Marcel Steele via Salem County Corrections

22-year-old Marcel Steele, the owner of a New Jersey home recording studio, is being charged in the killing of an aspiring rapper – but he claims it was self-defense. The incident occurred at the home where Steele lives with his mother, 41-year-old Shasta Steele. Marcel also runs a music studio in a room of the house. On November 28, Jodeci Robinson, also 22 years old, had come to Steele’s home for a recording session with his friend Saliim Bey. As it turned out, Bey, age 26, is now a witness to Robinson’s death.

Everything went as planned until it was time for Robinson to pay up: Allegedly, he owed Steele money for both that session and a prior one. Robinson didn’t have the money on hand, so all three young men went to a nearby Wawa to use the ATM before returning to Steele’s house. According to the prosecutor, Steele then asked Robinson for the money a second time. When Robinson told Steele to “chill,” Steele drew his blue and purple SCCY 9mm, pointed it at Robinson, and started shooting.

According to the prosecution, Robinson began screaming “Stop, stop, stop!” as he and Bey ran for the door. By the time responding officers arrived, they found Robinson dead on the Steele family’s front lawn.

Allegedly, neither Steele nor his mother called 9-1-1 during this incident, and Ms. Steele has also been accused of removing evidence from the scene of the shooting. According to witnesses, she was seen placing a black plastic bag into an SUV parked in the driveway and moving the SUV down the street. A search of the SUV yielded a bag containing marijuana and $2,000 in cash. More marijuana was found in the backyard. The SCCY pistol was found on the roof of the house, and two other handguns were found inside.

“Neither one stopped, made a 911 call, administered any help, asked for help, instead they were running around the house and the property for what it appears was getting rid of evidence,” says Assistant Prosecutor Jacqueline Caban.

On top of all that, Steele already had a record of drug and assault convictions and was on pre-trial monitoring for a simple assault charge at the time of the shooting.

It’s certainly not a clear-cut case, but Steele’s attorney, James Leonard, thinks the evidence will prove it was self-defense. According to him, Steele wasn’t the only one firing shots in the home that night.

“We are optimistic that when the investigation in this case is completed, the state will agree that Mr. Steele was the victim of a robbery perpetrated by the decedent and Mr. Bey, and that Mr. Steele acted in his own self-defense and in the defense of his mother, who was present in the home during the robbery,” said Leonard.

43 COMMENTS

        • Drug deal gone bad? This reminds me of a case we had last November.
          >guy goes along with friends to other guy’s house hoping to score some weed and stuff
          >one of the friends decides to rob the drug dealer
          >”friend” hides in bathroom for 30 minutes doing god-knows-what
          >comes out with his Cobra/Lorcin/Phoenix drawn
          >our guy says “screw this” and bolts for the door
          >”friend” shoots him in the ass
          >drug dealers run the “friend” out of the house
          >tosses his gun in storm drain
          >20-30 minutes pass and cops show up
          >house is now neat and tidy with no drugs or guns or anything
          >they pick up our guy and his “friend” separately
          >prosecutor wants to give our guy 6 years for being an accessory to assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery
          >he’s the one who got SHOT IN THE ASS

    • SCCY has some interesting clauses in their warranty. For example-

      The company will also provide a new pistol for anyone who has a SCCY pistol taken as evidence in a justifiable use of force in self-defense.

      Any word on if the shooter was a prohibited person? His behavior kinda suggests he might be in trouble if the cops find him in possession of a firearm.

  1. Well, there better be some other bullet holes in the opposite direction that Steele was shooting, or he is going DOWN.

    • Equally believable is a ‘home producer’ being the attacker when he doesn’t get paid.

      Ultimately, if he was attacked, he sure did everything he could to sink his own defense by covering up all sorts of evidence.

  2. He was good boy, turning his life around, just got in with the wrong crowd, spreading the good news about Jesus….

    Did I miss any?

    • Dropped the kid at 19, a late starter it seems. But she knows the first thing you do is get the drugs and money out of the house after someone gets plugged on the front lawn.

  3. Jersey???? Isn’t this the same place that’s gonna conduct door to door searches for mags holding more than 10 rounds???? How could rappers do shooting eachother????

  4. If Mr. Steele has drug and assault convictions what is he doing with guns in the house! Not only guns but guns and marijuana together! And in New Jersey where the gun licence requirement are extreme! Is he also being charged with these other offences? The pubic would like to know!

    • Steele “was on pre-trial monitoring for a simple assault charge at the time of the shooting.” I guess that pre-trial monitoring isn’t a big deterrent either?

  5. The self-defense claim might’ve held more water if they didn’t hide evidence. I’m sure a murder conviction is a lot sterner than a drug and illegal firearm charge. Combined.

    Then again… this is New Jersey; Steele and his mother are SOL if the police discovered hollow points/10+ magazines on the premises.

  6. Even if he didn’t get paid, his lawyer bills for a justifiable self defense case would exceed what he was owed.

  7. This is why Black Guns Matter was created.The white Liberals are the ones who are in the leadership in preventing law abiding blacks from learning about their gun rights.

  8. If they can prove sales of marijuana, this could be use of a gun in a felony. I don’t think this looks good for any of the survivors.

  9. Sounds like gang banger shot gang banger in a dispute over cash, with drugs possibly involved. Not particularly newsworthy, same sort of situation happens every day across the country.

  10. Looks like he was a prohibited person. How is it even possible for him to possess a gun if he is?

    NJ needs to put additional restrictions on home recording studios, clearly bad things happen in them and this cannot be allowed. if only the studio never existed on a street full of children Mr. Robinson would not have been there to get killed,

    • Important question!! Who is now going to receive all the profits from Robinson’s two recording sessions? This could run into the tens of millions, right?

  11. wow. mother helps her murderer son hide drugs. wow. yep damn white people are so the problem in black peoples lives.

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