[NJ] Not forgetting Paula Wilson. "Oh what a tangled web" Officer McMillon wove.

...Mercer County corrections officer Leslie McMillon shot and killed Paula Wilson on April 19, 2004 - following an "ongoing domestic dispute between the two individuals." MicMillon, who comes from a family of corrections officers, is currently doing 18 years in prison.

..."This crime I committed, I’m very sorry. I wish it never happened... It wasn’t me. I just snapped. I just lost it and I’m very sorry for it"...

--Leslie McMillon

Oh what a tangled web we weave,

When first we practice to deceive!

-- Sir Walter Scott

PRISON GUARD ARRAIGNED ON MURDER CHARGES

abclocal.go

April 20, 2004

[Excerpts] Bail has been set for the Mercer County corrections officer who turned herself in Monday night, hours after allegedly gunning down a former female inmate with whom she allegedly had a sexual relationship. Dressed in a football jersey and shackled at the hands and feet, Mercer County corrections officer Leslie McMillon was arraigned on murder and weapons charges in Trenton municipal court today. McMillon is accused of gunning down her former girlfriend, 35-year-old Paula Wilson, who's body was discovered yesterday afternoon dangling from the 3rd floor fire escape of her South Broad Street apartment. Sources say the shooting may have been triggered after the victim told Internal Affairs officials at the county jail that she and McMillon began a sexual relationship while Wilson was an inmate there, resulting in McMillon's suspension... Paula Wilson's cousin says the victim went to jail officials because she was upset that officer McMillon began seeing another woman... Kenniqua Nolan/VICTIM'S COUSIN: "I just think right now it's 2 families torn apart right now because there's kids involved. Both of their kids now are left without parents." Wilson was the mother of 4 children, McMillon two. Friends and family of both were emotional in court where a not guilty plea was entered on McMillon's behalf. "You don't even know what this is about" was the suspended officer's response when a family member of the victim called out "you didn't have to kill her". Bail has been set at $750,000...

WOMAN SHOT DEAD IN APARTMENT

The Trentonian

By Trymaine D. Lee

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

[Excerpts] By 5 p.m., four hours after the midday shooting halted traffic on the corner of South Broad Street and Chestnut Avenue, 41-year-old Leslie McMillon, a recently suspended 15-year veteran of the Mercer County Corrections Center, surrendered to police... Police said McMillon, of Scenic Drive in Ewing, allegedly shot Wilson following an "ongoing domestic dispute between the two individuals"... Police would not elaborate last night on the circumstances surrounding the suspect’s suspension... Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes released a statement concerning McMillon’s suspension. "Based on information received by the Internal Affairs Unit, Corrections Officer McMillon had been suspended in the past week following a disciplinary hearing"... "It was like, ‘bang-bang,’ then I heard her scream," said Michelle Hewitt, a neighbor and acquaintance of Wilson. "Then there were two or three more shots"... Some said the victim was a quiet woman who generally shared only a simple "hello and that’s about it"... Another said Wilson sold clothing from her home, though she had a job for which someone picked her up most mornings. "She gave me her last $3," said Eric Armbruster, who said the victim paid him two dollar bills and four quarters to carry her brand-new air conditioner upstairs. "She joked and told me to stay cool," Armbruster added... One witness, who has lived on the 900 block of South Broad Street for the past nine years and declined to identify herself, said she was in the alley behind her home when the shots rang out. The female witness said she then saw a large woman, someone she initially thought was a man, run from the apartment building and jump into a red car and speed off... [Full article here]

