State v. Trent
| Decision Date | 04 August 2021 |
| Docket Number | A-4682-18 |
| Parties | STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. DARRION K. TRENT, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division |
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
Submitted June 3, 2021
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division Hudson County, Indictment No. 17-11-0775.
Kelly Anderson Smith, attorney for appellant.
Esther Suarez, Hudson County Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (Ednin D. Martinez, Assistant Prosecutor, on the brief).
Before Judges Alvarez and Sumners.
Tried by a jury, defendant Darrion K. Trent was convicted of first-degree murder, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3(a)(1) and (2) (count twelve); a lesser-included disorderly persons simple assault N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1(a)(1) (count thirteen); second-degree aggravated assault, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1(b)(1) (count fourteen); second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4(a)(1) (count fifteen); and second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5(b)(1) (count sixteen). Defendant was charged in a twenty count superseding indictment along with four co-defendants, Maurice Miles, Tony Martinez, Kawon Robinson, and Katrell Trent. Only defendant was charged with murder. The charges against Miles were dismissed by the time of trial. Martinez, Robinson, and Trent were tried with defendant.
On May 10, 2019, the trial judge sentenced defendant to an aggregate term of thirty years, with thirty years of parole ineligibility pursuant to the No Early Release Act (NERA) N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2. His sentence was also subject to the Graves Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(c).[1] He appeals his convictions, alleging a series of trial errors occurred. We affirm.
The incident was captured by surveillance cameras at the location. On June 4, 2016, at approximately 2:30 a.m., Davon Gordon and Terrell Corbin were driving to a convenience store in Jersey City. Gordon, who was driving, stopped, spoke to a group of individuals outside of a bar, and then drove about a block away to park. As Corbin testified, when they were walking back towards the bar, a man in a red hoodie stopped and asked him if he had said something rude. The man, later identified as Katrell Trent, had a short haircut and was accompanied by four other men, including a bald man with a beard, later identified as Martinez. Corbin identified defendant sporting dreadlocks, camouflage pants, and a white t-shirt. Another, identified as Tavin Robinson, had a ponytail and white t-shirt, while Kawon Robinson wore a White Sox hat.
As Corbin continued toward the bar, he was shot on the left side of his buttocks. He saw that the man in the red hoodie was the shooter, but that the man wearing the White Sox cap also had a gun. Corbin ran into the middle of the street to get away, but the man in the red hoodie followed. There, the man with the dreadlocks, the bald man, and the man with the ponytail started throwing punches at him, slammed him onto the ground, "stomp[ed]," and kicked him.
During the trial, the State played surveillance video for the jury depicting Gordon and Corbin approaching in their vehicle, parking, and then walking down the street. As the video was played for the jury, Corbin identified the four men who assaulted him. He identified himself on the video as the person wearing a white t-shirt and a blue hat.
The video showed Corbin attempting to block the blows, getting "stomped" and kicked by the bald man with the beard, "the red hoodie, "the man with the dreads, and the man with the ponytail. Corbin said when he heard more gunshots, the men started to leave. He went to find Gordon, who was lying on his back between two cars. Gordon had been shot four times in the abdomen, once in his right hip, and once in his right hand. He died from his wounds several hours later.
Corbin had a prior criminal history, elicited by the prosecutor on direct. Defense counsel was prohibited from cross-examining him about the nature of the offense.
The forensic medical examiner who performed Gordon's autopsy testified on behalf of the State. He said that the bullet trajectories indicated that had Gordon been lying on his back, the shooter would have been standing at his feet and slightly to the right. Additional details regarding his testimony are provided in the relevant section.
In addition to being shown the surveillance videos, the jury heard from a nearby resident who was awakened by gunshots during the early morning hours. He testified he saw people running and fighting in the street, and that there were only about three men who were actually involved in the fight, two fighting one individual. He said the fighting was intense, and that the two were brutally attacking the third. A fourth individual joined the two attackers. He described the men, including one wearing a red shirt, but could not recall if he was one of the original two men beating the third, or was the third man who joined the assault later.
According to the resident, one of the three men backed off from the assault. The resident then heard four more gunshots and the fight ended. The man in the white shirt stumbled towards a car parked near the sidewalk. Another person was lying near a car on the sidewalk, rolling back and forth after the shots had been fired. The men who had been involved in the assault fled in a black Maxima that stopped in front of the bar.
Detective Sean Patrick O'Leary of the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office testified that he responded to the crime scene at approximately 9:30 that morning, after Gordon died. O'Leary met with Corbin, who gave a recorded statement. Detective Sherika Salmon, also of the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, testified she too responded to the scene and recovered surveillance video from three cameras on the street.
Salmon and O'Leary interviewed Corbin a second time after the video film had been collected. He was shown still photographs drawn from them and identified the man in the red hoodie, the man wearing dreadlocks, the bald man, the man with a ponytail, and the man with a White Sox hat as having been present.
Alcee Davis was on the street when the shootings occurred. As the surveillance video was played for the jury, Davis identified himself, and the man wearing a red sweater or jacket as Trent. He testified he knew Trent casually. He identified others in the video. Davis testified he saw no one fighting, although when shown a prior statement, he acknowledged he had previously told detectives that several of the co-defendants were engaged in a fight.
Salmon took a video-recorded statement from Tavin Robinson, Kawon's brother, on June 15, 2016. Tavin testified, identifying himself in the surveillance video as wearing a white t-shirt. He heard gunshots and started running away, but then returned because he thought his brother Kawon was still fighting. He did not recall who he had fought because he was intoxicated.
When confronted on the stand with the statement he gave Salmon, Tavin agreed that the individual with whom he was fighting wore a white shirt and had dreadlocks. The State played surveillance video of the scene, and Tavin confirmed it showed him going into the street and fighting someone in a white t-shirt. Tavin claimed he did not know who else was present.
Ultimately, the judge directed the jury out of the courtroom and conducted a Gross[2] hearing because, according to Tavin, police forced him to make the identifications, based on information rehearsed before his statement was filmed, even though he did not actually know the men involved. The court then determined the filmed interview met the standards for admission under Gross, and allowed it to be introduced as evidence, not just used for impeachment purposes. The prosecutor played the video for the jury. In the video, Tavin identified defendant.
During the trial and summation, the jury was shown the surveillance videos. We discuss counsel's argument, as well as the medical examiner's testimony, in greater detail in the relevant sections of the opinion.
On appeal, defendant raises the following points:
Defendant contends on appeal that the trial court erred by allowing the medical examiner to opine as to where the shooter was standing when he pulled the trigger based on the trajectory of the bullets. Defendant argues that the testimony should have been submitted in writing in accord with the State's discovery obligations. He further asserts that during the grand jury presentation, the State presented the testimony of an officer who met with the medical examiner, which resulted in the grand jury decision to indict a different person for murder-defendant, not Miles. That crucial decision, based on the medical examiner's conclusion as to where the shooter stood, should have required the State to provide a supplemental report.
Defendant...
To continue reading
Request your trial