A Newark NJ man recently pleaded guilty to serving as the getaway driver in an armed robbery that left one person dead.
According to law enforcement, the fatal incident went down on September 13, 2012 at Jamil & Sons Family Grocery. The grocery store is located on Clinton Avenue in Newark, New Jersey.
While the 24-year-old suspect remained outside in a car, his accomplice allegedly went inside the building and held up the store clerk. According to authorities, an 18-year-old boy whose family owned the grocery store tried to stop the robbery and ended up being fatally shot.
Essex County prosecutors said that at no point during the robbery did the suspect get out of the car.
The suspect was eventually identified as the getaway driver and placed under arrest. He was subsequently charged with multiple crimes, including murder, armed robbery, and weapons offenses.
The suspect recently appeared in Essex County Superior Court in Newark and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery. In exchange for admitting his role in the robbery, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office agreed to recommend that the suspect be sentenced to just seven years in NJ State Prison. Had the suspect gone to trial, he could have faced life in prison on the murder charges.
The suspect will return to Essex County Superior Court in January 2016 so that he can be formally sentenced by the superior court judge.
The suspect is already serving a five-year prison term for aggravated assault charges stemming from an unrelated case.
Meanwhile, the suspect’s alleged accomplice in the 2012 armed robbery is still set to face murder charges in the recent case. Although the other suspect is currently 19 years old, he was 16 years old when the fatal shooting occurred. Nonetheless, his case was waived from juvenile court to adult court so that he could face first degree murder charges for the fatal shooting.
For additional information about this case, see the NJ.com article entitled “Getaway Driver Pleads Guilty in Store Robbery That Left Teen Employee Dead.”
