A prison inmate who was freed early due to Covid-19 has been charged with murdering a teenager in an act allegedly committed just two days after his release.
According to NJ.com, 25-year-old New Jersey inmate Jerry Crawford was serving time for burglary when he was let out of South Woods State Prison on "public health emergency credits" to parole supervision on November 4.
However, the above publication reports that Crawford, along with 23-year-old Yusuf Waites, have since been charged by police with the murder of Davion Scarbrough, 18, who was gunned down in Bridgeton on November 6.
Scarbrough's bullet-ridden remains were found near a dirt path in a field, by the intersection of Burlington Road and Pamphylia Avenue, less than a half a mile away from South Woods State Prison.
Police investigators later learned that Scarbrough had been at nearby Burlington Manor Apartments prior to the shooting. They then recovered surveillance footage from the complex showing him with Crawford and Waites.
Crawford was already back in jail on gun and theft charges from an incident in December (in which he was accused of stealing a vehicle involved in a later collision) when police charged him with the death of Scarbrough. The former charges have since been dismissed.
Waites and Crawford have been indicted on charges of first-degree murder and first-degree conspiracy to commit murder in Scarbrough's killing. Both are due back in court later this week for hearings.
Commenting on the case in a statement delivered to NJ.com, Crawford’s attorney Al Wheeler claimed:
"What's being done now, the charging of Jerry, keeping him in jail on a charge with a phantom weapon and now charging him with the murder, they keep trying to buy time.
"You don’t buy time if you have something. He sat on a charge for seven months that was ultimately dismissed."
In addition to this, Waites has also been charged in another case included in the indictment: the December 9 killing of 27-year-old Jose Castro - whose body was found along the side of a road in neighboring Hopewell Township the day after.
Frank A. Lee Jr and Nieje I. Green have been indicted on third-degree counts of aggravated arson and conspiracy arson for their supposed attempts to cover up the homicide.
