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Five teen boys from Newark NJ (1978) - Suspects under arrest

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Five teen boys from Newark NJ (1978) - Suspects under arrest Empty Five teen boys from Newark NJ (1978) - Suspects under arrest

Post by TomTerrific0420 Tue Mar 23, 2010 11:33 am

A Jersey City man has been charged with murder in the
31-year-old case of five missing Newark teens.
The man, who hasn't
been identified, was charged along with an Irvington man, who also
hasn't been named, the report said.
They were both charged with
murder and arson, the report said.

Two law enforcement officials
with knowledge of the investigation told the paper tonight that the five
teenagers were led into an abandoned house on Camden Street in Newark,
where they were locked inside at gunpoint. The house was then burned to
the ground.

The victims -- Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both
17; and Alvin Turner, Randy Johnson, and Michael McDowell, all 16 --
were last seen on a
busy street near West Side Park, where they had played basketball, on
Aug. 20, 1978.

Four of the five were from Newark. McDowell had
moved to East Orange shortly before he disappeared.

A news
conference has been scheduled for 10 Tuesday morning in Newark where
law enforcement officials will release details of the arrests.
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Post by TomTerrific0420 Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:51 am

A relative of one of five Newark teens missing since 1978 says one of
the men charged this week with their murders confessed to him.
Rogers Taylor is the brother of Ernest Taylor, one of the five boys
who disappeared in August 1978 in what became one of New Jersey's most
infamous missing-persons cases.
Taylor told reporters Tuesday that Irvington resident Lee Evans told
him 18 months ago that he had committed the crimes.
Five teen boys from Newark NJ (1978) - Suspects under arrest Five_Missing_NJ_Tee_481123l
Lee Evans

~Evans is charged with
murder and arson and is being held on $5 million bail,
Evans is one of two
men who have been charged with shutting five
teenage boys into a house
and burning it to the ground in a case
that has been one of New Jersey's
greatest unsolved mysteries for more than 30 years.


Authorities arrested the 56-year-old Evans and 53-year-old Philander
Hampton on Monday night and charged them with arson and five counts of
murder.
They contend the two men forced the boys into an abandoned building
at gunpoint, restrained them and then set fire to the building,
allegedly in retaliation for the theft of some marijuana.
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Post by TomTerrific0420 Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:59 am

Lillie Williams has been waiting three decades for authorities to
find her son, Melvin Pittman, who was 16 when he and four friends
vanished in 1978.
On Monday night, the call came from police: After 31 years, two men
had been charged with locking the boys in an abandoned house on Camden
Street, then torching it.
But for Williams, questions remain. Her son’s remains were never
recovered.
"They still haven’t found the boys," Williams, 65, said today from
her home on Beverly Street in Newark, just a couple of blocks from where
the teens were last seen. "Year after year went by. I waited for the
phone to ring, the door to knock. Someone to tell me they had found him.
I know he’s not still alive. But I want to bury him."
The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said the remains of Pittman,
Ernest Taylor, 17, along with Alvin Turner, Randy Johnson, and Michael
McDowell, all 16, may never be located.
Authorities have charged Lee Evans, 56, of Irvington, and Philander
Hampton, 53, of Jersey City, with murder and arson after an eyewitness
to the crime came forward 18 months ago, leading to their eventual
arrests.
"For years their families wondered what happened on that August day,"
acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert Laurino said at a press
conference today to announce the arrests. "The mystery has now been
solved."
For the families, however, the arrests have only led to more
questions.
"Why can’t those kids be found and why has it taken so long?" asked
Terry Lawson, the brother of Michael McDowell. "We all want to know."
Robert Bogar, the father of Randy Johnson, has the same questions.
"But now I’m really happy they made those arrests," the 76-year-old
Newark resident said. "I feel a little relief because it’s been so
long."
Laurino said the Camden Street home "was completely consumed" by the
fire ... "the bodies as well."
The five boys were last seen on Aug. 20, 1978, on a busy street near
West Side Park, where they had played basketball. They were friends,
spending hours together playing ball or hanging out, relatives said.
Their disappearance confounded police for decades, with a mounting
list of detectives cycling in and out the investigation.
It also ripped a hole in the boys’ families.
"We never got over it," said Rogers Taylor, 53, brother of Ernest
Taylor. "It was always with us. He was always with us."
Taylor said the families had long suspected Evans played a part in
the boys’ disappearance. In August 2008, his suspicions were confirmed
when, Taylor said, Evans confessed to the crime. He did so in the living
room where Taylor grew up.
"He told me he was a religious man. A Baptist. He told me he’d found
God," Taylor said
The family of Alvin Turner could not be reached.At the time the boys vanished, police believed they had helped Evans, a
local carpenter, unload boxes from his truck before returning to their
homes for dinner. Evans was known around the neighborhood, and often
enlisted the help of teenagers for odd jobs. Hampton is Evans’ cousin,
as was Maurice Woody-Olds, who police also believe was involved in the
killings. Woody-Olds died in 2008.
Detectives said the motive may have been retribution after the
victims broke into one of the defendant’s homes and stole about a pound
of marijuana.
On the day the boys disappeared, Evans picked them up at the corner
of Clinton Avenue and Fabyan Place, authorities said at today’s press
conference. He drove them to the Camden Street home, where they were
forced inside at gunpoint then restrained. The home was then torched.
It’s thoughts of that fire, said Debbie Wilson, Melvin Pittman’s
sister, that she cannot erase from her mind.
"We didn’t know about it. I’m breaking out in tears when I heard it
on the news," she said.
Upon hearing the news, Wilson said, she raced to her mother’s home.
"It’s like someone sending you to hell. My heart just bled for her."
Amid their heartache, family members said they take comfort in
memories.
For Lawson, it’s the afternoons spent skipping rope outside while her
brother played football or rode around on his bicycle.
Williams remembers her son, "the artist," drawing pictures of cartoon
characters on his bedroom walls. "He loved Speedy Gonzalez," she said
with a smile.
Bogar would take his son to a social hall in Newark, and Taylor said
he simply enjoyed spending time with his brother around the house.
Though the arrests wrap up one part of the case, another may never be
closed, family members said.
"If they can produce a body, we can have a memorial service,"
Williams said. "I don’t have to wish, I don’t have to hope no more. I
want to put flowers on his grave."
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Post by TomTerrific0420 Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:38 pm

When relatives of five teens
missing for more than 30 years came face to face Wednesday in court with
a man accused of burning the boys alive, they didn't see just a
glowering stranger or a fugitive captured after years on the run. They
saw a man many of them knew and suspected all along.The boys left
their houses one night in 1978 and never returned. Authorities revealed
this week that they believe they were killed in a fire at an abandoned
building over an alleged drug theft. Two men were arrested.The
revelations exposed painful memories among the victims' families, pain
deepened because at least one of the men charged had walked among them
for the past three decades, his life intersecting with theirs.

