Murderer Of Freehold Man Sentenced After Brutal Bias Atttack

FREEHOLD, NJ — Nearly five years to the day of the murder of Jerry Wolkowitz from Freehold Township, his killer has been sentenced to life plus 35 years in prison, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor.

Wolkowitz was a stranger to the Middlesex County man who attacked and killed him in his own parking lot, "solely motivated by the victim’s race," Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said Wednesday.

Jamil Hubbard, 30, of Sayreville was sentenced Tuesday afternoon by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Lourdes Lucas for causing the death of 56-year-old Wolkowitz.

The victim was a photographer and EMS volunteer who was a well-known and respected figure in Monmouth County, officials said.

The investigation of the crime showed Hubbard had slept overnight in the parking lot after an argument with his girlfriend who lived there. When he awoke, he told investigators he saw Wolkowitz and decided to try to kill him "because he was white," the prosecutor's office said.

During the sentencing hearing, three of Wolkowitz’s siblings and his fiancée either read statements into the record or had their remarks read into the record on their behalf. In addition, a statement by the victim’s now-deceased mother was read into the record by a family member.

Lucas remarked on the case’s extreme brutality, which prompted an obvious need for deterrence.

Santiago also decried the crime.

“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,” he said Wednesday.

Wolkowitz was well-known in the county. As a freelance photographer, he started working while in his 20s for the Asbury Park Press Freehold Bureau, also writing news articles. And he continued in his professional photography career. He was a dedicated first aid volunteer, as a longtime member of the Freehold First Aid and Emergency Squad.

A GoFundMe site set up at the time of the attack described him this way:

"Jerry is a reporter, a writer (for the Asbury Park Press and Freehold Transcript), a first aid volunteer, a dedicated worker, a wonderful friend, and a devoted family man with a loving fiancée. Jerry loves cats and captures many special pictures of his precious Misu."

The prosecutor's office recounted the facts of the case:

At approximately 7:15 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, May 1, 2018, members of the Freehold Township Police Department and other first responders rushed to the Chesterfield Apartments on Harding Road on a report of a "physical altercation involving a person struck by a vehicle."

There they found Wolkowitz in the apartment complex’s parking lot, with severe injuries to his head, abdomen and back. Wolkowitz was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune for emergency treatment.

Missing from the parking lot was Wolkowitz’s vehicle, a Kia Forte, which Hubbard was later found to have stolen.

Hubbard then led police on a pursuit, refusing to obey commands to pull over, until it was terminated due to high speeds and out of concern for public safety.

Minutes later, the Kia was found abandoned on Bordentown Avenue in Sayreville, and Hubbard was arrested by members of the Sayreville Police Department without incident at his home in the nearby Winding Wood Apartments.

An investigation involving many members of the prosecutor's office Major Crimes Bureau, Freehold Township Police Department, and Sayreville Police Department later revealed that Hubbard was in the area that morning because he had slept in his vehicle overnight, having had an argument with his ex-girlfriend, a resident of the apartment complex, the night before.

When he woke up, he told investigators, he spotted Wolkowitz walking nearby and decided to "try to kill him because he was white, initially attacking him from behind with punches and kicks before stealing his wallet and car keys." He also told investigators he dragged the victim into the parking lot and ran him over with the defendant’s car.

Wolkowitz remained hospitalized in a coma until he died due to his injuries on Thursday, October 18, 2018. A Monmouth County Grand Jury returned an indictment against Hubbard in March 2019.

Hubbard’s prosecution was handled by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Hoda Soliman and Keri Schaefer, who presented evidence during a seven-week trial refuting an attempted insanity defense, showing that Hubbard’s conduct was intentional, knowing and deliberate, according to the prosecutor's office.

At the conclusion of the trial, in November 2022, the jury convicted Hubbard 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, the prosecutor's office said. Hubbard was represented at trial by attorneys Allison Friedman and Katherine M. Caola.

Lucas Tuesday ordered that Hubbard serve a life term for the murder conviction, 25 years for the bias conviction, and 10 years for the eluding conviction, with all three terms to run consecutively to each other. The prosecutor's office said that under the No Early Release Act, Hubbard, 30, must serve 63 years and nine months for the murder conviction, which is 85 percent of a 75-year term. Then the other consecutive terms would begin.

Santiago further commented on the case.

“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,” he said.