NEWARK — After spending nearly eight years in the Essex County Correctional Facility on charges from a violent 2009 crime spree, Tariq Kyam got a bit of vindication Monday from a jury of his peers, who acquitted him of charges that he robbed a Bloomfield convenience store.
Authorities alleged Kyam, formerly known as Raymond Perry, was one of two men who robbed the A&L Deli at gunpoint on Feb. 6, 2009, part of a wave of robberies investigators said ended with the fatal shooting of a 29-year-old Boonton resident at a Verona gas station.
But the jury ultimately found Kyam, 51, not guilty of all charges in the Bloomfield robbery, according to Katherine Carter, a spokesperson for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
“We are disappointed with the outcome, but we respect the jury’s verdict,” Carter said in an email Monday.
Charged in connection with six robberies and the homicide, Kyam previously won a motion to sever the crimes into separate trials. Two subsequent trials, on murder charges for the killing of Daniel Pritchard during the robbery of a Sunoco gas station in Verona, ended in hung juries.
The second suspect in the crime, David Fate, has since pleaded guilty to robbery charges and is awaiting sentencing, having testified at Kyam’s first two trials in Pritchard’s slaying.
Kyam’s acquittal in the A&L Deli robbery case came more than a week after he took the stand in his own defense Feb. 1, denying any involvement in the heist.
Assistant Prosecutor Brian Matthews had argued witness IDs made by men inside the store, a gun found at Kyam’s residence during his arrest and a black bag taken from one of the victims — also found inside Kyam’s home — were “overwhelming” proof of his guilt.
Kyam admitted to knowing Fate, and testified that the two had gone shopping in New York City with another man. The credit cards they used, according to other testimony, had been taken from the victims of the A&L Deli robbery.
But with Kyam on the stand, public defender John McMahon introduced surveillance, pointing out that there weren’t any documented instances of Kyam making purchases with the stolen cards.
Kyam also denied knowingly possessing the gun — which police had said he was trying to stuff into the couch when they burst in — or the black bag, which he said was left at his home by Fate.
Man charged in violent robbery spree takes the stand
In his summations, McMahon challenged the shopkeeper’s ID of his client, arguing Kyam, who lived in Newark, would have been unlikely to visit the Bloomfield store enough to be recognized as a regular customer, as the man had said.
“There’s too much doubt here, and that’s really where we end,” McMahon said.
Kyam — who still faces charges in Pritchard’s slayings and the other robberies — remains jailed in lieu of $1.4 million bail, according to jail records.
“At this juncture, we are reviewing the remaining five robberies and the Verona murder of Daniel Pritchard with an eye toward going forward in the future,” Carter said.
Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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