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So ex-con Antoine Hawkins, 31, of Newark, took a deal from the government, admitting in federal court in Newark this week that he shot two victims five days apart in the Brick City in August 2020.
Hawkins also pleaded guilty to possessing a 9mm Springfield Armory XDM pistol loaded with 19 rounds and 626 heroin folds for sale when they arrested him a month later, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden accepted the pleas on Tuesday, Nov. 28, and scheduled sentencing for April 2, 2024.
Hawkins is looking at a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence for the guns on top of whatever he gets for the drugs. He'll have to serve out the entire term because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
Several law enforcement agencies worked the case under the auspices of the Violent Crime Initiative (VCI) in Newark, a supergroup of sorts that fights violent crime in and around the city, Sellinger said.
He specifically cited the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, Newark police, the DEA and the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for their work leading to the plea secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Levin of his National Security Unit in Newark.
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