ELIZABETH — A jury Wednesday found a man not guilty of murder for a 2010 drive-by shooting in Plainfield, but found him guilty of a separate charge of tampering with a witness.
After deliberating over more than two days, the jury acquitted Jaalil Spruiel of murder and weapons charges in the June 16, 2010 killing of Tyrell Brighton, 18, who was shot as he stood with a group of people in front of a bodega at Plainfield Avenue and West 4th Street.
Authorities said it was a gang-related shooting that occurred when a car turned down Plainfield Avenue and a man in the car fired a stream of 13 shots into the group.
Bullets hit buildings and cars on the street, but Brighton was the only person who was wounded.
He was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick where he was later pronounced dead.
Prosecutor’s alleged that Spruiel had fired the shots.
However, Spruiel’s lawyer, John Goins, told jurors in his opening arguments that his client was not in the car and did not participate in the shooting. Goins said Spruiel was charged out of convenience to resolve the case.
Authorities also accused Spruiel of witness tampering for trying to intimidate a man who gave a statement to police identifying Spruiel as being in the car.
The witness, Aaron Robinson, was later sent to prison, and while there, was threatened because he talked with police, Suarez said. He said Spruiel sent an affidavit to Robinson, with instructions that he sign it and claim he falsely identified the defendant.
Spruiel was sentenced to prison for illegal possession of a weapon, and he was in prison when he was indicted on murder charges in 2013 in the Brighton killing. Spruiel completed that sentence, but was being held at the Union County jail pending the murder trial.
Following the jury verdict, Spruiel was released from custody, pending sentencing on the third-degree tampering charge.
Goins said the verdict, “was the result of the court providing a fair trial and the result of a hard working jury.”
Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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