Jury in Nucera hate crime trial is still, still deliberating
CAMDEN >> A jury weighing the future of former Bordentown Police chief Frank Nucera revealed it’s split on three criminal counts in the hate-crime trial but still hadn’t returned a verdict Tuesday following more than 30 hours of deliberations.
The 12-member jury, consisting of nine white members and three African Americans, did not reveal which count it arrived at a decision on when it passed a note to U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kugler around 3 p.m. Tuesday.
The note, read aloud in the courtroom, asked what the jury was supposed to do if was unanimous on one count but deadlocked on two remaining counts.
Nucera, 62, is accused of slamming a handcuffed black suspect’s head into a metal door jamb at a township hotel in September 2016. Charged with hatecrime assault, deprivation of civil rights and lying to the FBI, Nucera faces up to 20 years in prison, a steep fine and the loss of his sixfigure pension if convicted.
Kugler brought jurors into the courtroom and said they could return the partial verdict if they chose and return to the deliberations room to see if they could reach a decision on the remaining counts. If the panel didn’t believe further deliberations would result in a verdict, it could choose not to continue deliberating.
The judge also gave jurors the option of coming to a decision on all the counts before returning their verdict. The judge instructed the jury any verdict it returned couldn’t be rescinded.
Kugler dismissed the jurors back into the deliberations room and told attorneys “not to wander too far away” believing the jury’s decision was imminent.
He admitted he had been wrong before, and, it turns out, he was wrong again as the jury returned about an hour later and asked for the transcript of Lt. Shawn Mount’s testimony.
Later, in continuing to pour over the finer details of the case, the panel asked for the transcript of FBI special agent Vernon Addison’s testimony, and then decided to call it quits for the day right before 5:30 p.m.
Addison was one of the lead investigators in the hate-crime case and interviewed Nucera at a restaurant at the Petro truck stop Dec. 22.
The defense elicited testimony from Addison about a witness who saw someone else slam Stroye’s head into the first-floor doorway and the patrol cruiser door.
The person was said to have a military-style haircut and beard, which the defense pointed out was different from Nucera’s appearance. Mount was involved with a fight with Timothy Stroye. He described it, alternately, as the fight of his life and a “dance,” which the defense scoffed at. Mount told the FBI he thought about pulling out his piece on the teen.
He testified that, at no pointing during their struggle, did the teen hit his head against the wall.
Mount aggravated an existing back injury during he scuffle and didn’t see anything that happened once Stroye was handcuffed and led away by other officers. He remained on the second floor with Nucera and was later taken by ambulance to the hospital.
Sgt. Nathan Roohr, the government’s star witness, said he saw the attack on Stroye, near a doorway leading into a stairwell at the Ramada Inn on Sept. 1, 2016. He taped Nucera making hateful and racist comments about Stroye and other minorities within hours of the alleged attack. The 81 recordings are central to prosecutors’ hatecrime case against the expolice chief.
Prosecutors must convince jurors Nucera hit the teen and did so because he is black.
Detective Sgt. Sal Guido also implicated Nucera with striking the Trenton teen but described it as more of a push and refused to say it constituted excessive force. He repeatedly said the chief’s actions were “uncalled for” and “embarrassing.”
Defense attorney Rocco Cipparone Jr. urged jurors to discount testimony from the two allegedly disgruntled cops saying they wanted Nucera out because he was a tough boss who employed cutthroat managerial tactics.
The jury indicated Monday morning it was deadlocked. But after the judge instructed them to continue deliberations to see if they could reach a verdict, the panel returned hours later and asked for transcripts of testimony of Bordentown cop Anthony Nagle and police chief Brian Pesce. Pesce succeeded Nucera as chief when he retired in January 2017 amid the FBI probe.
The jury, over the course of deliberations, has also asked for transcripts of testimony from Roohr, Guido and hotel manager Terri Cowen.
Nucera made more than $151,000 a year as police chief and another $20,000 to split township administrator duties with former municipal clerk Colleen Eckert and retired chief financial officer David Kocian.
Nucera did not take the stand in the trial but denied going “hands on” Stroye during a secretly recorded interview with the feds. The FBI said he lied.
Stroye, who has a lengthy rap sheet, did not testify at the trial.