The stabbing allegedly happened outside the suspect's home in Washington.
Daniel Lawrence is said to have known the man he is accused of fatally stabbing two and a half years ago in Washington.
The 29-year-old, who has been imprisoned since the deadly encounter in 2014, will stand trial starting Monday at state Superior Court in Belvidere. He is charged with first-degree murder and weapons offenses.
Some background on the case as jury selection begins:
THE ALLEGATIONS
Daniel J. Lawrence is charged in the Sept. 2, 2014, stabbing death in Washington. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) Lawrence was 26 on Sept. 2, 2014, when authorities allege he got into an argument with 30-year-old Warren Moore, whose last known address was in Jersey City. Later that day, they say, Lawrence stabbed Moore with a 3-inch folding knife.
Warren Moore, 30, of Jersey City, is seen in an undated photo. He was stabbed to death Sept. 2, 2014, in Washington. (NJ Advance Media file photo) Moore was found in a pool of blood about 6:15 p.m. in the front yard at 276 E. Washington St., and pronounced dead at the hospital. Lawrence was detained at the scene as a person of interest before charges were filed.
In a sworn statement to police, Lawrence's girlfriend Melissa Woody said she had seen Lawrence and Moore arguing on the front porch before Lawrence began punching Moore in the ribs while Moore tried to shield himself. She returned outside a short while later to see Moore lying on the ground in a pool of blood, the statement said.
Authorities said Lawrence lived periodically at the home with Woody and was familiar with the victim. Washington Township police also apparently knew the residents and had responded in the past for both drug and domestic-related incidents.
PRIOR PROCEEDINGS
Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke, flanked by Washington Township police chief at the time James McDonald, speaks during a press conference Sept. 3, 2014, about the fatal stabbing in Washington a day earlier. (Sue Beyer | lehighvalleylive.com file photo) Lawrence was indicted in February 2015. Since then, procedural issues -- including a change in defense attorneys -- have slowed the move to trial.
One example: In 2015, the defense wanted to examine Woody's statements in a search for potential bias. The attorney at the time said Woody also had a dating relationship with Moore and that she gave conflicting statements to police -- her earlier account, it was argued, indicated Moore was left on her doorstep "all stabbed up" but did not indicate Lawrence was the culprit.
That same year, Lawrence was offered a 28-year sentence in exchange for a guilty on a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter which was declined, Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke said.
THE TRIAL
Jury selection will begin Monday at the Warren County Court House in Belvidere. (Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com) Jury selection, which can take a couple days, is to begin Monday following one more procedural hearing.
Testimony is expected to last a couple of weeks. The trial will go three or four days a week, a normal schedule for the Warren County court.
Warren County Assistant Prosecutor Victor Jusino will present the state's case. Lawrence is defended by Somerset County attorney Edward Hesketh.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
- The stabbing was Washington's second homicide of 2014. The previous May, Ralph Atkinson allegedly killed his girlfriend, 45-year-old Margaret Graf-White, in her West Stewart Street home. It is being determined if he is competent to stand trial.
- This will be Warren County's first homicide trial since 2015. The last was for Andy Torres, one of four people accused in a deadly 2012 holdup at a Phillipsburg gas station. Torres was acquitted of first-degree murder but convicted of felony murder -- a charge levied when someone dies in the commission of another crime -- and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
- More local homicide cases are pending this year. A May 15 trial is planned for Salim Newton, accused in the September 2013 shooting death of 22-year-old Melissa Williams, the mother of his child, in her Phillipsburg home. A trial for Zachary Flowers, an alleged accomplice of Torres in the 2012 Phillipsburg robbery, may be scheduled in a hearing planned for Friday.
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.