also be little mention of a gang connection, McTigue said. In their statements, Godinez and Alfaro both described the night of the killing and admitted to being part of the Central American gang known as MS-13. They called the attack gang-motivated, with Godinez claiming the upper ranks wanted to test Carranza, who was nicknamed Shaka.

"They called me. Wanted to see what kind of heart Shaka had," Godinez told police.

The killing was as vicious as it was random.

All four victims, from Newark, were either enrolled in or planned to attend Delaware State University in just a few weeks and had no gang ties, authorities said.

Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, both 20, and Terrance Aeriel, 18, were lined up against a wall then shot in the back of the head. Before Hightower was killed, she was attacked with a machete. Terrance’s sister, Natasha Aeriel, then 19, was shot but survived.

McTigue, who has handled the case from the beginning with Assistant Prosecutor Romesh Sukhdeo, called Carranza "by far the oldest and most experienced, and the biggest physically."

The initial break in the case came from a fingerprint lifted off a beer bottle at the scene. The print was a match for Carranza. But the key to the prosecution’s case remains Aeriel, who identified Carranza as one of her attackers. He and another defendant — Shahid Baskerville — are also accused of sexually assaulting Aeriel that night.

The two remaining defendants, Baskerville, 20, and Gerardo Gomez, 19, are awaiting trials.

Now 23 and a college graduate, Aeriel has testified at the two previous trials and will do so at this one, McTigue said.

But Carranza’s case could prove the most challenging because prosecutors don’t have that confession, said John Kip Cornwell, professor of law at Seton Hall University.

"The fact that there is no statement from him means that the prosecution’s case is going to be based on statements from other people and whatever their own investigation uncovers," Cornwell said. He added that prosecutors will have the benefit of previous trials to hone this one.

For the victims’ families, who have attended countless court hearings since the arrests in 2007, a conviction would be another step toward justice.

"We’re all determined that we’re going to see this to the end," said Shalga Hightower, mother of Iofemi. But once the criminal cases conclude, she added, "this is always going to be a part of our lives."

Carranza is charged with murder, felony murder, attempted murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and sexual assault, among other offenses.

His lawyer said the evidence against Carranza is questionable, including Aeriel’s testimony.

"She went through a horrific experience, no doubt about that," said attorney John Dell’Italia. "But did she pick the right guy? That’s for the jury to determine."

He downplayed the significance of the beer bottle fingerprint, saying it doesn’t mean his client was at the scene at the time of the crime.

"Prove your case against Mr. Carranza," he said, challenging the prosecutor’s office. "Prove that he was there and a willing accomplice to what happened, and a major motivator. Don’t prove it by saying you have a bottle with his fingerprint on it."

While he never spoke publicly following his arrest, Carranza’s status as an illegal immigrant reignited a long-simmering debate on the topic. Just three weeks after the killings, then-Attorney General Anne Milgram instituted one of the nation’s most stringent immigration directives. It required state and local officers to notify federal authorities when they arrest suspects who may be in the country illegally.

At the time of his arrest, Carranza had been out on bail in two separate incidents. One stemmed from a West Orange bar brawl in which the 5-foot-8, 210-pound Carranza was accused of beating four patrons with a broken bottle and a chair. In the second, he was accused of raping a young girl over a four-year period, then threatening to kill her and her family.

The sexual assault charges were later dismissed, but Carranza was convicted in the bar fight in March 2008 and sentenced to eight years in prison.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/1 ... s_jur.html

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http://www.alipac.us/article-6826--0-0.html

three are serving multiple life sentences. Carranza can expect a similar sentence if convicted of murder.

Multiple life sentences.... stupid. What is that going to teach them or how is that going to help the victims families or how is that going to change them?? Vicious animals are put down but they are better than these low-life rabid so called "human" animals whose brains are so warped, fried, and without any conscience what-so-ever that they are not rehabilitable. They will always remain vicious rabid animals.

Why, pray tell, in God's name do we allow such debased animals to live? Would it not be more humane of us to apply the death penalty asap and put these mindless lower than lifes out of their misery ..... and out of ours?

I believe in the death penalty actually being used. It is really more humane to both the perpetrators -rather than a lifetime of prison - and to the rest of society as they will not have to foot the bill IMO. Haven't the victims, victim's families and society suffered enough at the hands of evil criminals such as these?

If ever there was a case, besides the Caylee Anthony case that screams DEATH PENALTY THIS IS IT THESE ILLEGAL ANIMALS DO NOT DESERVE TO LIVE and, to think, this is the kind of people who Obama is busting GUT FOR IN ORDER TO GET THEIR VOTES. OH, I FORGOT, THEY COME HERE LOOKING FOR A BETTER LIFE, WHILE TAKING THE LIFE OF INNOCENT PEOPLE, WHO WERE MINDING THEIR OWN BUSINESS. THE GOVERNMENT CAN RID THIS COUNTRY OF THESE PEOPLE, THEY JUST DON'T WANT TO ACT ON GETTING THEM OUT OF THE COUNTRY. JUST BECAUSE HE DIDN'T GIVE A CONFESSION, THEY SHOULD HAVE NO TROUBLE GETTING A CONVICTION. there are not too many murderers that will confess their crimes. [/i][/b]

I agree Lady. I dont know what these judges are thinking not putting them to death. They are a real danger to the other prisoners, and the guards, as they have nothing to lose. Plus you NEVER know if somewhere down the road some bleeding heart moron might decide to set them free. And they might excape from prison. Its happened before. Fry em up.

also prompted a sweeping policy change in New Jersey regarding illegal immigrants.

The hell it did.

Move to NEW Section for "Americans Killed by Illegals."