The man accused in a fatal shooting after a dispute over a loose dog in Gloucester County will remain behind bars while he awaits trial, a judge ruled.
Zachary A. Lahneman was looking for a fight and has offered shifting accounts of what happened, according to the prosecution, while his defense attorney argued that her client’s history of head injuries could be a factor in the case.
Lahneman, 26, is charged with murder in the Nov. 16 killing of Victor Marrero Jr., 39, in the parking lot of the Birches apartment complex in Washington Township.
Lahneman was armed with a handgun when he exited the apartment where he lived with his father and grandfather, and confronted Marrero over his German shepherd, Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Brook said during a Tuesday hearing in Superior Court.
Marrero and his family live next door to the complex and the dog had gotten loose that morning, according to the victim’s family, who said he had gone to retrieve the pet.
A witness at a golf course adjoining the apartment complex told investigators that a verbal argument, with Lahneman yelling at Marrero, soon turned physical with the pair shoving each other. Marrero was backing away when the witness heard two gunshots, Brook said.
Marrero died in the parking lot.
Police found Lahneman at the complex. He had a folding knife and brass knuckles in his possession, Brook said, adding that the alleged murder weapon was found in the man’s apartment.
In video recorded interviews with investigators, Lahneman offered changing scenarios of what happened, according to Brook. He initially claimed Marrero punched him in the face and that he blacked out and didn’t recall what happened afterward, Brook said. He later said that Marrero went after his gun and that he had to defend himself, Brook said.
“So he either has no memory or quite a bit of a memory, but all of this seems, at least what he is verbalizing, terribly inaccurate,” Brook said. “Mr. Marrero was shot in the back and we have the witness saying Mr. Marrero was backing away from the argument before the shots rang out.”
The police station recordings, both of Lahneman in the company of investigators and while alone, show him reciting versions of what happened, the prosecutor added.
Assistant Deputy Public Defender Katherine Constantine Blinn argued that the full picture of what played out between the men that day isn’t entirely clear yet, noting that the witness was 75 to 80 yards away.
While Brook said the physical violence amounted to shoving, Blinn stated that Marrero assaulted Lahneman and that the defendant had documented injuries to his face. Blinn added that she was not suggesting this was a justification for the shooting.
“Exactly how this devolved from that physical confrontation into a shooting, I think, judge, remains to be seen,” the attorney told Superior Court Judge Linda Lawhun.
A key factor in the case could be Lahneman’s cognitive abilities because of his “history of head injuries,” Blinn said, including a recent incident in which he was “severely assaulted.”
While Lahneman was born in New Jersey, he grew up in Maine and only moved back to the Garden State in the last few years, Blinn said. He has a very supportive family and arrangements could be made for him to stay with them if released, she said.
In arguing that Lahneman posed a risk to the public if released, Brook argued that the man took it upon himself to leave his apartment with a gun to start an argument and that he wouldn’t stop yelling at Marrero.
“It does not take long for that person to end up dead,” Brook said. Even if Marrero had punched the defendant, “he is not entitled to shoot someone in response,” the prosecutor said. “That is murder.”
Brook also stated that Lahneman acknowledged getting into fights at work and described the defendant as a “quarrelsome young man who was looking for an opportunity to use his firearm to defend himself.”
Brook also pointed to the recordings of Lahneman’s time in police custody as evidence that he is a flight risk.
“He no less than 20 times yells that he is getting out of this state and going back to Maine as soon as possible,” the prosecutor recounts. “He has a settled intent to leave New Jersey. He doesn’t like New Jersey, he doesn’t like New Jersey’s rules about guns … he wants to go back to Maine. He says it over and over and over again.”
To bolster his point that Lahneman has nothing keeping him here, Brook noted that his mother still lives in Maine, said the man sleeps on the floor of the New Jersey apartment where he resides and “speaks about his grandfather, who has the apartment, with absolute disdain.”
On the issue of Lahneman leaving the state, Blinn responded that the intention, if Lahneman was released by the judge, would be for him to stay with his mother in Maine, which would provide a stable setting while he awaits trial.
After reviewing the matter, Lawhun found there was no way to ensure the public’s safety if Lahneman was released, so the judge ordered him held pending trial.
He is scheduled to return to court Jan. 12 for a pre-indictment hearing.
At the time of his death, Marrero and his partner, Sherry Beatty, were preparing to move to California with their three kids to open a restaurant and start a new life, Beatty said last month.
She remembered Marrero as “an intense, loving father” who was devoted to his family.
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Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com.
Accused killer jailed pending trial in shooting over loose dog - NJ.com
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