Paterson man convicted again after appellate court ordered new trial in 2015 murder
Charles Grant, 38, of Paterson, was once again convicted on murder and weapons charges related to the fatal shooting of Isaac Tucker in 2015, after an appellate court overturned his prior conviction earlier this year and referred the matter back to Superior Court for a new trial.
The new jury on Tuesday returned its verdict after deliberating for less than two days, having been shown surveillance footage of the shooting and events that led up to the fatal attack, the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office announced.
But it was a snafu relevant to that very same surveillance footage that led Grant's 2018 conviction to be overturned by appellate judges in February. During the initial trial against Grant, jurors were shown unedited video of the defendant's April 2015 interrogation, in which Detective James Maldonado repeatedly said he was "100 percent" sure Grant was the killer and that surveillance footage from the area clearly showed Grant was carrying a gun before the slaying, according to prior reports from The Record/NorthJersey.com
On appeal, the court agreed that such accusations were beyond Maldonado's knowledge at the time and should have been left to the jury to decide after viewing the surveillance footage themselves.
Also at issue with Grant's 2018 trial was Maldonado's insistence that Tucker was gunned down by Grant in retaliation for a previous killing, rumored to be Tucker's doing, an accusation that Grant denied vehemently and appellate judges agreed should not have been presented to jurors.
Moreover, the victim's own son, Izair Tucker, insisted his father was an upstanding citizen who was using money from an insurance settlement to open a restaurant in the neighborhood where he lived and was ultimately killed.
"He didn't have a beef with anybody," Izair previously said. "No gang-banging. None of that."
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Grant's sentencing exposure is 30 years on the first-degree murder conviction and five to 10 years for weapons possession, prosecutors said. His sentencing date has not been scheduled.
In the early morning hours of Feb. 23, 2015, Paterson police found Tucker shot to death in the 4th Ward, on East 16th Street, 10 blocks from his home. Tucker had been shot at close range in his chest, back and face, police said at the time. Evidence derived from the initial trial showed that Grant shot Tucker as the two walked away from the Alto Rango Liquor Store on 12th Avenue, according to prior reports.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson man convicted in 2015 killing for second time after new trial
