Man sentenced to life in prison for bias killing of press photographer/EMT.
A Middlesex County man who was proved guilty of attacking and murdering a stranger in a Freehold Township parking lot, solely driven by the victim’s race, has been sentenced to life in prison plus another 35 years by Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago. On Tuesday afternoon, Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Lourdes Lucas sentenced 30-year-old Jamil Hubbard of Sayreville for causing the death of Jerry Wolkowitz, aged 56.
The unruly incident occurred on the morning of May 1, 2018, at around 7:15 am when members of the Freehold Township Police Department and other responding units rushed to the Chesterfield Apartments on Harding Road on hearing reports of a physical altercation involving a person hit by a vehicle. When officers arrived, they found Wolkowitz in the apartment complex’s parking lot, struggling with severe injuries to his head, abdomen, and back. He was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for emergency treatment.
The victim’s vehicle, a Kia Forte, was missing from the parking lot, which Hubbard later confessed to stealing. He then led the police on a chase, defying orders to pull over, until it was terminated due to high speeds and public safety concerns. Minutes later, the stolen Kia was found abandoned on Bordentown Avenue in Sayreville, and Hubbard was arrested at his home in the nearby Winding Wood Apartments by the Sayreville Police Department.
An inquiry by multiple members of the MCPO Major Crimes Bureau, Freehold Township Police Department, and Sayreville Police Department discovered that Hubbard was in the area that day because he had slept in his vehicle overnight after a dispute with his ex-girlfriend, who resided in the complex. When he woke up in the morning, he spotted Wolkowitz and decided to attack him from behind with punches and kicks before stealing his wallet and car keys. Then, according to Hubbard’s confession, he dragged the victim into the parking lot and ran him over with the defendant’s car.
Wolkowitz, a member of the Freehold First Aid and Emergency Squad for a long time and a freelance photographer, was in a coma until he passed away due to his injuries on October 18, 2018. In March 2019, a Monmouth County Grand Jury indicted Hubbard. Hubbard’s prosecution was handled by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Hoda Soliman and Keri Schaefer, who presented evidence for a seven-week trial refuting an attempted insanity defense, demonstrating that Hubbard’s conduct was intentional, knowing, and deliberate. In November 2022, the jury convicted him of first-degree Murder, first-degree Bias Intimidation, second-degree Eluding, third-degree Theft from the Person, third-degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose, and third-degree Motor Vehicle Theft.
Judge Lucas ordered that Hubbard serve life imprisonment for the murder, 25 years for bias, and ten years for eluding, with all the terms running consecutively. During the sentencing hearing, Wolkowitz’s fiancée and three siblings, read out remarks that were submitted on their behalf. Additionally, a statement made by the deceased mother of the victim was read out into the record by a family member. Judge Lucas remarked on the case’s severe brutality, which prompted an obvious need for deterrence.
“Racism has no place in our community. The evidence demonstrated this brutal attack was a targeted one, based on race, and such abhorrent behavior cannot be tolerated. Yesterday’s sentencing constituted an unambiguous message regarding this notion,” Prosecutor Santiago said. “There is no place in civilized society for those who commit such acts, and the only appropriate reckoning in cases such as these is their permanent removal from society. We hope that yesterday’s proceedings offered a measure of solace for the many individuals who so clearly loved and respected Mr. Wolkowitz so deeply.”
Allison Friedman, Esq., and Katherine M. Caola, Esq., represented Hubbard at trial.
