3 Guilty In NJ Killing Aimed At Silencing Witness
Three New Jersey men have been convicted of orchestrating a killing in an attempt to silence a witness in a gang-related killing.
An Ocean County jury on Wednesday convicted Lee Reeves, James Russell and Jamell Scott — all of Lakewood — of murder in the October 2008 death of Athelma Vazquez.
Vazquez was gunned down in her Lakewood apartment hours before Russell, Scott and a third man were to stand trial for a gang-related slaying in a Lakewood barbershop.
A fourth defendant, Trishawn Cochran of Lakewood, was cleared in the death but was convicted of witness tampering.
Prosecutors believe Vazquez was an innocent bystander and the intended target was her daughter’s boyfriend, Christian Granados, a key prosecution witness in the barbershop trial.
Granados testified, and the defendants were convicted.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
