Samad Livingston, 38, of East Orange, is facing murder and weapons charges in the Jan. 16, 2014 killing of Charles Walker in Newark
NEWARK — The jurors fixed their eyes on the photo of Charles Walker's lifeless body laying on the porch of a Newark home after he had been shot in the head.
The man accused of pulling the trigger — Samad Livingston — sat at the defense table as his trial got under way on murder and weapons charges in the Jan. 16, 2014 killing.
In opening statements on Tuesday in Livingston's trial, Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Eric Plant claimed Livingston, 38, of East Orange, gunned down Walker, 35, at 870 South 20th Street in Newark as part of a territorial dispute between the two drug dealers.
The two men had an agreement in which Livingston sold drugs after 2 a.m., Plant said. When Walker made a sale on South 20th Street after 2 a.m. that day, Livingston became angry and "he sought to eliminate his competition from that area," Plant said.
Plant told jurors a witness observed a dispute between the two men moments before the shooting.
By the end of the trial, Plant said he will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Livingston "had the motive, the opportunity and did fire that fatal shot."
After opening statements, Plant presented Detective Kevin Lalicon of the prosecutor's office as his first witness and questioned him about photos taken at the crime scene, including the one of Walker's body on the porch.
But Livingston's attorney, John McMahon, argued Walker was killed before Livingston arrived at the scene.
McMahon disputed Plant's assertion that Livingston and Walker were rival drug dealers. Instead, McMahon said the two men were "the best of friends" who vacationed together and spent holidays with one another.
"They were family," McMahon told the jury. "They weren't rival drug dealers."
McMahon also took aim at the credibility of a key witness in the case. That witness claims she saw a dispute between the two men, walked down the street, heard a gun shot and turned around to see Livingston fleeing the scene in a vehicle, McMahon said.
According to McMahon, that woman is a "lifelong drug addict" and there is "nothing reliable about her."
McMahon claimed the evidence shows the woman's story is false. For example, the woman is not seen on surveillance video footage of the area where she claims to have been walking, McMahon said.
The woman also asserts she believes Livingston was standing at the bottom of the front steps when he fired the weapon at Walker on the porch and then fled the scene, but the trajectory of the bullet suggests Walker was shot from behind, McMahon said.
The woman alone is "not enough to reach that weight of proof beyond a reasonable doubt," McMahon said.
Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.