Prosecution denies assertions by defendant Mark Melvin's lawyer that evidence and witness statements were inconsistent, and that there may have been a "staged crime scene"
NEWARK -- Summing up his arguments in the second trial of a 2012 double-murder suspect, a defense lawyer said a "staged crime scene" had been created by Newark Police to make the evidence fit their hasty and mistaken conclusion, and that the likely killer was the state's key witness in the case.
Prosecutors who then delivered their own summation in the trial of Mark Melvin in the killing of two men in a Newark restaurant dismissed his lawyer's assertions, and said physical evidence along with testimony of that witness and others had proven Melvin was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Melvin, 37, of Newark, is on trial for murder for the second time in the targeted killing of Fuquan Mosley and Jason Chavis, and the wounding of a bystander, an 81-year-old woman, at the L.C.'s Place restaurant on 18th Avenue in Newark, at 10:40 a.m. on Sept. 27, 2012.
Prosecutors have not specified a motive for the killings, in which witnesses have testified that a masked gunman armed with a handgun burst into the restaurant, shot Mosley, chased Chavis to the back and shot him, then returned to Mosley as he lay writhing on the floor and shot him again to insure he was killed.
A jury deadlocked on two murder counts against Melvin at the end of his first trial in 2014, though the same jury did find him guilty of unlawful possession of a weapon. Melvin, who had four previous felony convictions, is now serving a 20-year prison sentence on the conviction.
Melvin's lawyer, Roy Greenman, told jurors that he and everyone present considered the criminal justice system, "is a great system, but sometimes mistakes are made," an in this case, "they have rushed to judgement and charged the wrong man."
Rather than his client, Greenman said the more logical suspect in the case was the state's witness against him, Jihad Marshall, a friend and distant relative of Melvin's who was with him at around the time of the shooting.
Marshall, who told investigators he had been in the area playing basketball before flagging down Melvin's car to say hello, was in the passenger's seat when Melvin drove away from the scene pursued by police.
The car ran out of gas a few blocks away from the restaurant, when Melvin fled on foot before being apprehended a short distance away. Marshall, who stayed in the car, was initially charged with hindering apprehension, but the charge was dropped shortly before he testified at Melvin's first trial.
Greenman reiterated a point he made at trial that Marshall told police immediately after the incident that he saw Melvin get out of his car before the shooting with a gun in his hand.
However, he reminded jurors of a video they watched in court last week of another interview, in which Marshall said he was sitting in the car with Melvin when he heard shots. In that interview, Marshall said he got out of the car and ran towards the shooting, but found a gun on the sidewalk, picked it up and took it back to the car, planning to sell it.
Greenman also noted that the gun was eventually found hidden in the broken car door on the passenger's side, where Marshall was sitting.
Marshall had been subpoenaed to testify in the second trail, but failed to show up as scheduled last week, and had to be picked up by police in order to give his testimony.
Marshall's lawyer, Joan Richardson, was quoted in a story on nj.com and in its newspaper affiliate, The Star-Ledger, that her client was afraid to testify, prompting an unsuccessful motion by Greenman to have a mistrial declared because the jury might be prejudiced by the story.
Neither Richardson nor Marshall could be reached on Wednesday.
Greenman said Melvin fled because of a prior "bad experience" with police, but thought better of it and stopped after a short distance.
But, Greenman said, because of his initial flight, Newark Police immediately deemed him the prime suspect.
Greenman said police tailored their investigation to suit that foregone conclusion, failing to pursue inconsistencies between witness statements about what the suspect was wearing wearing and the hooded sweatshirt found on the scene. He said that the sweatshirt, while stained with a victim's blood, did not have traces of Melvin's DNA.
Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose declined to comment on Greenman's assertions.
In summing up the state's case, Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Portia Downing, dismissed that and other points raised by the defense.
"Maybe he wasn't wearing it long enough," said Downing, who was accompanied by another assistant prosecutor, Frantzou Simon.
Downing never mentioned a motive for the killings in her summation, and when asked later she confirmed that "none was presented," during the trial.
Greenman said in an interview that there was no evidence that his client knew the victims, though he said Marshall had stated he did know them. In Downing's closing, she said that, according to a witness, one of the victims looked as if he had "seen a ghost" when he spotted the gunman enter the restaurant.
Melvin's grandmother attended the proceedings on Wednesday, and exchanged a few words with him during a break in the proceedings. She declined to comment.
In the judge's hour-long jury charge after lunch following the summations, Cronin also told jurors they were entitled to weigh the credibility of witnesses, including whether they had an interest in the outcome of the case, their demeanor, and whether they had made "inconsistent or contradictory" statements.
He then recounted several inconsistencies in statements Marshall had made, to police, at Melvin's first trial, and in this one.
Cronin also told jurors that in order to convict Melvin, they must find he had been proven guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." That means, Cronin said, "you are firmly convinced the defendant is guilty."
Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
