Accused accomplice ready to testify against ex-boyfriend in Englewood murder trial
EXCLUSIVE: Prosecutors who already had the brother of a man on trial for murdering the Brooklyn rapper Kampane in Englewood testifying against him picked up another key witness today: the defendant’s ex-girlfriend.
Natuchka Etienne told Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian in Hackensack today that she’s prepared to testify against Randy Manning, whose trial began Tuesday.
In return, accomplice charges that were originally brought against Etienne will be dropped as long as she follows the requirements of the Pre-Trial Intervention Program, including regular phone monitoring, for a year or less. She also must testify against Manning if called.
Etienne, who lived Manning in Brooklyn around the time of the August 2011 murder, was able to return to her native Florida, Jerejian said.
“Just stay out of trouble,” the judge told her. “You can come back in six months and, if everything’s good, the charges can be dismissed.”
Manning is being tried along with Delroy Clarke, who authorities said helped Manning escape after he dumped the burnt body of Rhian “Kampane” Stout in the victim’s Chevy Tahoe on a Paramus cul-de-sac.
Prosecutors said Clarke also helped Manning destroy evidence.
Prosecutors already have Manning’s brother, Cory, who said he saw his brother emerge with a gun from the rear of a Tryon Avenue house in Englewood where Kampane’s body had been burned on Aug. 15, 2011.
Prosecutors said the Glock was used to kill Stoute. It was never recovered.
Evidence that authorities say they do have includes records of cellphone calls made among Randy Manning, Clarke and Etienne; eyewitness testimony of a Paramus neighbor who said he saw Manning leave Stoute’s car, with his body in it, on Village Square West; a bloody footprint on boxes that were found under Stoute’s body in the Tahoe, and clothing tied to the murder that was recovered from a Brooklyn storm drain.
The sweatshirt matches one that the Paramus witness said he saw the man running from the Tahoe wearing, they said.
Manning, a national of Trinidad and Tobago who used to live on Belmont Street in Englewood before moving to Brooklyn, contends that a confession he gave police was made under duress — including threats that Etienne would be jailed on $2 million bail.
Clarke’s attorney, meanwhile, insists his client had nothing to do with Stoute’s murder — and pointed the finger at Cory Manning.
Prosecutors have yet to disclose a possible motive for the murder. Nor have they described the relationship between Randy Manning and Stoute, who had spent the day before the killing shopping together at malls in Paramus.
No comments:
Post a Comment