Print
Category: Top News
Hits: 4970

WOODBURY — Daron Trent, 30, of Hamilton, described as a known gang member and accused of murdering a 25-year-old Paulsboro man, was on Friday denied in his request to be released from jail and placed on home electronic detention while undergoing surgery and rehabilitation.

Trent’s lawyer, Frank Trosky, did not specify the nature of Trent’s “substantial medical condition,” but said Gloucester County’s top correctional official agreed his treatment could not be addressed with Trent in jail. Therefore, Trosky said, he was asking for a modification in his client’s $750,000 bail.

Trent is charged with fatally shooting Jamaal Barker in Paulsboro on Nov. 30, 2011 with an automatic weapon that left “many spent (bullet) casings)” on West Washington Street in Paulsboro, First Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Mary Pyffer said at a prior bail hearing for Trent.  

Pyffer described Trent as a “known gang member” with multiple aliases, two Social Security numbers and past convictions.  He was arrested on the Barker homicide Dec. 13, 2011 while in the Mercer County jail on unrelated contempt and assault charges.

In addition to surgery, Trent would require four to six weeks of “intensive” rehabilitation, said Trosky,  whose client was not in court because of his medical condition, his lawyer added.

Pyffer said her office normally would accommodate county corrections on medical issues, but cannot in this instance because of the seriousness of the charges and the length of time the defendant faces as a sentence if convicted. Trent’s release presents “an extreme likelihood of flight,” Pyffer said.

Superior Court Judge M. Christine Allen-Jackson  denied the request for home detention, citing Trent’s criminal record, including a detainer on charges in Mercer County,