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Rather than accept a plea deal, Naszhere Marquette Jones took his chances with a jury – and lost – in connection with the March 2021 shooting death of ex-con Jaquan Harrison, 35, in Paterson.
Jurors in Paterson found Jones guilty of reckless manslaughter and weapons offenses following a day and a half of deliberations, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said on Friday, Sept. 29.
Harrison had spent more than four years in state prison for aggravated assault and weapons offenses after shooting and killing Fernando Irby, 25, of Paterson at an after-hours club in December 2015.
A tragic irony followed.
Harrison wasn’t due to be released until September 2021. However, with COVID beginning to run rampant, he and hundreds of other state prisoners got their sentences automatically reduced.
Harrison was freed in late January of 2021, eight months early, amid an uproar of protest against Gov. Phil Murphy ordering the mass releases.
Less than two months after tasting freedom again, Harrison was dead.
He and Jones apparently got into an argument that ended with Jones shooting him in the back at the corner of North 6th and Clinton streets on March 3, 2021. Harrison died four days later.
Jones, who quickly became the prime suspect, went underground. He was eventually captured in Old Bridge, nearly four months to the day of the shooting.
Members of the U.S. Marshal’s Service Fugitive Task Force, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department, Valdes’s office and Old Bridge police found Jones getting into his car outside a garden apartment complex off Route 9.
Jones ran when he saw them and was quickly taken into custody, Valdes said. He was carrying a gun with a high-capacity magazine, along with crack and heroin, in his car, she said.
Passaic County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Evan Mongiardo secured the convictions against Jones on Thursday, Sept. 28, with help from surveillance video, Valdes said.
The assistant prosecutor showed jurors video clips of Jones before the shooting and then fleeing the area.
Superior Court Judge Justine Niccollai ordered Jones returned to the Bergen County Jail on Thursday to await sentencing. She hasn’t yet set that date, Valdes said.
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