FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Raymond Worrall
PHONE: (201) 795-6400 Ext. 6737
EMAIL: rworrall@hcpo.org
DATE: Monday, December 9, 2019
JERSEY CITY MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR 2017 MURDER; CO-DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS FOR CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MURDER
Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez has released the following information:
On December 9, 2019, the Honorable Sheila Venable, J.S.C. sentenced Marquise Brown, age 26, of Jersey City to life in state prison for the April 2017 murder of 20-year-old Jersey City resident Amir Pleasant. The life sentence is subject to the No Early Release Act which requires that Brown will have to serve 85 percent of 75 years — or 63 years and 9 months — before he is eligible for parole.
Co-defendant Rashad Exum, age 26, of Jersey City, was sentenced by Judge Venable to 20 years in state prison for Conspiracy to Commit Murder subject to the No Early Release Act. The No Early Release Act requires that Exum will have to serve 17 years before he is eligible for parole. The sentence is to run consecutive to the time he is currently serving for a parole violation.
In September 2019, Brown was found guilty by a Hudson County Jury of Murder, Possession of a Handgun for an Unlawful Purpose, Unlawful Possession of a Handgun and Conspiracy to Commit Murder. Exum was found guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Murder. Co-defendant, Jahi Beatty, age 21, of Jersey City was found guilty of two counts of Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution.
Beatty is currently scheduled to be sentenced in January 2020.
During the course of the trial the State presented evidence establishing that while Pleasant was sitting in the driver’s seat of his car in the area of 22 Dwight Street, Brown walked up to the car and shot Pleasant multiple times.
Pleasant was later found in his crashed vehicle at the intersection of Grand Street and Jersey Avenue by Jersey City Police Officers. Pleasant was unconscious when he was found and he was pronounced dead a short while later at Jersey City Medical Center.
The state was represented by Assistant Prosecutor Leonardo Rinaldi from the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit. The Honorable Sheila Venable, J.S.C. presided over the matter.