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The court appearance was marked by another in a series of outbursts by the convicted rapist.
After being sentenced to 54 years without parole last July, McKinney shouted, “I’m Trayvon Martin! I’m Trayvon Martin!” before Bergen County Sheriff’s officers escorted him out of the courtroom and back to jail.
McKinney was later indicted by a grand jury in Hackensack on charges of sending the state Division of Permanency and Placement an anonymous letter accusing the prosecutor in his case with child abuse.
He was brought before a judge on the indictment Monday, giving McKinney the opportunity to repeat accusations that a conspiracy to keep him behind bars exists among a Bergen County assistant prosecutor, a Superior Court judge, investigators, corrections officers — even the state appeals and Supreme courts.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Daniel Keitel said he offered McKinney an 18-month sentence in return for a guilty plea — a moot point, given that McKinney, 41, already is expected to die in prison.
Ivan McKinney (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
McKinney rejected the offer.
“He wants to go to trial,” defense attorney Jillian Elko said Monday.
Despite being warned to keep silent, McKinney insisted on repeating his conspiracy claims.
During a discussion of potential evidence, he interrupted, saying: “I need to speak. I would like to talk. It’s very important. They can’t address this issue like I can.”
“Mr. McKinney, you didn’t go to law school,” Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Roma warned. “I would caution that you not speak, that you speak with your attorney.
“If you say something that is against your interest,” the judge continued before McKinney interrupted him, saying: “I know, I know. It’ll be held against me.”
“I am telling you very adamantly and strongly not to say anything,” Roma responded. “If you do so, it will be at your own peril.”
After a brief recess, ostensibly so Elko could advise McKinney, the judge allowed him to speak.
“I know she’s mad at me, and I hate to even do this to her,” McKinney said of Elko. “She has done nothing but work hard for me. I need someone to hear this. I won’t be in jail for decades because I serve the Lord and he’s going to work it out somehow.
“There has been impropriety done behind the back of Mr. McKinney,” he continued. “Somebody needs to hear about it.”
McKinney then told Roma: “Don’t let them get you caught up in it.”
Jurors convicted McKinney in February 2013 of sexually assaulting the 13-year old girl in a Hackensack boarding house and acquitted him of kidnapping her and her 15-year old friend. They also found him guilty of several counts of child endangerment and having drugs with the intent to distribute them.
McKinney made angry threats against Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello in the courtroom during the trial, promising that he would be hearing from DYFS.
He was sentenced last July to 30 years in state prison, plus 24 more years because he had was already on lifetime parole for preying on underage girls.
McKinney was released in August 2010 after serving 19 months in state prison for sexually assaulting two Passaic County teens after getting them drunk.
He was convicted of sexual assault in 2008 after the girls said he picked them up in Clifton, took them shopping, brought them to a Route 3 motel and had sex with them before taking them home. McKinney was also convicted of cruelty and neglect for similar incidents involving young girls in Hackensack, records show.
He’s due back in court June 23.
Ivan McKinney, defense attorney Jillian Elko, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Daniel Keitel (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
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