A Newark man charged with murdering a man who was brutally beaten and dumped behind in North Bergen gas station beneath a mattress weighed down by cinder blocks in 2012 was convicted of reckless manslaughter today by a jury that found him not guilty of murder or aggravate manslaughter.
Darryl Williams was killed on Dec. 31, 2012. JERSEY CITY -- A Newark man charged with fatally beating a man and dumping his body behind in North Bergen gas station in 2012 was convicted of reckless manslaughter today, but avoided a murder conviction.
Mark Browne faces five to 10 years in prison for the homicide of Darryl Williams. After the verdict was rendered today, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Michael D'Andrea told the judge he will be seeking an extended prison term based on Browne's prior criminal record. That would raise Browne's potential sentence to 10 to 20 years.
Browne has been in jail since his arrest three years ago in Virginia where they found his Cadillac Escalade had been whiped down with bleach. However, the victim's DNA was still found inside the vehicle. Browne showed no emotion upon hearing the verdict, which took three days of jury deliberations to reach.
The prosecution presented evidence that Williams was beaten with a table leg in his Newark home before being left behind the gas station on Tonnelle Avenue near Route 3 on New Year's Eve 2012.
Browne was one of six people arrested and charged in connection with the fatal attack. Daeshawn Jennings was sentenced to 18 years in state prison for aggravated manslaughter, while Kathleen Jones was sentenced to 12 years in prison in July after pleading guilty to the same charges.
Also charged in Williams' death are Qudeera Adams, Nydia Mozee, and Latoya Mozee, all of Newark. Latoya Mozee pleaded guilty to endangering an injured victim and Nydia Mozee pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, according to the transcripts of the plea hearings. Adams awaits trial.
Adams testified during the trial that the day before the incident, Williams' girlfriend showed up wearing heavy makeup and had bruises. She said that when Browne heard about it, "he said he was going to knock (Darryl Williams) out and teach him not to hit girls."
Adams testified that when she got to the bedroom, