Crime & Safety
West Orange Man Found Guilty of Murder
Jamar Holmes was convicted by a jury on Thursday of killing Donald Andrews, of East Orange, in a Newark liquor store in January 2011.
The West Orange man accused of stabbing a man to death in a Newark liquor store in 2011 has been found guilty, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Jamar Holmes, 32, of West Orange, was found guilty on Thursday of the murder of Donald Andrews, 40, of East Orange, in Superior Court in Newark. Holmes was also found guilty of various weapons charges.
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According to authorities, Andrews was inside of Bush Liquors & Deli in Newark on Jan. 1, 2011, when Holmes snuck up behind him and plunged a 6-inch butcher’s knife into his back. The entire scene was captured on the store’s video surveillance system.
The jury took 90 minutes deliberating Holmes’ fate before it reached a verdict.
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“This was a senseless, brutal murder,” wrote Assistant Prosecutor Jason Hollingsworth in a press release, who tried the case with Assistant Prosecutor Naazneen Khan.
Both men knew one another, according to the prosecutor’s office, and had quarreled earlier on the night of the killing.
Holmes is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23. He faces a minimum of 30 years in New Jersey State Prison.
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