A witness in the second trial of the man accused of killing two men only testified after being brought to court by police.
NEWARK -- A Newark man has been acquitted in the fatal shooting of two men in a city restaurant, and the wounding of the 81-year-old mother of the restaurant owner in 2012.
A Superior Court jury last week found Mark Melvin, 37, not guilty of two counts of murder in the Sept. 27, 2012 shooting of Fuquan Mosley and Jason Chavis.
The two men were gunned down in L.C.'s Place restaurant on 18th Avenue at about 10:40 a.m. The jury also acquitted Melvin of aggravated assault in the wounding of the mother of the restaurant owner.
This was Melvin's second trial on the murder charges. In the first trial, Melvin was convicted of a weapons possession charge, but a jury was deadlocked on the murder and assault charges, as well as a drug charge.
In the second trial, jurors again failed to reach a verdict on the drug charges. Authorities said 100 small envelopes of heroin were seized from the car in which Melvin was found minutes after the shooting. A gun was also found in the car.
After the first trial in 2014, Superior Court Judge Martin Cronin sentenced Melvin to 20 years in prison on the weapon possession charge, requiring that he serve at least 10 years before being eligible for parole.
Authorities accused Melvin of bursting into the restaurant wearing a mask and a hooded sweatshirt, and then opening fire, killing the two men.
Murder trial witness 'scared' to testify
Melvin's attorney in the second trial, Roy Greenman, had argued that none of the witnesses identified his client as the shooter.
Witnesses gave police a description of the gunman's clothing and the getaway car. Police found a car matching that description stalled on a nearby street, with Melvin in the driver's seat and another man, Jidah Marshall, in the passenger's seat, authorities said.
Melvin ran from the car but was captured a short time later.
Marshall gave conflicting stories to police, at first saying he was with Melvin in the car when he heard the shots in the restaurant, and later saying he saw Melvin leave the car with a gun moments before the shooting.
Police later found the gun in the car. Prosecutors never indicated a motive for a shooting.
Marshall reluctanly testified at the second trial. When he failed to appear at the trial, police arrested him and held him until he completed his testimony. Marshall's lawyer, Joan Robinson, said her client did not want to testify because someone had tried to kill him twice after Melvin's first trial.
Greenman in his summation, said police had rushed to close the case and mistakenly arrested Melvin. When reached on Monday, Greenman said the jury had agreed with his arguments.
Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Portia Downing, who tried the case with Assistant Prosecutor Frantzou Simon, said called it an extremely tragic case and expressed regret for the families of Mosely and Chavis.
"Our greatest disappointment was that we were unable to provide the surviving family members with some measure of justice," Downing said in a statement.
"In broad daylight at a busy restaurant, two people were fatally shot and an 81-year-old woman was shot but survived. Even though the shooter wore a mask we believed we had a strong case against him. The jury disagreed and we respect the jury's verdict," Downing said.
The prosecutors office has not yet decided if it was re-try Melvin on charges of possession of heroin with intent to distribute, and possession within 100 feet of a school.
Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.