Homicide suspect pleads not guilty

The man police are accusing of shooting Ibn Futrell to death on Montclair's Mission Street back in February pleaded not guilty this morning to charges of murder and illegal gun possession.

STAFF PHOTO BY GEORGE WIRT

Public Defender Sterling Kinsale, left, enters a not-guilty plea on behalf of Harold Abnathya, of Bloomfield, who was arraigned this morning in state Superior Court in Newark. He is charged with murder in connection with the killing of Bloomfield resident Ibn Futrell on Feb. 7.

Appearing bored and indifferent, defendant Harold Abnathya, 27, of Bloomfield, was arraigned before state Superior Court Judge Peter Vazquez in Newark today. The hearing took two minutes, during which the handcuffed defendant, dressed in a prison-issued, faded blue, V-neck T-shirt, stood before Vazquez and answered a series of standard questions about whether he understood the charges against him and his rights.

The stocky, mustachioed suspect at times had his head tilted back and slightly to the left, seemingly irritated by and uninterested in the routine proceedings. Public Defender Sterling Kinsale entered a not-guilty plea on Abnathya's behalf. The judge ruled that bail would be continued at $ 1 million cash or bond.

According to Essex County Assistant Prosecutor William Neafsey, of the Homicide Unit, the suspect took out a handgun and started shooting during "an altercation" on Mission Street outside the Mission Mini Market, near Bloomfield Avenue.

Futrell 29, also of Bloomfield, was at the scene but may not have been involved in the dispute, according to Neafsey, who declined to say what the fight was about since the investigation is ongoing.

Eyewitnesses described the suspect to police and Abnathya fit the description, authorities say. The defendant also came up as a possible suspect during the police investigation, and unspecified evidence has been gathered linking him to the shooting, Neafsey said. Abnathya was in the custody of the Montclair police on drug charges when detectives additionally charged him with the homicide on Wednesday, March 14, Neafsey said.

He did not know the details of the drug case, and said that would be handled by a separate division of the Prosecutor's Office.

The evidence in the homicide case, which the prosecutor could not discuss at this point, will go before a grand jury in four or five months, and the jury will decide whether to indict Abnathya. After that step in the process, it could be as long as a year before the case goes to trial.

Futrell was shot in the back on Mission Street on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at about 9 p.m., as six or seven shots were fired and people fled from the corner of Mission Street and Bloomfield Avenue.

The victim was taken to Mountainside Hospital, where he was pronounced dead roughly an hour later, at 9:57 p.m., according to police.

Contact Dan Prochilo at prochilo@montclairtimes.com.

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