That man, 56-year-old carpenter Lee Evans, pleaded not guilty through his attorney
to arson and five counts of murder Wednesday in state Superior Court. An
attorney for Evans' cousin and alleged accomplice, Philander
Hampton, also entered a not-guilty plea for Hampton. Judge Peter
Vazquez continued bail for both men at $5 million each.Both men
spoke only to answer several yes-and-no questions from Vazquez during
their separate two-minute appearances. Evans, handcuffed and dressed in
street clothes, glanced briefly at the gallery where more than 50 of the
victims' friends and relatives sat staring silently."It's
hurtful because he knew about this from day one, and we knew it was him;
you just know," said Helen Simmons, aunt of victim Michael
McDowell. "It's very unsettling, it's just an added hurt."Evans,
whose last known address in neighboring Irvington
is a few miles from where four of the five teens lived, regularly hired
local youths for odd jobs. Since the five teens' disappearance, he has
remained a visible figure in the community, Simmons said, and his niece
was close friends with her own granddaughter.Hampton, who once
rented an apartment in the building where authorities say the boys died,
also performed various jobs for Evans, authorities said.Family
members stayed composed during the court proceeding but later unleashed
their frustration at Evans and at the passage of time."What I saw
today was an animal; what I saw was the devil," said Terry Lawson, who
was 11 when she saw McDowell, her older brother, climb into Evans' truck
on the night he disappeared. "What angers and frustrates us is that he
had the opportunity to have his life and raise a family. What about my
brother?"Irvington resident Teresa Harris, whose house abuts a
business property used by Evans, said he worked there for about the
past 10 years and once fixed her boiler. Her suspicions echoed those of
the victims' families."He always had a lot of laughs and jokes,"
Harris said. "He was never a bad man; he never treated me bad. He was
always OK by me, but I knew he did it. I just always knew."Michael
Robbins, an attorney for Evans, noted that his client cooperated with
authorities in 1978 and passed a lie-detector test."The magnitude
of the tragedy in this case should not diminish Mr. Evans' right to a
fair trial and his entitlement to the presumption of innocence," Robbins
said.The 16- and 17-year-old victims - Melvin Pittman, Ernest Taylor, Alvin
Turner, Randy Johnson and McDowell - were last seen on a busy
Newark street on Aug. 20, 1978. Later that night, McDowell went home
and changed clothes, then returned to a waiting pickup truck with at
least one other boy inside. That was the last confirmed sighting of any
of the teens.Investigators believe that the five boys were taken
into the abandoned house at gunpoint and restrained, and that the house
was set on fire. The blaze killed all five and destroyed nearly all
evidence, authorities said.Law enforcement officials, including
some who investigated the teens' disappearance in 1978, have said the
inquiry was hampered at the outset because the fire occurred before the
five boys were reported missing and no connection was made between the
two.Simmons said the boys' families had to put pressure on police
in 1978 to treat it as more than a missing-persons case."It was
almost hostile," she said of the police department's interaction with
the families at the time. "The police considered them runaways. You
never have five kids who just leave all at once and don't come home that
night."Authorities said a major break in the case came about 18
months ago, though they have not fully explained what the break
entailed. On Tuesday, Taylor's brother Rogers
Taylor told reporters that Evans had contacted him and "told him
what happened."Newark police Lt. Louis
Carrega said Wednesday that Evans had met with Taylor and a Newark
police detective - but said that Evans had only made statements about
the crime and had not confessed. Detectives also had "in-depth"
conversations with a third suspect, Maurice Woody-Olds, who has since
died of natural causes, Carrega said.Police came to suspect that
Evans set up the meeting to throw them off the trail, Carrega said.While
the arrests in the case vindicated what many family members said they
firmly believed all along, they were a surprise to Larry Sweatte of
Newark, who said he worked with Hampton for 10 years."I find it
hard to believe that he did it," Sweatte said. "We used to rehab houses
together; he's a really good carpenter, a pleasant guy, always trying to
help. It really blew me off the chair when I heard the news."
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Post by TomTerrific0420 Thu Mar 25, 2010 2:50 am

It is a 32-year-old multiple murder case with no bodies and a crime
scene that no longer exists.
One of the two suspects passed a lie detector test years ago. And the
investigation may hinge on a key witness whom authorities have not
publicly identified.
Despite the challenges, legal experts say prosecutors can still craft
a persuasive case against cousins Lee Evans and Philander Hampton, who
appeared in Superior Court in Newark today and pleaded not guilty to
charges they killed five Newark teenagers who vanished without a trace
in August 1978.
Authorities say the boys, Randy Johnson, 16, Melvin Pittman, 17,
Ernest Taylor, 17 and Alvin Turner, 16, all of Newark, and Michael
McDowell, 16, of East Orange were lured into an abandoned house on
Camden Street in Newark by Evans, Hampton and a third a man who has
since died. The boys were restrained and left to die in a fire so hot it
consumed three buildings and left little but ash.The alleged motive was retribution over a pound of stolen marijuana.
It would be years before the fire was connected with the missing
boys. By then, the crime scene was plowed under and rebuilt.
Then there is the matter of the defendants, a seemingly unlikely
pair.
Hampton, now 53, has a criminal history, but for petty crimes. Evans
has no criminal record. Now 56, he has two grown son and owns his own
plumbing business. His attorney describes him as a man who "lives an
unremarkable life."
But he may be the trump card.
Hampton is the cooperating witness who came forward 18 months ago and
provided key information to police, according to two people close to
the investigation who asked not to be named because they are not at
liberty to publicly discuss the case.
If he agrees to testify against his cousin, any convictions will
hinge on the strength of his story, legal experts say.
"It’s powerful evidence if one of the people who perpetuated the
crime has admitted he did it. He’s exposing himself to a lengthy jail
sentence," said John Kip Cornwell, a professor at Seton Hall Law School.
No remains were found and any evidence from the arson investigation
was destroyed in a flood a few years ago. But compelling testimony from
one of the co-defendants could carry a jury if, "he can tell a story
that puts the pieces together and makes what they did seem plausible,"
Cornwell said.
It is likely detectives are playing the two suspects against each
other, offering a deal to the first one willing to testify against the
other, experts said.
Both men face 30 years to life in prison but if one agrees to testify
against the other, he could be offered a lesser charge, such as
aggravated manslaughter, with term of 10 to 30 years.
Evans’ defense attorney will likely attack Hampton’s credibility if
he testifies, said Roy Greenman, an experienced criminal defense
attorney.
Hampton, of Jersey City, was arrested six times since 1986 for low
level offenses such as drug possession and shoplifting, records show. It
appears he never spent any significant time in jail.
"If Hampton is the star witness ... why now?" Greenman said. "What
pressure was put on him to cooperate? Did they offer him anything? It
happened over 30 years ago and they couldn’t put together a case in all
this time?"
Meanwhile, families of the victims say they have long suspected
Evans. At the time the boys disappeared, Evans was a handyman who would
hire them to help with various jobs. The teens were last seen helping
Evans load boxes into his truck.After initially being a suspect in the disappearance — Evans passed a
lie detector test — he resumed his life and remained in the
neighborhood. He now lives in Irvington.
Today, his attorney, Michael Robbins, said Evans "lives an
unremarkable life of hard work and taking care of his family. In the
past 32 years, he’s had no contact with the criminal justice system."
In court, the two men quietly acknowledged they were informed of the
charges against them. More than 50 relatives of the missing boys crowded
into the courtroom.
"We’re here because of the actions of the defendants. And we have to
sit here and speak for our loved ones, our brothers, our sons," said
Michael McDowell’s sister, Terry Lawson. " It became real for me today
that this is actually happening after so many years."
McDowell’s aunt, Helen Simmons, said, "We’ve always felt, back then
just as we feel today, that Lee Anthony Evans is the person that
murdered those five boys."
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Post by MililaniGirl Sun May 01, 2011 7:47 pm

