At the center of Samad Livingston's murder trial are the conflicting statements of him and a drug addict
NEWARK -- As Essex County jurors begin deliberations today in a murder trial, they must decide who is lying - the drug addict who claims she witnessed the crime or her supplier who is accused of killing a fellow drug dealer in a territorial dispute.
Those were the two scenarios presented to the jury on Monday during closing statements in the trial of Samad Livingston, who is facing murder and weapons charges in the Jan. 16, 2014 fatal shooting of Charles Walker on the porch of a home at 870 South 20th Street in Newark.
Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Eric Plant, who is representing the state, has alleged Livingston, 38, of East Orange, killed Walker, 35, because the two men had an agreement in which Livingston sold drugs after 2 a.m. and he became angry when Walker made a sale on South 20th Street after 2 a.m. that day.
Livingston's attorney, John McMahon, has argued the two men were friends and that Walker was killed before Livingston arrived at the scene.
At the center of the case are the conflicting statements of Livingston and his female customer.
While Livingston told detectives he showed up after Walker had been shot, the woman told police she saw Livingston point a gun in Walker's face, she walked down the street, heard a gun shot and turned around to see Livingston fleeing the scene in a vehicle, according to Plant.
In his closing statement, Plant accused Livingston of lying to police and said the woman was the one telling the truth. With Livingston feeding her drug addiction, she has "the least motivation to lie in this case," Plant said.
"What was her motivation to pin it on her own drug dealer?" Plant told the jurors. "She would have wanted her drug dealer still out there."
Referring to her videotaped statement, Plant said a detective did not coach the woman. The woman appeared coherent and "there's no evidence that she's high" in the video, Plant said.
"She told what she saw on that particular night," Plant said.
But McMahon has claimed the woman fabricated her story about Livingston after hearing rumors about the shooting.
McMahon has suggested the evidence proves the woman's claims are false. For example, the woman has said 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, according to McMahon. She also is not seen on surveillance video footage of the area where she claims to have been walking, McMahon has said.
McMahon noted in his closing statement that a detective spoke to other people who were at the scene and they corroborated Livingston's statement that he arrived there after the shooting had occurred.
The only person in the case who has contradicted Livingston is that female customer, McMahon said.
"Why did she lie? Who knows," McMahon told the jury. "Do we have to show why she lied? No."
Making up the story "certainly gets her left alone" when it comes to dealing with the police, McMahon said.
"Let's not...under-appreciate what that means to be left alone when you're a drug addict," said McMahon, noting how addicts sent to jail face the physical pains of drug withdrawal. "You need to be left alone."
Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.