Two men accused of killing rising rap star Chinx appeared in Queens County Criminal Court on Tuesday, Jan. 16 to begin their murder trial, Fox 5 New York reports.
Quincy Homere, 32, and Jamar Hill, 26, were charged with Chinx’s murder in December.
Chinx, whose real name is Lionel Pickens, was shot and killed at age 31 in Queens on May 17, 2015.
Chinx’s widow, Janelli Caceres-Pickens, stood just feet away from the two men as she waited for the hearing to begin. Janellie and Chinx have three children together.
“It gets harder and harder every time just to literally stare someone in the eyes and not be able to say anything,” Janelli told Fox 5. “It’s hard, it’s hard. A lot of emotions run through you.”
Both men have each pleaded not guilty. Homere is reportedly in federal custody on an unrelated charge. Hill is doing state time.
Janellie vowed to Fox 5 she would be present at every court hearing.
“It gets harder and harder every time just to literally stare someone in the eyes and not be able to say anything,” she said. “It’s hard, it’s hard. A lot of emotions run through you.”
Homere and Hill face a five-count indictment on charges of second-degree murder, attempted murder, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced, according to the New York Post.
They both face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
They’re due back in court in February.
Police believe the reasoning behind Chinx’s murder stemmed from a fight that occurred at Rikers Island six years ago, according to XXL Magazine.
Lt. Richard Rudolph, Commanding Officer of the Queens South Homicide Squad told XXL Quincy and Chinx got into a fight in prison.
“We’re not exactly sure what the fight was about but our perpetrator Quincy probably got the worst of it and he wanted to get back at Chinx,” Rudolph tells XXL. Chinx had previously served more than three years in jail on robbery and drug charges from June 2005 to October 2008, but was taken back into custody shortly thereafter due to a parole violation. “When he saw Chinx’s career starting to blow, he took it real personal and figured that his [own] career was going south… It just festered inside of him.”
Rudolph said Quincy and Chinx met years later during a performance at SoundGarden Hall in Philadelphia on April 24, 2015. There, the two had a verbal altercation, and Quincy was subsequently “blacklisted from the other rap stars.”
“Quincy’s steaming since that concert… I think that’s when he started to feel a fire inside of him to take revenge out on Chinx,” he said.
Quincy decided to get his revenge after learning Chinx would be performing at the now-closed Red Wolf Lounge in Brooklyn on May 16, 2015.
Quincy and Jamar followed Chinx after the show to a hookah bar, and continued to tail his Porsche as he drove to Queens Boulevard.
Quincy is accused of firing a 9-mm handgun into Chinx’s car after the rapper stopped at a red light at 84th Drive around 4 a.m. Chinx’s passenger Yemen Cheese was shot twice in the back.
“Jemar Hill, he took part in the whole execution of Chinx… but there is only one shooter, and that is Quincy Homere,” Rudolph told XXL. “They were just waiting for an opportunity. So they both acted in concert to kill this kid.”
“There was nothing about this investigation that was easy,” said Rudolph, who commended Det. Thomas Scalise and Det. Vincent Santangelo for their work on the case. He cites yesterday’s arrest to extensive research, interviews with Chinx’s family and affiliates, cell phone data and link analysis. “We chased literally hundreds of investigated leads and hit a lot of brick walls. But the guys just kept on digging. I take pride in my people, the job that they did, that they never quit, they never gave up when most detectives would’ve walked away from the case.”
Friends and family celebrated what would’ve been Chinx’s 34th birthday on Monday, Dec. 4.
“I’m happy for their family,” Rudolph told XX. “It doesn’t help that Chinx’s baby is without a father and Chinx’s mom is still without a son and Chinx’s wife is still a widow. We can only do what we can do, so I’m happy that they have some closure in this.”