With Murky Details, Defendant in 1978 Newark Murders Builds a Case

Five teen boys from Newark NJ (1978) - Suspects under arrest 03NEWARK-articleLarge
Long suspected in the slayings of five teenagers, Lee Evans, at his arraignment after his arrest in March, was charged with five counts each of arson and murder

By MICHAEL WILSON
Published: January 2, 2011



WEST ORANGE, N.J. — Lee Evans sat with his broad back to the wall of a mostly empty diner and picked at his Spanish omelet and grits on a December afternoon, his face only once breaking into a grin, to greet an acquaintance in worker’s overalls. The man smiled back, something Mr. Evans can no longer take for granted, despite having lived most of his 57 years in and around Newark, a plumber on call day and night.

Five teen boys from Newark NJ (1978) - Suspects under arrest 03SUBYJPNEWARK-articleInline A year ago, there was a good chance Mr. Evans would be hauling the heavy tools of his trade. But now, he is more likely to be seen carrying, in their place, a black duffel bag filled with dog-eared police reports that he says prove that he did not burn five teenagers to death 32 years ago.

Long suspected in the slayings, Mr. Evans was arrested in March and charged with five counts each of arson and murder, an arrest that authorities said was the remarkable resolution of a cold case.

On Aug. 20, 1978, five teenagers in Newark left their homes after supper; they were reported to have been seen last with Mr. Evans, a 25-year-old mason and handyman who needed help moving boxes. They were never heard from again. Years of tip lines and new DNA tests produced no leads.

Arrested with Mr. Evans on March 22 was his cousin, Philander Hampton, 54, whose confession led to the charges. Mr. Hampton said Mr. Evans had locked the young men in the closet of an abandoned apartment in Newark and burned down the building in retaliation for a drug theft. The defendants pleaded not guilty in Essex County Superior Court and will be tried separately.

Mr. Evans was released from jail in August on bond — itself a remarkable development, given the severity of the crime of which he was accused. He was initially held in bail of $5 million, but Judge Peter J. Vazquez of Superior Court lowered it to $950,000, citing Mr. Evans’s ties to the community. By offering family properties as collateral, Mr. Evans came up with the bond. Since then, he has rebuffed numerous requests for an interview, until finally agreeing to sit down last month.

“It’s a living hell,” Mr. Evans said of his situation.

The stress appears to have taken a toll on Mr. Evans, who is intensely distrustful of strangers and simultaneously eager and loath to share the contents of that black duffel bag. He met with a reporter for The New York Times multiple times at locations of his choosing — a diner, two public libraries, a quiet corner of a bookstore — and spread out his piles of transcripts and police reports, with notes scribbled in the margins, that were obtained during the discovery phase of his case. But then, upset over notes taken at a meeting at a Bayonne library last month, he snatched the reporter’s pad away and left.

“That didn’t belong to you,” he said. He promised to return the notes but has not yet done so.

Several documents that Mr. Evans said had come from prosecutors seemed to contain inconsistencies among witnesses as to where and when the young men had last been seen. In a transcript of Mr. Hampton’s 2008 confession, he tells a sometimes fantastic tale of five teenagers sitting in a closet, as docile as cattle, while its door was secured with a single nail and Mr. Evans splashed around enough gasoline to blow up the building.

Mr. Evans characterized his arrest as the product of a conspiracy that not only included the police and prosecutors, but reached up to the mayor of Newark, Cory A. Booker, and even Mr. Evans’s own lawyers. Since his release from jail, he has tried to tell the police in Springfield, in Union County, about the conspiracy and the corruption that he believed existed in Essex County.

“It’s not about me proving myself,” Mr. Evans said in an interview. “It’s about uncovering a conspiracy. If I uncover the conspiracy, I prove myself also.”

After his release, he was assigned another lawyer, Olubukola Adetula, who declined to comment.

The erratic behavior by Mr. Evans contrasts with his actions after the young men disappeared. He did not hide or panic or flee.

He provided for his small family and became a plumber, eventually renaming his shop “Evans & Evans” after his son, also Lee, climbed aboard.

Mr. Evans has always worked; as a boy, he delivered two daily newspapers, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Mr. Evans graduated from a vocational school in Newark and quickly became a journeyman at age 18, he said.

On Sunday, Aug. 20, 1978, Mr. Evans was preparing to close on his first home, in Irvington, the next morning, he said in an interview. On the last afternoon the victims were seen, Mr. Evans asked a teenager he knew to get a group together to help him move boxes in his pickup, he said. Seven teenagers helped him, he said. He said he did not remember if the five victims — Alvin Turner, 16; Melvin Pittman, 17; Randy Johnson, 16; Ernest Taylor, 17; and Michael McDowell, 16 — were among those seven, as he said he did not know them all.

The boxes were moved before nightfall, and the teenagers left, Mr. Evans said. He played pool at a place called the Hideaway and left early, he said. He declined to say where he slept or who might have been with him that night. His son was a month shy of his first birthday.

Mr. Evans did not discuss the theft of a pound of marijuana from his apartment that the police said was his motive for murder, and he said he did not know until after his arrest that the missing teenagers were believed to have stolen from him. He acknowledged that he had helped others sell marijuana in 1978, describing his role as a middle man, but said he had been in the process of ending that activity at the time of the killings.

He was questioned by the police and passed a lie detector test.

