A person has been convicted in the 2018 killing of an emergency medical technician and freelance photographer in New Jersey after authorities mentioned he focused the sufferer as a result of of his race.
Jurors in Monmouth County convicted 30-year-old Jamil Hubbard of Sayreville of homicide Friday in the Could 2018 assault on 56-year-old Jerry Wolkowitz close to his Freehold house. The violence left Wolkowitz on life help for nearly six months earlier than he succumbed to his accidents.
Prosecutors mentioned Hubbard advised investigators that he had been sleeping in his automobile after a struggle together with his ex-girlfriend, and when he wakened he noticed the sufferer strolling close by and determined to assault him as a result of he was white. He mentioned he in all probability would have left Wolkowitz alone if he was Black, authorities mentioned.
Authorities mentioned Hubbard punched and kicked Wolkowitz from behind, took his pockets and keys, dragged him into the parking zone and ran him over earlier than fleeing in the sufferer’s car. The Sayreville man was additionally convicted of bias intimidation, theft and motorized vehicle theft, eluding and a weapons crime. He’s scheduled for sentencing March 31.
Protection attorneys argued that Hubbard suffered from severe psychological sickness, together with bipolar dysfunction, that prevented him from realizing what he was doing or appreciating its wrongfulness, however jurors rejected their plea for an acquittal on madness grounds.
The Asbury Park Press mentioned Wolkowitz labored as photographer, EMT and ambulance supervisor, and his work typically appeared in the Asbury Park Press.
One of the sufferer’s sisters, Judy Marcus, talking for the household exterior the courtroom, known as the case “a living nightmare for almost five years for all of us.” She praised the work of investigators and prosecutors that she mentioned ”gave us the flexibility to go on and finish the nightmare.’’
Marcus mentioned the ordeal was significantly troublesome as a result of each of their dad and mom have been Holocaust survivors and, for 2 years, whereas her mom was nonetheless alive, the household couldn’t bear to inform her that her son had been murdered, the Asbury Park Press reported.