Bail reduction refused for man accused in decade-old killing

Joey Johnson faces serious charges is being held on $1.2 million cash-only bail.

FREEHOLD -- A Superior Court judge has refused to reduce bail for a Long Branch man recently charged in a 10-year-old fatal Asbury Park shooting.

Although prosecutors on Friday acknowledged they have only a circumstantial case against Joey Johnson in the 2006 shooting death of Jakeema Kelly, Judge Anthony Mellaci Jr. said there's enough evidence to warrant maintaining his bail at $1.2 million.

"I don't feel a lowering of the bail is appropriate," Mellaci said after the brief court argument on Friday. "These are most serious charges (and) he is facing life in prison if convicted."

Kelly, 21, was found shot to death on Dewitt Avenue in Asbury Park on March 26, 2006.  Police found his body at around 8:30 p.m. on the sidewalk near the entrance to the West Side Community Center's administration building. He was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune where he was later pronounced dead.

Man charged in 2006 shooting death of 21-year-old Asbury Park resident

The case had gone unsolved until detectives charged Johnson on Dec. 1, less than two months after Johnson was paroled on a drug conviction.

In arguing to have his client's cash-only bail reduced, defense attorney Jeff Coughlin questioned the strength of the prosecution's case if it took authorities a decade to charge someone.

He said five people gave statements to law enforcement officials over nine years linking Johnson to the shooting, yet authorities only charged him in December.  And those people, he said, are "long-term frequent visitors to the Monmouth County Courthouse for their own matters," begging the question of whether their information is reliable.

Conceding authorities don't have scientific or forensic evidence linking Johnson to the killing, Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor John Loughrey acknowledged the witnesses "have extensive records," but he said they are "all known associates of Mr. Johnson."

He said detectives only reopened the case last November when they were investigating an unsubstantiated alibi for a potential witness. He said investigators couldn't locate that witness earlier because she was in the hospital under a different name.

And, he said, Johnson was in prison until being paroled last October after serving eight years on several drug charges. That may have been partly why detectives felt no rush to charge him, Loughrey said.

In denying Coughlin's request for a bail reduction, Mellaci said there would be too much of a risk that Johnson wouldn't show up for his trial. He noted that Johnson doesn't have a job, doesn't have strong ties to the community and faces serious charges.