Since then, Mr. Evans has led a seemingly unremarkable life, working as a master plumber, License No. 7524. It was difficult work, and twice he declared bankruptcy, in 1983 and 1994. He and his son, now 33, appear relaxed and easygoing in each other’s company; he also has a grown daughter. He declined to discuss his family, saying only that his wife, Frances, stands behind him.

If she does, this was not always true. Mr. Evans and his wife had “significant problems” that led her to move out of their home in Old Bridge, in 1995, he wrote in a court filing included in a lawsuit over the sale of the home the next year.

Mrs. Evans did not reply to messages left at her home but stood by Mr. Evans in a statement to The Star-Ledger, the Newark newspaper, in April: “Lee was always working,” she said, “always trying to improve himself, always trying to make money. If I had an inkling that he’d done something wrong, I would have turned him in.”

Thirty years passed before Mr. Hampton, a petty criminal and drug addict in jail on charges unrelated to the killings, gave his taped confession to three officers at a State Police office on Nov. 13, 2008. He said Mr. Evans had taken two of the young men to Mr. Hampton’s home and given him a gun to train on them while he collected the other three. The young men were then marched to the third floor of 256 Camden Street, where Mr. Hampton had recently lived. He said the young men were calm, believing that they were going to do some work for Mr. Evans — a claim that seems to contradict his assertion that at least two of them had been held at gunpoint earlier.

A third man the police said was involved in the kidnappings, Maurice Woody-Olds, has since died.

Mr. Hampton said that the young men were ordered into a closet that was shut with a “big nail,” and that Mr. Evans poured out a five-gallon container of gasoline and demanded that Mr. Hampton light a match. Mr. Hampton said that he refused and that Mr. Evans took a match from him and lighted it, causing a fireball that knocked Mr. Hampton down some stairs. He did not explain how Mr. Evans survived the explosion.

Mr. Hampton said the fire was set around 8 or 9 p.m. But family members of the victims told the police they had last seen the victims later that night.

Peter Guarino, the Essex County assistant prosecutor assigned to the case, brushed off inconsistencies in details. “If you’re going to compare someone’s memory 30 years later to what’s already documented in the case history, that’s not very problematic to me,” he said. He said Mr. Hampton’s statement spoke “for itself.”

Investigators, including Mr. Guarino, visited 256 Camden — now a town house — some time later with ground-penetrating radar, but it detected no signs of cavities in the earth containing human remains. He said the bodies could have been hauled away with debris on two separate occasions.

Mr. Evans, who has on his business voice mail a welcoming message that begins, “God bless you,” said he was having difficulty finding work since his arrest.

He said he was living at various locations in the area. He said he did not trust that his cellphone was secure, but rather, believed it was “hot.” He once stopped a stranger on the street and borrowed his cellphone to return the reporter’s call.

“He said his phone was dead,” the stranger said the next day.

Five days after leaving the Bayonne library with the reporter’s notebook, Mr. Evans promised to return it. He did, but with the notes torn out.

“You were writing stuff you weren’t authorized to write,” Mr. Evans said. Told that an article would be written anyway, he shrugged and remembered his boxing days from years ago.

“The first initial punch, you feel it,” he said. “But if you keep getting hit, you don’t feel it.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/nyregion/03newark.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
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Post by MililaniGirl Sun May 01, 2011 7:54 pm

Suspect in 1978 killing of 5 Newark teens wants to represent himself in court
Published: Monday, April 18, 2011, 5:25 PM Updated: Wednesday, April 20, 2011, 9:18 AM
By Alexi Friedman/The Star-Ledger


Five teen boys from Newark NJ (1978) - Suspects under arrest 9163431-large NEWARK — Two weeks from the scheduled start of his murder trial, the prime suspect charged with killing five teenagers in Newark in 1978 wants to act as his own attorney.

Lee Anthony Evans, 58, made that surprise request in a Newark courtroom this morning, standing next to his current attorney.

"I’m exercising my pro se at this point," Evans told Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello, using the term for a defendant’s constitutional right to act as his own attorney. Evans said he was prepared to file that application, but Costello advised he first discuss it with his defense attorney, Olubukola Adetula, which he had not yet done.

In an interview after the hearing, Adetula said he was taken aback by the request but added, "I’m still Mr. Evans’ lawyer."

Evans is scheduled to return to court Wednesday afternoon, when, Adetula said, they will have had a chance to discuss the challenges of going pro se.

Also scheduled for a court hearing Wednesday is Evans’ co-defendant, Philander Hampton, 54, whose recorded statement to police implicating both men in the alleged killings led to their highly publicized arrests last March.

Evans and Hampton, who are cousins, are accused of luring the teenage boys into an abandoned house on Aug. 20, 1978, then setting it on fire. The bodies of Randy Johnson, Alvin Turner and Michael McDowell, all 16, and Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, were never found.

Because Hampton named Evans in the crime, their cases were severed and they have separate attorneys. Hampton’s ability to cooperate with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office to bolster the statement is central to the case against Evans, which lacks physical evidence or DNA linking him to the crime scene.

Evans’ desire to represent himself comes less than a week after the prosecutor’s office asked the judge to compel him to undergo a mental competency exam before the trial begins with jury selection on May 2. Costello dismissed a similar motion in February.

Assistant Prosecutor Peter Guarino said Evans cannot properly assist in his own defense, and cited as proof a letter the defendant sent in March to the state Attorney General’s Office. In it, Evans accused Essex County authorities and Adetula of committing criminal acts that led to his arrest. The judge may decide to hold off on the latest competency request until she decides whether to allow Evans to go pro se.

Evans, out on $950,000 bail, is on his second court-appointed attorney, after noted criminal defense lawyer Michael Robbins left in October. Evans also called Robbins complicit in what he has called an unlawful police investigation.

At one court hearing last June, Evans briefly threatened to represent himself in what Robbins then described as a moment of frustration.

Evans’ trial has already been pushed back once from its January start date because of the first attorney change. If Evans takes over his case — even if Costello appoints an attorney to assist him — it may result in another delay.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/04/accused_killer_in_1978_killing.html
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Post by mermaid55 Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:07 pm

Judge in Lee Evans trial to set court date if no deal is reached



June 27, 2011

Five teen boys from Newark NJ (1978) - Suspects under arrest 9657912-largePatti Sapone/The Star LedgerAnthony Lee Evans, pictured at a court appearance in May, is charged with the 1978 murder of five boys in Newark.