DEADLY LABYRINTH: FRIEND: VICTIM KILLED TO SILENCE TESTIMONY

The Trentonian

By Trymaine D. Lee

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

[Excerpts] ...The friend, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said prison guard and murder suspect Leslie McMillon became furious after she found out Wilson would testify and inform investigators of their purported jailhouse escapade... [Trenton police spokesman Lt. Joe] Juniak said police believe the shooting was precipitated by an "ongoing domestic dispute" between the women, who had a prior relationship... Police found Wilson’s half-naked body dangling from the fire escape of her South Trenton apartment about 1:10 p.m. Monday... "Not to justify the killing, but after 15 years of trying to build up your reputation, and then somebody tries to knock you down ...I could imagine being hurt," a source said yesterday. The woman said she knew Leslie "Big Lez" McMillon from the streets, and from spending time in the county jail. And though she personally knew her only vaguely,she said she knew to stay out of her way. Friends of McMillon said she didn’t take nonsense from anyone, and behind the walls of the Mercer County Correctional Center, she held her own with the male guards. McMillon comes from a family of corrections officers. Her father recently retired from the department and her younger sister is a rookie officer in the facility... Wilson’s friend said that Wilson desperately wanted to continue a relationship with McMillon after being released from jail in the beginning of 2003, but that McMillon wanted to cut off the relationship. Wilson first confronted McMillon’s girlfriend, and told her about their sexual relationship, hoping to break up the pair, an associate of both women said yesterday. "Her final resolution was to let Internal Affairs know that she had been (sexually involved) with her," the victim’s close friend said.... "For (Wilson) to go and try to ruin (McMillon’s other) relationship, then make her lose her job ... it’s bad that this happened to her, but I saw it coming," said the friend, who said she and the victim were raised together like cousins. Friends of Wilson said she has four children, ranging from 4 to 10 years old. Two of the children live with two of Wilson’s aunts; the two older children are staying elsewhere with other family... McMillon was being held at the Trenton lockup... Her bail has been set at $750,000 cash. The suspect spent time yesterday undergoing a mental evaluation, police said. [Full article here]

‘I KNOCKED THE DOOR IN AND SHOT HER’

The Trentonian

Saturday, January 21, 2006

[Excerpts] A jailhouse lesbian liaison, turned tragic when the guard killed her inmate lover, led to a guilty plea in Mercer County Superior Court yesterday by former corrections officer Leslie McMillon. The bullet-riddled body of Paula Wilson, McMillon's lover during her imprisonment at the Mercer County Correctional Center, was found dangling from the fire escape of her South Broad Street home in Trenton April 19, 2004. Wilson was expected to reveal her in-prison love affair to McMillon?s bosses, who had already suspended the women under suspicion she was conducting inappropriate relations with female inmates... “I knocked the door in and shot her,” said McMillon, whose hearing ended yesterday... Her deal called for McMillon to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter in exchange for an 18-year prison term, said Judge Charles Delehey. Under the terms of the No Early Release Act, Delehey said McMillon has to serve 85-percent of the sentence (15 years, four months) before she's eligible for parole. Once released she'll be on supervised parole for five years... Wilson was shot in the back as she was trying to escape from her third-floor apartment once McMillon busted down the door... McMillon had been suspended from her job... [Full article here]

MCMILLON GETS 18 FOR LOVER’S MURDER

The Trentonian

By Scott Frost

Saturday, March 04, 2006

[Excerpts] With [Paula] Wilson’s children crying in the background, Superior Court Judge Charles Delehey instructed the 43-year-old city grandmother she was heading off to jail for 15 years of that sentence before she’s eligible for parole. [Leslie] McMillon will be housed in the same cells she used to guard as a corrections officers for 17 years, in the same confines where her lesbian love affair with Wilson sparked several years before... She pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter in January. "This crime I committed, I’m very sorry. I wish it never happened," said McMillon, who was handcuffed and shacked at waist, wearing an orange prison jumper. "It wasn’t me. I just snapped. I just lost it and I’m very sorry for it." Barbara Wilson, the victim’s aunt, now has custody of Wilson’s four children. She brought the children to court yesterday to prove how well the legal system works. "She’s not a saint, but she had a good heart and she was a human being," Wilson said of her niece... Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Kimberly Lacken, who was working the case in 2004, said Wilson was on the phone with a friend, Carlene Coates, shortly after McMillon had called that afternoon... "This was a situation where the victim wanted her back and Leslie didn’t want a relationship with her," [defense lawyer Robin] Lord told Delehey prior to his ruling. "She snapped. That’s what happened. And a terribly sad thing that someone died." [Full article here]

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