Trial set to begin for 1st defendant charged in triple murder in New Jersey schoolyard

Trial set to begin in NJ schoolyard triple slaying

NEWARK, N.J. — The first trial stemming from the shooting deaths of three friends in a Newark schoolyard is set to begin Tuesday afternoon with opening statements.

Rodolfo Godinez (goh-DEE’-nez) is the first of six defendants to go to trial in the 2007 killings of Dashon Harvey, Iofemi (yoh-FEM’-eeh) Hightower and Terrance Aeriel.

A fourth victim survived the attack and is expected to testify.

Prosecutors say the defendants attacked some of the victims with a machete before shooting them execution-style.

The crime brought national attention to Newark’s violence problem and led to numerous measures that have been credited with helping lower the crime rate in New Jersey’s largest city.