NEWARK — For months, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and attorneys for one of two men charged in the Newark missing teens murder case have tried to hammer out a deal that would allow him plead guilty and testify against the lead defendant in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Today, Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello told attorneys for both sides she would set a trial date for the defendant, Philander Hampton, 54, if there is no deal by July 19.
It was Hampton’s recorded statement to police implicating himself and his cousin, Lee Anthony Evans, in the Aug. 20, 1978 killing of five teenage boys, that led to their arrest last year.
The two are alleged to have lured the boys into a vacant home, locked them in a closet and set the home ablaze. The bodies of Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, and Randy Johnson, Alvin Turner and Michael McDowell, all 16, were never found.
The judge, who spoke with attorneys behind closed doors in Superior Court in Newark, said she would issue her decision Monday on a second request by the prosecutor’s office to force Evans to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before standing trial.

The prosecution has requested an evaluation because of Evans’ allegations about what he has called illegal actions by several law enforcement officials — and his own attorney, Olubukola Adetula — that led to his arrest. Evans maintains those allegations though he no longer believes his attorney is complicit.
Costello's statement will either compel Evans to undergo the evaluation or declare him competent to stand trial. In February, the judge denied a similar request.
If she rules he is able to stand trial, Costello will set another date to hear the three motions Evans recently filed: a request to serve as his own attorney, a request for unspecified information from the prosecutor’s office and a charge of obstruction of justice by investigators.
Evans, who was in court today, said he looks forward to a trial and cited numerous discrepancies between Hampton’s statement to police and his own research into the case, like which building the fire started in and the time it began. He also claimed two men have given statements saying they were with the boys hours after the fire was reported.
"It ain’t about me proving myself innocent," Evans said. "It’s about that I can prove that they know I’m innocent."
But William McDowell, who is Michael’s uncle, said he is convinced Evans masterminded the killing. "You know what, the couple of times I talked to him, none of his stuff adds up to anything," McDowell said today.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/judge_in_lee_evans_trial_to_se.html
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Post by mermaid55 Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:59 am

Judge rules Lee Anthony Evans can serve as his own attorney in trial of '78 Newark killings


Published: Monday, July 18, 2011


When the alleged mastermind in the decades-old killing of five teenage boys in Newark claimed his first court-appointed attorney was conspiring against him, a different lawyer was brought in.
That didn’t solve the issue, for the defendant, Lee Anthony Evans, who eventually leveled similar charges against the new attorney.
The difference this time, however, was that the 58-year-old general contractor from Irvington didn’t ask for another attorney. He asked to do the job himself.
"It’s not that I want to represent myself," Evans told Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello in Newark yesterday afternoon. "I have no other choice at this point in time. The defense is not in my best interest" he added, leaning his head to his attorney, Olubukola Adetula, who sat beside him in court.
Every defendant has a constitutional right to represent himself, and after reviewing with Evans various aspects of the law — and the possibility he might unwittingly incriminate himself at trial — Costello granted the request.
Evans’ murder trial is set for Oct. 14.
As part of her ruling, the judge ordered Adetula remain on the case as his legal adviser. "These are serious charges and you need an experienced criminal defense attorney," Costello told Evans, who graduated high school but did not go to college.
Legal experts say it is rare for a criminal defendant to represent himself, and rarer still to do so facing a murder charge. "It’s hard to explain how bad that decision is," said George Thomas, professor at Rutgers Law School. "Even a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client."
Thomas, who specializes in criminal procedure, said Evans may very well "have a passion for his defense that a lawyer might lack." But, he added, Evans’ presumed unfamiliarity with the rules of evidence, how to cross-examine a witness and select a jury, among other important responsibilities, "will almost certainly hurt his case."
That case hinges on the taped confession of Evans’ cousin and co-defendant, Philander Hampton, 54, who has been negotiating a plea deal with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office for months, and is due back in court this morning.
Evans and Hampton were charged last year with the Aug. 20, 1978, killing of the teens, in what had long been officially considered a missing persons case. The five boys were lured into a vacant Camden Street home with the promise of moving boxes for money, locked inside and the home was set afire, the prosecutor’s office said. The bodies of Randy Johnson, Alvin Turner and Michael McDowell, all 16, and Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, were never found.
Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Peter Guarino said his office "will do our best to present things in a way that will be understandable to Evans, knowing he is a lay person." But, he conceded, "anyone in a criminal trial is at a disadvantage if he proceeds without an attorney."
Evans, who is out on bail, has loudly maintained his innocence and openly expressed frustration with his attorneys. When Costello asked him yesterday what specific issue Evans had with Adetula, he said it was "the whole scenario of the case." He said Adetula "never asked me if I was innocent or guilty," among other issues.
Costello told Evans that attorneys are taught in law school never to ask about their clients’ guilt, and called the other matters "little bumps in the road that you are ascribing more problems to."
Speaking after the decision, Adetula said, "we lawyers are trained to react as circumstances require," and said he will advise Evans as the judge instructed. "I expect Mr. Evans will try a good case," he said.
Outside the courtroom, a reporter asked Evans if he was worried about tackling his defense alone.
"Of course I’m concerned," he said. "I’m not a dummy. But I don’t trust them. If I was guilty, I’d want an attorney to get me off on a technicality. I don’t want that."

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/judge_rules_lee_anthony_evans.html
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Post by mermaid55 Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:05 am

No plea deal reached for suspect charged in 1978 killings of 5 Newark boys


Published: Tuesday, July 19, 2011



Family members of five Newark boys who were killed 33 years ago said they can live with a plea deal that would give one of the men charged with murder as little as two years in prison. But the long-awaited agreement, which relatives thought would be approved today, wasn’t, and that didn’t sit well with them.
"We’re frustrated because of the anticipation that this was the next milestone we were going to get over," said Troy Cowan, whose cousin, Michael McDowell, was one of the teens killed. "We were expecting the plea deal to be done."
The deal involved defendant Philander Hampton, who authorities say is central to prosecuting the key suspect.
After waiting two hours, today's hearing was canceled with little explanation. It was an unsatisfying end, the family members said, after Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello last month said today would be the cutoff for negotiations before setting Hampton’s trial date. That did not happen, and negotiations continue.
Hampton, 54, and Lee Anthony Evans, 58 — who are cousins — were charged in March 2010 with five counts each of murder, in what had long been a missing persons case.
Hampton confessed to police in November 2008, saying Evans orchestrated the Aug. 20, 1978, killings. The five boys were allegedly lured into an abandoned house in Newark, locked inside then the structure was set on fire. The bodies of Randy Johnson, Alvin Turner and Michael McDowell, all 16, and Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, were never found.
With no physical evidence linking the defendants to the crime, Hampton’s statement has become integral to the murder case against Evans, who has emphatically maintained his innocence. The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and Hampton’s public defenders have been negotiating a deal for months, in which he would agree to testify against Evans.
Several of Michael McDowell’s relatives said they were told about the plea deal’s basic structure, though both the prosecutor’s office and Hampton’s attorneys have refused comment.
Under the terms, Hampton would plead guilty to reduced charges and be sentenced to 10 years in prison, said Cowan, William McDowell, who is Michael’s uncle; and Terry Lawson, his sister. Hampton would also be placed in witness protection for a time, they said. Because sentencing guidelines from 1978 would apply, Hampton would likely serve just two years before his release, McDowell said he was told.
"Anybody who takes part in the murder of five young boys should serve more than two years in prison," said Cowan, who was 6 years old when Michael vanished and is now 38. "But where we want to go, there has to be some concessions," referring to the case against Evans.
So confident were relatives that Hampton would plead guilty yesterday that Michael McDowell’s aunt, Theresa McDowell, 68, of Las Vegas, extended her stay in New Jersey to attend the hearing. Cowan drove in from Delaware and another cousin, Gerald McDowell, 51, arrived from his home on Long Island. Rogers Taylor, 54, who is Ernest Taylor’s brother, also was there.
William McDowell firmly believed the deal was "worked out. Everybody signed off on it," he said. Assistant Prosecutor Peter Guarino said only that "we are making progress. The wheels of justice turn very slowly, but they’re still turning."

