Witness in murder trial says he lied in police statement State closes arguments in double homicide case; defense begins questioning BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer NEW BRUNSWICK - The state closed its case on April 10, and now the eight-woman, seven-man jury has to weigh inconsistencies in the sworn statements that several key witnesses gave to police in the case against Michael E. Ross II. During testimony, a witness contradicted claims he had made in a sworn police statement, now saying that he lied to police while under severe mental duress. Ross, 25, formerly of Chestnut Avenue in Avenel, was arrested and charged on Sept. 11, 2006, in connection with the deaths of Aleksy Bautin, 26, Forest View Drive, Avenel, and Sergey Barbashov, 21, of Meadowbrook Road, Edison, on Oct. 30, 2003. Both men were found shot to death in the front seat of a red 1999 Vokswagen that was parked across the street from Building 12 of the Forest View apartments. Each man had been shot several times, according to authorities. Jamil McKnight, the only eyewitness to the shootings, told the jury in Superior Court that he helped Ross dispose of the 9 mm Taurus handgun in a hole in the dirt hills behind his Morrissey Avenue home after the shootings. However, McKnight, who has a genetic vision problem, said that at around 4:30 a.m. the next morning, on Oct. 31, 2003, he went back into the dirt hills to retrieve the gun, which he said was owned by Ross. "I did not feel comfortable with the gun [in the dirt hills]," he said. McKnight said that on the night of the murders, he, Ross, Sherrill Williams and Ronald Huff were in his vehicle, heading toward Building 12 of the Forest View apartments to meet with another friend. "When we made the left onto Yardley Avenue, Mike Ross got very excited," he said. McKnight said he observed a burgundy vehicle. He said the significance of the vehicle was that it was similar to the vehicle involved in a car accident between their group of friends - McKnight, Ross, Williams, Greg Wakefield and others - and two men named "Mitch" and "B" on Rahway Avenue in Avenel. During the incident, Mitch allegedly pulled a gun on Ross. Through testimony, the jury learned that Mitch has a 1988 red Jetta Volkswagen, and the defense has stressed that Ross has seen Mitch's 1988 red Jetta numerous times. "When we saw the vehicle, Ross said, 'Yo, that's them. Yo, that's them … let's go back to the crib [house] to get the ratchet [gun],' " McKnight said. McKnight testified that no one said anything as they were heading to his (McKnight's) home, where the gun was under his bed. "I only saw the gun twice when Mike Ross left it at my house a week before the shootings," he said. "Boo [Williams] followed me into the house and into my bedroom where he stayed. I went back outside, Ron Huff had left, and Mike Ross was in the driver's seat of my car when I handed the gun to him." McKnight said nothing was said on their way back to the Forest View apartments. "Ross pulled the slide back of the gun as he was driving," he said. "I could see the burgundy car with the light inside on." McKnight said Ross pointed the gun outside the car and started shooting. "We were 3 feet away from the vehicle," he said. "It sounded like bang … bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. I heard between eight to 11 shots. They were very loud and lasted a couple seconds, and then Ross sped off." McKnight said Ross searched for [gun] shells in his vehicle and threw them in the forest across the street from his house. Police never recovered the gun used in the shootings. The two headed over to their friend Greg Wakefield's house on Chestnut Avenue for approximately 10 minutes before they parted ways. McKnight brought the gun to work the next day [Oct. 31] and asked a friend from Jamaica, Queens, N.Y., to help him dispose of the gun. Sherrill Williams was at the friend's house in Queens when McKnight brought the gun to the house. McKnight did not tell Ross that he had disposed of the gun right away. He said that after 2003, he and Ross did not discuss what had happened on the night of Oct. 30, 2003. McKnight received pretrial intervention for his three truthful sworn statements with police, which he understood would erase his criminal record. McKnight also testified that he did not tell police until 2007 that his close friend Sherrill Williams was with him and Ross before the shootings. "We knew each other really well, we grew up together, he knew where I lived. I was worried he would get revenge," McKnight said. John Koufos, defense attorney for Ross, asked McKnight if he was really hiding Williams from police because Williams was in fact the shooter. McKnight said it was just himself and Ross at the crime scene. Koufos asked McKnight why Sherrill Williams, in a sworn statement with police, said the 9 mm Taurus was McKnight's gun and that it had been under his bed for eight months. "I don't know," answered McKnight, who added that he and Williams are not friends anymore. Greg Wakefield, who said he considers Ross a good friend, testified that he lied in his two sworn statements with police because of the (mental) torture he received during hours of interrogation with police. He told police on March 31, 2008, right before the trial began, that he had lied in his sworn statements. In his sworn statements, Wakefield said that on the night of the murders, Ross told him he was just "popping off" in Forest View, which he said he understood as shooting. Wakefield, who took Ross' words as a joke at first, said Ross intended to shoot Mitch. "Ross said, 'I shot the wrong people. I thought I had Mitch and B, but I read in the newspaper that it was two white people,' " Wakefield said as he read his statement. Wakefield also told police in his sworn statement that Ross had asked him for a favor, which involved searching for [gun] shells to make sure that Ross didn't leave any behind. Wakefield had told police that he said no. In the sworn statement, Wakefield was asked to describe Ross' demeanor the night of the murders. "He was jumpy … he appeared to have a lot of adrenaline," Wakefield said as he read his statement. Assistant Prosecutor Julie Davidson asked Wakefield if he said in his sworn statement that Ross had "like a devilish look, like a cold, cold look." "Yes," Wakefield answered reluctantly. Wakefield, in his sworn statements, also said that Ross had said about two and a half months after the shooting that he regretted shooting the two Russian men. "He knew he had gotten the wrong people, because he read it in the newspaper … he was afraid of karma, because he thought someone was going to kill him," said Wakefield in his sworn statement. Wakefield continuously denied all the statements that he had made to police, and said the truth was that he was at his house drunk the night of the murders. The defense informed the jury that Wakefield had criminal charges hanging over his head when he provided his sworn statements to police, and that when he recanted his statements on March 31, 2008, he had no charges against him. Sgt. Marc Clements of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office testified that he and Woodbridge Detective Christopher Lyons did not (mentally) torture Wakefield. "He was free to leave anytime he wanted," said Clements. "He came with us voluntarily to make a statement." Clements said as police were investigating the double homicide, they came across a lot of reluctant witnesses, because some were either scared to come forward, were friends of Ross, or had feeling for Ross. Clements said police sometimes had to be aggressive, persistent, and ask the tough questions because they were investigating a double homicide. "At first, we had thought Wakefield was involved in some way with the crime, but after he gave his statements, we learned that he was not involved," Clements said. Clements said that in Wakefield's first sworn statement he gave to police, he was upset and was crying occasionally. "We believe that this was the case because he was implicating his good friend with the murders," he said. The defense began their case on Tuesday.