HOBOKEN—Four men pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, Oct. 22 to felony murder charges in connection with the carjacking and slaying of a lawyer and Hoboken resident outside The Mall at Short Hills last December, according to an NJ.com report.
According to the Associated Press, Hanif Thompson of Irvington, and Karif Ford, Basim Henry and Kevin Roberts of Newark were indicted on murder, carjacking, conspiracy and weapons charges by an Essex County grand jury last month.
The men are accused of confronting Dustin Friedland, a 30-year-old Hoboken lawyer, and shooting him in the head as he returned to his Range Rover in the Short Hills Mall parking garage after a shopping trip on Dec. 15. Authorities say the men stole the Range Rover but did not harm Friedland’s wife Jamie Schare Friedland, who was with him at the time.
The young couple were married in October of 2011 and lived in a Park Avenue condo. According to Friedland’s Facebook page, he was a member of the Hoboken Harriers running club and grew up in Toms River.
Ralph Amirata, director of homicide for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, would not comment on who had fired the ultimately fatal shot at a press conference on Oct. 22.
“All four right now are considered equally culpable and are all facing the same sentences and the same charges,” said Amirata, the prosecutor in the case. “The four were working together and the four were targeting that specific vehicle, that type of vehicle.”
Authorities said Friedland’s Range Rover was found the morning after the carjacking behind a vacant house in Newark.
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