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/no_deal_reached_for_lee_evans.html
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Post by mermaid55 Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:49 pm

One of the men charged in 1978 killing of 5 Newark teens pleads guilty
Published: Tuesday, August 30, 2011, 1:44 PM Updated: Tuesday, August 30, 2011, 5:01 PM

A 54-year-old man who, along with his cousin, has been charged in the 1978 killing of five Newark boys, pleaded guilty this morning.
Philander Hampton pleaded guilty to five counts of felony murder, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. As part of his plea agreement, he will testify at the trial of his cousin, Lee Evans, 58.
Hampton confessed to police in November 2008, saying Evans orchestrated the Aug. 20, 1978, killings. The five boys were allegedly lured into an abandoned house in Newark, locked inside then the structure was set on fire. The bodies of Randy Johnson, Alvin Turner and Michael McDowell, all 16, and Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, were never found.
Both Evans and Hampton were arrested in March 2010. Evans, who maintains his innocence, was released in August 2010. Hampton, however, remained in jail.
As a part of Hampton’s plea agreement, the prosecutor’s office recommended a 10-year prison sentence, which under New Jersey guidelines from 1978, would mean he would be eligible for parole after two years. Since he has been in jail since his arrest, he would serve a couple of months in jail before he’s eligible for parole.
The negotiated plea deal also included a limited amount of time where, after his release, Hampton would be in witness protection, authorities have said.
His sentencing is scheduled for September.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/08/man_charged_in_1978_killing_of.html
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Post by mermaid55 Wed Oct 12, 2011 4:51 pm

NJ man sentenced after admitting role in 1978 killings
Published: Monday, October 03, 2011

By THe Associated Press

NEWARK (AP) — A New Jersey man was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison after recently admitting his role in the 1978 murder of five teenagers in one of the state's longest-running cold cases.

Under 1978 sentencing guidelines applied to the case, Philander Hampton is only required to serve 20 percent of the sentence before being eligible for parole. Hampton has been jailed since his March 2010 arrest, making him eligible for release in a matter of months.

The 54-year-old Jersey City resident told police three years ago that he and a cousin, Lee Evans of nearby Irvington, lured the teens to an abandoned house in Newark with the promise of odd jobs, then locked them inside and set the house on fire.

The attack allegedly was prompted by stolen drugs.

As part of his plea agreement, Hampton has agreed to testify against Evans, whose trial is set to begin later this month.

Evans, who is out on bail and is representing himself, has maintained his innocence.

The five teenagers — Melvin Pittman, Ernest Taylor, Alvin Turner, Randy Johnson and Michael McDowell — were last seen on a busy street near a park where they had played basketball on Aug. 20, 1978.

Their bodies were never recovered.

The case went cold until Hampton's comments to police in 2008, when prosecutors say Hampton took detectives to the former spot of the abandoned house in an area that has since been redeveloped. The blaze destroyed nearly all evidence and hampered the investigation from the outset because the fire occurred before the five boys were reported missing and no connection was made between the two, authorities said at the time of Evans' and Hampton's arrest last year.

Family members of the teenagers spoke Monday at Hampton's sentencing hearing in state superior court in Newark, according to The Star-Ledger newspaper.

Booker Murray, Melvin Pittman's brother, told the court the punishment was too lenient for the murder of five boys.

http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2011/10/03/news/doc4e8a0a4554d9e693005889.txt?viewmode=fullstory
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Post by mermaid55 Sun Nov 06, 2011 2:45 pm

Evans murder trial: After struggling to represent himself for 5 days, accused Newark child killer turns to legal adviser for help
Published: Saturday, November 05, 2011, 7:30 AM


NEWARK — Lee Anthony Evans is not a lawyer. And after five days representing himself at his own murder trial, that has become clear.
Evans, charged with the decades-old killing of five teenage boys in Newark, gave an impassioned, but at times incoherent, opening statement. While cross-examining witnesses, he has gotten mired in minutiae and seemingly insignificant details. More often than not, Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello in Newark has had to interpret his questions for witnesses before they feel comfortable answering.
So it marked a startling change Friday afternoon when Evans’ court-ordered legal adviser — who had sat passively for most of the week — began feeding the defendant questions as he cross-examined a key prosecution witness.
Evans, 58, repeated verbatim what the adviser, Olubukola Adetula, had just whispered in his ear. Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Peter Guarino objected to Adetula’s new role but Costello allowed it. Evans, who since the trial’s opening on Oct. 28 has shown a penchant for meandering and convoluted questions, began speaking in short, concise bursts.

"Why did you testify today?" Evans asked the witness, Robert Cutler, a state prison inmate who is finishing up a 25-year sentence for attempted murder, kidnapping and sexual assault.
"What do you want from the prosecutor’s office?" went another question.
"You waited 30 years to help your friends?" Evans asked incredulously in another.
Since the trial began, Essex County assistant prosecutors have sought to bolster their claim Evans killed the five boys on Aug. 20, 1978, as payback for stealing a pound of marijuana from his home.
Evans and his cousin, Philander Hampton, allegedly lured the boys into a vacant Camden Street house, locked them inside then set the house on fire. The bodies of Michael McDowell, Randy Johnson and Alvin Turner, all 16, and Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, were never found.
Evans and Hampton were charged in March 2010 with five counts of murder in what had been a missing persons case. Hampton confessed in November 2008, calling Evans the mastermind. He has since accepted a plea deal and will testify against Evans.
In more than three hours on the witness stand Friday, Cutler provided a detailed account of the boys’ relationship with Evans, and the final night before their disappearance.

