COP'S SON IN ROB RAP
Dad is in courtroom to show support for 22-year-old already facing a murder trial

Nov.14, 2006 - By MICHAELANGELO CONTE - JERSEY JOURNAL

The son of a Jersey City police officer, already out on bail for murder charges, made his first court appearance yesterday on new charges, two days after allegedly robbing a corner store in Greenville, officials said.

Police Detective Benjamin Wilson Jr. was in court as his son appeared on video link from the Hudson County jail. The detective made hand gestures apparently conveying support to his son, Benjamin Wilson III.

At the time of his arrest Saturday, Benjamin Wilson III, 22, was out on a $220,000 bail after being indicted on charges of murder, aggravated arson and weapons offenses related to the Oct. 23, 2005, shooting death of Emerson Scott, 23, of Jersey City, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

Authorities believe Wilson III shot Scott in the head, then set the building on fire in an attempt to cover it up.

"Because you have another case before Judge Kenny, you will now be held with no bail," Central Judicial Processing Judge Richard Nieto ruled yesterday, referring to Hudson County Superior Court Judge Camille Kenny.

It is likely Wilson III's bail status will be considered by Kenny today.

Officers responding to the robbery at the New Minimarket, at 2125 Kennedy Blvd., only a few blocks from the South District Police Station, got there in time to see Wilson III, and Marcus Pettiford, 21, of Garfield Avenue, leaving the area, officials said.

Officers followed them to a Grant Avenue building, where the two men, apparently spotting the cops tailing them, ran inside, reports said.

Police chased them into an apartment, where they found the two men, as well as Eric Sessoms, 18, of Clinton Avenue, and Najee Ford, 18, of Ocean Avenue, officials said. Police also found 77 vials of suspected cocaine, a stash of guns and proceeds from the store robbery, officials said. All four men were arrested.

DeFazio said Wilson III and Pettiford appear to be too young to match the description of the man who killed a Heights bodega owner recently, but he said his office will run ballistics tests on the guns found in the Grant Avenue apartment.

Investigators believe Wilson III held the 9 mm handgun during Saturday's robbery, said Police Director Sam Jefferson said. The apartment where the four men were arrested was the residence of a friend of Ford, Jefferson said.

Nieto yesterday set Pettiford's bail at $150,000, Ford's at $25,000 and Sessoms' at $15,000.

Wilson's murder trial was to begin during the first week of December, but the new charges may delay that, authorities said.