Ex-con parolee gets re-arrested, detained for ‘brutal crime’
TRENTON >> An ex-prisoner who was previously released on parole and subjected to electronic monitoring is back behind bars after being re-arrested and charged with another violent offense.
Trenton man Andrew Anderson, 25, who was most recently busted as an alleged accomplice to attempted murder, has been placed on pretrial detention without bail by a judge who suggested it would have been too dangerous to release the defendant.
“To release him would be to endanger any person or the community, and I’m not going to do that,” Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw said of Anderson at a detention hearing on Tuesday.
The attempted murder charge stems from a shooting in Trenton on the 200 block of Spring Street earlier this month that left a 16-year-old boy injured with multiple gunshot wounds.
“This is a brutal crime; there is no way around that,” Warshaw said, adding it is “easy to imagine” circumstances where the victim could have died from his injuries.
Anderson picked up an assault by auto charge on Nov. 19, 2016, while out on parole for previous criminal activity. Warshaw could have released Anderson on the condition of being placed on continued electronic monitoring and home detention, but the judge said, “There’s already a bracelet on him and that has not worked.”
Anderson served time in state prison from Sept. 15, 2011, to July 24, 2015, for selling drugs, possessing a prohibited weapon and committing second-degree aggravated assault in the years 2010 and 2011, according to the New Jersey Department of Corrections and court records.
A Trenton Police spokesman originally said Anderson was charged with complicity to attempted murder in connection with a March 7 shooting, but court records list the offense date as March 10. Police arrested Anderson following the incident and charged him with unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and criminal attempt homicide attempted murder.
Anderson at Tuesday’s detention hearing was represented by defense attorney Andrew Ferencevych, who unsuccessfully argued for his client to be released on the condition he continue to be monitored on parole with an ankle bracelet.
With the judge signing the detention order, Anderson is currently being detained indefinitely at the Mercer County Correction Center pending final resolution of his attempted murder case, which could drag on for months before it is resolved with an acquittal, conviction, plea deal or dismissal of all charges.
Anderson has the right to challenge the detention order with a timely appeal to the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division.