At around 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 20, Cutler said, the five teens shared with him the marijuana they said they had stolen from Evans. The burglary was nothing new, said Cutler, although the amount was unusually high. Cutler recounted nearly a dozen times that he and the five boys had broken into Evans’ home in Irvington, stealing mostly loose joints scattered throughout the place.
Evans, a contractor, would often hire neighborhood kids to help him with odd jobs, authorities said. He also sold drugs on the side, they said, and would pay the kids in marijuana.
Cutler said he worked for Evans, but "I didn’t like him. He was a bully. He was a big dude."
With Adetula’s help, Evans attempted to poke holes in the prosecution’s murder case, for which no DNA evidence or fingerprints can link him to the crime. On cross-examination, Cutler said he walked home with Ernest Taylor as late as 12:30 a.m. that night, though an arson investigator has previously testified the fire broke out at 12:16 a.m. And though Rogers Taylor — Ernest’s brother — testified Cutler had called his house all night, worried something had happened to the boys, Cutler said he never did.
The trial will be in recess next week and resume Nov. 14.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/evans_beings_using_court-order.html
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Post by Annabeth Mon Nov 14, 2011 10:19 pm

John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger

Philander Hampton's appearance on the witness stand in Lee Evan's trial has been moved to Tuesday. Hampton will testify that he and Evans - his cousin - killed five teenagers in 1978.

NEWARK — Testimony from the state's star witness in the murder trial of Lee Anthony Evans, which was expected for today, has been moved to Tuesday, according to attorneys on both sides. The trial is taking place in Superior Court in Newark.

Philander Hampton will testify that he and Evans — his cousin — killed five teenage boys in Newark on Aug. 20, 1978. The boys vanished that night and the disappearance for years remained a missing persons case.

Hampton, 54, confessed in a statement to police in November 2008, saying Evans was the mastermind behind the killing. Both men were arrested on murder charges in March 2010. Hampton said the killing was payback for the boys allegedly stealing a pound of marijuana from Evans. Hampton has since pleaded guilty to felony murder charges, and received a reduced sentence in exchange for his planned testimony. He is in state prison.

Evans, 58, who has loudly denied the charges, is representing himself at trial, which resumes this morning after a week-long recess.

Expected witnesses today for the prosecution will be several police detectives who investigated the boys' disappearance, including one who sat in on Hampton's taped statement.

http://topics.nj.com/tag/evans-trial/posts.html
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Post by mermaid55 Thu Nov 17, 2011 2:01 pm

Prosecutor's mention of Lee Evans' brother's murder conviction halts cross-examination, mistrial requested
Published: Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 8:47 PM

The murder trial 33 years in the making was winding down. The prosecution had rested, having concluded by calling its star witness, Philander Hampton, to detail the alleged killings of five teenage boys in Newark.
The defense began its case by calling to the stand Luther C. Allen Jr., a minister who is also a firefighter, and who was decked out in his crisp dress blue uniform of the Newark Fire Department. He was testifying to the virtues of his boyhood friend, Lee Anthony Evans, on trial for the Aug. 20, 1978, arson killing of the boys.
"Lee Evans is an honorable, trustworthy person," Allen said, speaking in Superior Court in Newark this afternoon.
Then Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Peter Guarino began his cross-examination, and after a perfunctory reference to Evans’ brother, Lavert, blurted out a bombshell that stunned the courtroom and threw the entire trial into jeopardy.
"Did you know that Lavert was convicted of murder?" Guarino asked Allen.
Almost immediately, Evans’ legal adviser shot up, a bewildered expression crossing his face. "Objection, judge," said the legal adviser, Olubukola Adetula. "Objection, judge."
Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello quickly dismissed the 16 jurors for the day, some of whom looked surprised and baffled by what had just happened.
After they filed out, Adetula called for a mistrial — his second such request in as many days — and launched into an impassioned, minutes-long rebuke of the assistant prosecutor’s actions.
"If there was anybody in this case who has wanted, begged for a mistrial, it’s Peter Guarino," Adetula said. "He wants a mistrial judge. He’s looking for it. He’s doing everything he needs to do to get one."
In response, Guarino said it was the witness who had first mentioned the name Lavert Evans, and added, "I thought it was a fair question."
Guarino said he would "research the issue" and offer his argument for asking the question before Costello makes her ruling to see if there is precedent for introducing what the defense says was a highly prejudicial statement.
Costello said she will rule on the mistrial motion Thursday morning.
Evans and Hampton were each charged with five counts of murder in March 2010, in what had until then been officially classified as a missing persons case. Hampton confessed to the killings in November 2008, calling Evans the criminal mastermind. He said it was payback for the boys stealing a pound of marijuana from Evans.

Hampton has since pleaded guilty to felony murder and received a reduced sentence for his testimonty against Evans, his cousin.
In testimony Tuesday and today, Hampton described in matter-of-fact, but chilling detail how he helped Evans lure the boys into a vacant house in Newark, lock them in a closet then burn them alive.
The bodies of Michael McDowell, Randy Johnson and Alvin Turner, all 16, and Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, were never found. There is no DNA evidence or fingerprints to link Evans to the crime.
Further complicating the prosecution’s case is Hampton’s past. He acknowledged being a convicted criminal — he previously was sentenced to 10 years in prison for robbery — and a former drug dealer and heroin addict who knew how to work the system. "I’ve been hustling all my life. All of my life," he said today on the witness stand.
Evans, a mason by trade, is representing himself at trial. Early on, the prosecution benefited from his lack of experience when cross-examining witnesses, but in recent days, Evans has handed over control to Adetula, an experienced criminal defense attorney with a baritone voice and a penchant for the dramatic.
Evans has loudly professed his innocence and was no less vocal after the mistrial request. "When you enter the belly of the beast, you have to be ready," he said outside the courtroom.
Evans acknowledged his older brother, Lavert — who died in 1999 and would have turned 60 today — had a checkered past that included stints in prison. None of those sentences was for longer than five or six years, Evans said. He wasn’t sure whether Lavert had been convicted of murder.
While mistrial requests are not uncommon, when Adetula made his today, the judge appeared to look at Guarino with exasperation.
On Tuesday, Costello denied a similar request from Adetula after a retired police lieutenant testifying for the prosecution mentioned something he had been told was not admissible. But after denying the request, the judge also reprimanded Guarino, noting he had twice tried to sneak in the same information.
And in court this morning, Costello appeared frustrated with the assistant prosecutor after repeatedly warning that his questions to Hampton were leading.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/prosecutors_mention_of_lee_eva.html
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Post by mermaid55 Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:34 pm

Jury in Lee Evans murder trial done for the day
Published: Monday, November 21, 2011, 12:17 PM

