A Newark man arrested for the robbery and killing of a service station owner has prior arrests for robbery and drug charges.
NEWARK -- With his hands cuffed behind him, Malcolm Massey was brought into Superior Court Tuesday, the latest in a long history of court appearances dating to the early 1990s for drug and robbery charges.
This time, however, Massey stood in court on a murder charge.
Massey, 49, was arrested in connection with the May 30 robbery and fatal shooting of 47-year-old Devinder Singh Jodha at the Power Gas Station that he owned on West Market Street.
On Tuesday, Massey was silent as he appeared in court in drab green jail-issued shirt and pants, a bright red beard on his chin.
Massey is charged with robbery, murder and felony murder. His attorney, Sterling Kinsale, of the Public Defender's Office, filed not guilty pleas to all the charges on his behalf.
Authorities say Jodha, a resident of the Iselin section of Woodbridge, was at his service station about 4:25 p.m. on May 30 when he was shot during a robbery.
Emergency crews took the business owner to University Hospital in Newark, where he was declared dead less than half an hour later, officials have said.
According to court records, Massey has faced drug, robbery, and weapons charges dating back more than 20 years.
In 1993, he was sentenced to three years in prison on drug and robbery charges.
Four years later, he received a four-year sentence on another robbery charge. He was arrested again on robbery and weapons possession charges in 2005. Details about that case were not immediately available.
Superior Court Judge Ronald D. Wigler left Massey's bail at $1 million Tuesday. Massey is being held in the Essex County jail.
Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.