Trial of 1st suspect in NJ schoolyard murders revisits tragedy that changed a city

Triple-death trial revisits Newark’s turning point

NEWARK, N.J. — The bodies of the three friends were found slumped near a playground wall, each killed by a shot to the head. Nearby, a fourth lay clinging to life after being shot and stabbed.

The barbarity of the August 2007 killings — a machete was believed used in the attack, and at least one victim was sexually assaulted — jolted a city already familiar with the human wreckage produced by the toxic mix of drugs, gangs and firearms. A series of anti-crime reforms followed that have been credited with reducing Newark’s violent crime rate.

The events of that night will be relived in detail over the next several weeks when the first of six defendants stands trial on three counts of murder. Jury selection in New Jersey vs. Rodolfo Godinez is scheduled to begin Friday, with the trial expected to begin late next week.

“I would call it a breaking point, where suddenly from around the city as well as outside the city people were saying, ‘We’ve got to do more,’” Mayor Cory Booker said this week. “So suddenly we had more hands on deck, more people volunteering, willing to organize for the safety of our community.”

The victims all lived in Newark but were students at Delaware State University; they had managed to avoid the lure of Newark’s notoriously mean streets and were simply hanging out on a hot summer night at the Mount Vernon School playground.

One of the enduring mysteries of the case has been why such a seemingly benign group of youths was targeted. As the case goes to trial, the city stands to learn more about what exactly happened.

Prosecutors appear to be laying the groundwork for a theory that the killings were part of a gang initiation, not a robbery gone awry, as initially thought. Among the details revealed at a pretrial hearing this week were the contents of text messages between two of the victims just before the attack:

“Itst2go.” (It’s time to go.)

The response, 30 seconds later: “4Y?” (For why?)

The time was 11:30 p.m. Minutes later, the 911 call came in reporting shots fired.

Killed were Terrance Aeriel, 18, and Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, both 20. The fourth victim, who survived and is expected to testify at Godinez’s trial, is not being identified by The Associated Press because of sexual assault charges against two other defendants.

Newark was a booming industrial city at mid-century but took a downturn after its famous race riots of the 1960s, and continued its decline for years. By the end of 2006, murders were at 107 that year, up 50 percent from the late 1990s.

The situation grew so dire that Newark’s teachers’ union posted billboards around the city that screamed: “HELP WANTED: Stop the Killings in Newark Now!”

The schoolyard killings appeared to signal a turning point, encapsulated on an emotionally wrenching day of funerals for the three victims, when Booker pounded a podium at Newark’s Metropolitan Baptist Church and shouted, “Enough is enough!”

Some changes were swift. Within three weeks, the state’s attorney general gave New Jersey police the authority to refer violent crime suspects’ names to immigration authorities if they were suspected of being in the country illegally — a response to the fact that one of the six schoolyard killings suspects was free on bail for other crimes despite being an illegal immigrant.

The publicity surrounding the killings jump-started an effort to buy and install surveillance cameras and a gunshot-detection system in the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods. Other changes followed, including the instituting of penalties for gun owners who fail to report lost or stolen weapons, and a first-of-its-kind agreement to allow all New Jersey municipalities access to a federal gun-tracing database.

By the end of 2008, Newark’s murder rate had dropped by nearly 40 percent, though it rose last year from 68 to 79. Shootings have decreased substantially, as well.

“I was inspired by the way our city didn’t let that terrible act break us apart,” Booker said, “but instead brought us together.”