The jury in the Lee Anthony Evans murder trial has recessed for the day, after the judge had previously said today would be a half-day.
The panel deliberated for five hours today without reaching a verdict and will return Tuesday morning. They deliberated for two hours Friday afternoon, following closing arguments.
Evans, 58, is charged with murder in the Aug. 20, 1978 killing of five teenage boys in Newark, in what had long been considered a missing persons case. He was arrested in March 2010, following a confession 16 months earlier from his cousin. The cousin, Philander Hampton, was also charged with murder but has since pleaded guilty and testified against Evans at trial.
Earlier today, the jury requested Hampton’s testimony, which he gave over the course of two days last week. The jury received the transcript before telling the judge they were finished for the day.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/jury_in_lee_evans_murder_trial_1.html
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Post by mermaid55 Wed Dec 07, 2011 1:53 pm

Acquittal of Lee Evans ends 33-year-old Newark case but leaves a haunting mystery unresolved
Published: Thursday, November 24, 2011, 7:00 AM


NEWARK — With Wednesday’s acquittal of the so-called "mastermind" behind the decades-old killing of five teenage boys in Newark, the case has been officially closed but the mystery surrounding what had been one of the state’s oldest cold cases may forever remain unsolved.
The jury found Evans not guilty on five counts of murder and five counts of felony murder in the Aug. 20, 1978, arson killing of the five boys.
Evans, 58, faced multiple life sentences if convicted but instead walked out of Superior Court in Newark a free man, barely managing a smile as he greeted his son and several supporters with hugs.
For Evans, who has loudly proclaimed his innocence since his March 2010 arrest, believing corrupt Essex County officials and a media-hungry Newark Mayor Cory Booker had conspired to bring him down, there was no celebrating the verdict.
"That was the jury that wasn’t the people," Evans said outside the courthouse. "That’s not the same thing as someone destroying you. It’s like someone put you in the oven and burned you up. You can’t undo that. When you smash something up, tear something up, you can’t put it back together."
The jury’s verdict followed 12 hours of deliberations over four days. Earlier in the morning, the panel passed a note to Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello saying it was deadlocked. About 30 minutes after Costello instructed jurors to keep trying to reach a verdict, they did.
Evans, who has been free on bail for more than a year, showed no reaction when the verdict was announced but on the elevator ride down from the courtroom, he buried his head in his hands and started crying.


In a morose press conference after the late morning acquittal, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray said the investigation was over.
"With respect to this case criminally, this case is closed," Murray said, surrounded by the assistant prosecutors who handled the case and two of the boys’ family members.
Terry Lawson, whose brother, Michael McDowell, was one of the five boys, said the verdict did nothing to change her mind.
"Not guilty does not mean innocent," Lawson said. "Mr. Evans may escape the law, but never the lord." Lawson was 13 at the time of the boys’ disappearance, and testified that she watched as he hopped into the back of Evans’ car that August night before vanishing. "We know in our hearts what happened to the boys and we know in our hearts that Mr. Evans is a guilty man walking free."
Murray said she was "disappointed in the verdict," but acknowledged the significant challenges in prosecuting a decades-old case that had no bodies of the dead and no forensic evidence to link the defendant to the killing. The boys’ disappearance, she said, "has bothered the collective conscience of the Newark Police Department for 33 years. This case was never forgotten, never put on the back shelf."
The modest gathering of reporters after Wednesday’s not guilty verdict was in stark contrast to the media frenzy that surrounded the arrest of Evans and his cousin, Philander Hampton on murder charges last year. At that time, then-Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert Laurino confidently declared: "the mystery has now been solved."

After Wednesday’s verdict was read, the jury was quickly escorted out of the courtroom by sheriff’s officers. One juror later said the decision of the six-man, six-woman panel was not clear cut.
"To me it was 50-50, and the best decision came out of it," said the juror, Aja McKnight, who declined to go into further detail, adding the verdict spoke for itself.
John Zucal, an alternate juror who did not deliberate but listened to all the testimony, said he was leaning toward a not guilty vote, saying he did not believe Hampton — Evans’ admitted accomplice and the state’s key witness.
Zucal, 48, said there were several inconsistencies in Hampton’s description of the killing and in the way he described the boys’ final moments. It was a point that Evans, a mason by trade who represented himself at trial with the help of a legal adviser, had struggled to highlight.
Hampton had confessed to the boys’ killing in November 2008, calling Evans the mastermind. A third cousin, Maurice Woody-Olds, was alleged to have been involved, but he has since died.

As the lone, alleged eyewitness to the killing, Hampton spent two days on the witness stand, detailing how Evans had lured the boys into a vacant Camden Street house that night, how he "packed them" into a tiny closet, nailed the door shut then set the house on fire with a five-gallon can of gasoline.
The house burned to the ground and the bodies of Michael McDowell, Randy Johnson and Alvin Turner, all 16, and Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, were never found. Hampton called the killing payback for the boys having stolen a pound of marijuana from Evans a week earlier.
Despite the numerous witnesses who testified that Evans was the last person they saw the boys with before the disappearance, the case rested largely on Hampton’s account, and his credibility with the jury. Hampton, a career criminal and admitted drug dealer, pleaded guilty and received a reduced prison sentence in exchange for his testimony. Evans rejected a similar plea deal offered by the prosecutor’s office.
In his testimony at trial, Hampton said Evans packed the boys into a 2-foot by 4-foot closet, which he secured with a single, long nail.
Zocal, the alternate juror, said it was unlikely the boys could have fit into that closet. "Then you nail the door shut with one long nail?" he said. " I would think five teenage boys would be able to force the door open."
Evans was stoic as the jury foreman read "not guilty" 10 times, with the only other sound a collective gasp from the audience that packed the courtroom. An imposing 6-4 and 260 pounds, Evans had been an unpredictable and emotional advocate for his cause, thundering his opening statement, breaking down in tears on several occasions, and shaking his head in disgust when cross-examining a prosecution witness.

"I was prepared either way. But I know what the facts are and the prosecutors know what the fact are. And the fact is I’m innocent."
His legal adviser, Olubukola Adetula, who took on a more prominent role in the trial’s waning days, said Evans "has a lot of work to do to regain back his name and his reputation, which has been completely ruined ... I only hope that he will be able to find the strength to be able to move on."
But Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio, who was the city’s chief of detectives when Hampton confessed in 2008, said he was stunned by the not guilty verdict, and disappointed that one of the department’s most haunting mysteries will remain unsolved.
"I’m really confident in the investigative work that all of our detectives did from start to finish," he said. "I really thought we were going to be able to bring closure to the families of those kids."
That closure will never come, said Floria McDowell, Alvin Turner’s mother. McDowell, who testified at trial and who this month filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Evans, called the verdict, "a terrible thing."
"I think he will get his just do sooner or later," she added. "It might not be now, but it will come back to haunt him. The man knows what he’s done."


http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/lee_anthony_evans_trial_case_o.html
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