New murder charges filed in slaying of rapper Savy G
TRENTON » Prosecutors scrambled to file new murder charges in the homicide of Ewing rap artist Devon “Savy G” Green on Thursday as new details in the case emerged.
The gunman who killed Green during the early morning hours of Oct. 19 was armed with a rifle-style long weapon. The triggerman and an unarmed accomplice waited for Green to return home before approaching him in the well-planned robbery that quickly devolved into a murder, prosecutors said.
The alleged triggerman in the scheme was Kyree Hill, 18, of Trenton, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. They further allege that Coson Taylor, 19, of Trenton, is the other masked bandit who walked up to Green. The alleged driver of the getaway truck was Damonte Smith, 20, of Ewing, and the alleged lookout man in the planned robbery was Voshon McCray, 20, of Ewing, prosecutors
said.
Green and a good friend of his were smoking marijuana in the carport of Green’s Lanning Street home about 1 a.m. Oct. 19 when two masked bandits sprung up on them and asked, “Where’s the weed at?”
“What you doing coming up on us?” Green said in response, at which point the gunman fired multiple shots and fled the scene, according to statements made in court Thursday.
Green, 23, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene. His friend, who was not injured during the encounter, called 9-1-1 and a responding officer drove past a fleeing white SUV that prosecutors say served as the getaway vehicle for the culprits.
The four defendants were each arrested in recent weeks on heavy charges, but prosecutors in the beginning only levied murder charges against Hill in an apparent attempt to try to coax the other defendants into cooperating in exchange for leniency.
But the prosecution altered its game plan Thursday afternoon to prevent Smith from being released from jail.
Smith was on the verge of being released on house arrest Thursday, but Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor James Scott countered by revealing that the state would take emergent action and hit Smith with new felony murder charges. Prior to that revelation, Smith was only facing robbery charges and weapons offenses.
Clean record
Prosecutors want all four defendants in the case to be jailed without bail on pretrial detention. But Damonte Smith stands out as something of an aberration.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Ronald Susswein on Thursday took one hard look at Smith and said, “I see a person who doesn’t strike me as a hardened criminal.”
Susswein talked about how Smith has no prior criminal history as an adult or juvenile and said the robbery incident that led to Green’s death “appears to be so out of character” for Smith. Police originally charged Smith with firstdegree robbery and weapons offenses, and prosecutors wanted to keep him jailed without bail on pretrial detention, but Susswein suggested the state had failed to meet its burden to justify detention and was ready to set Smith free on strict conditions of pretrial release.
Scott, the assistant prosecutor, responded swiftly by announcing the state would immediately begin filing felony murder charges against Smith. By filing felony murder charges, it will give the state another chance and more leverage to demand the New Jersey Judiciary to keep Smith locked up without bail as his case plays out in court.
Susswein on Thursday technically denied the state’s detention motion and ordered Smith to be released on house arrest, but he effectively kept Smith behind bars by staying his decision. Technicalities aside, Smith would have likely been re-arrested on felony murder charges before a formal discharge could take place at the Mercer County Correction Center, so Susswein denying the initial detention motion was moot from the get-go.
In addition to having no prior criminal history, Smith was also said to be a 2015 Ewing High School graduate and employee of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Bensalem, Pa.
Prosecutors in the case have surveillance video footage that shows a white SUV leaving the area following the Green homicide. The vehicle appears to resemble the white 2008 Ford Edge that Smith is known to drive, prosecutors said, adding they also have witness statements and statements from some of the defendants that implicate Hill, Taylor, Smith and McCray in the robbery that turned into a murder.
Chilling robbery
“This robbery is chilling,” Susswein said Thursday during Taylor’s detention hearing. “This is a robbery that resulted in a death. … There’s a person dead. This is a strong case.”
A defense attorney tried to portray Taylor as a responsible young man who works as a gas station pumper to support his family, but the assistant prosecutor described Taylor as a “substantial risk to the community.”
Earlier this year, Taylor was arrested July 8 in Ewing and charged with unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and possession of marijuana under 50 grams. Prosecutors in that case initially wanted Taylor to be jailed without bail but then changed their minds by withdrawing the detention motion on July 12, according to court records, which show Taylor was released on non-monetary conditions that mandated him to be on the straight and narrow.
Taylor, however, was rearrested Aug. 25 on drug charges in Trenton. Those counts were eventually downgraded to a disorderly persons offense, but then Taylor was re-arrested Nov. 19 in connection with the Ewing robbery that led to Green’s death, court records show.
Susswein reviewed Taylor’s criminal history and easily ordered him to be placed on pretrial detention Thursday, saying there was no condition of release he could impose on Taylor that could protect the safety of the community.
Alleged triggerman Kyree Hill was supposed to have his detention hearing on Thursday, but it was postponed till 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5. Meanwhile, co-defendant Voshon McCray is scheduled to have his detention hearing 9 a.m. Friday.
Rapper dead
Devon Green was a hiphop artist who had generated a large fan base mainly by compiling rhymes about smoking pot. More than a musician, Green was also a graduate of Ewing High School who had shown business savvy potential. Indeed, he was honored in 2012 for a business idea he conceived while just a teen and won $250 for the concept.
“Out of the hundreds of entries received from our region, I am proud that Devon was selected for his Teen Alliance Group business idea,” Joanne Ludwig is quoted as saying in a Ewing Public Schools newsletter. “I am very proud of all of my (International Business Practice Firm) students who submitted entries.”
Green in recent years gained local notoriety as a lyricist. He was a member of a rap collective from Mercer County called Habitat Music and had a prolific following on social media. He was known as General Savy G to hundreds of thousands of people who follow a local Snapchat group.
“He will be missed by many people that he allowed to have a peek into his life,” one of his friends who asked to remain anonymous said hours after news emerged of the rapper’s violent death.