The second day of a Trenton murder trial saw everything from shell casings to clothing entered as evidence
TRENTON - The second day of a retrial for two men accused of murder, focused largely on pieces of evidence found around the scene where a corrections officer was shot dead.
Those pieces of evidence included everything from shell casings to a stray hat on top of a car.
The retrial - which began with opening statements on Thursday - will reexamine the case of Hykeem Tucker and Maurice Skillman, two men accused in the shooting death of off-duty corrections officer Carl Batie.
Batie was shot in the head while attending a party on the roof of the Baldassari Regency Banquet Hall in November, 2012.
Mercer County Prosecutors have argued that Tucker and Skillman went to the party that night and fired 22 shots at the balcony from a parking lot outside before fleeing the scene.
That parking lot was the focus of much of the discussion Tuesday.
Maricelis Rosa-Delgado, a detective with the Trenton Police Department, took the stand to testify about what she found at the scene around 2 a.m. that morning.
Rosa-Delgado told jurors that she collected 22 shell casings, which all looked identical.
Suspect denies shooting in video
She also discovered a hat on top of a parked car and a ski mask and bandanna in the street nearby.
Rosa-Delgado said she was the only detective collecting evidence that morning.
She added, answering defense attorneys' questions, that she was not the person who secured the scene and that she didn't know what - if anything - had changed about the scene before she arrived.
The clothing and shell casings were some of the same pieces of evidence that were entered and discussed at the case's first trial in January.
During the first trial, presiding Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson took issue with some evidence. He said in court that there seemed to be no connection between certain pieces of physical evidence - like the hat on the car - and Tucker and Skillman.
That trial ended in a hung jury after just four days of deliberation.
But this time, Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott said he believes things will be different.
Two weeks ago, after a meeting with defense attorneys and Smithson, Scott said he planned to not bring a forensic scientist to testify. He said the scientist's testimony at the first trial served only to confuse jurors and did not clearly link Tucker and Skillman to the scene.
The trial is expected to continue Wednesday morning. It will be held each week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays until the jury reaches a verdict.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.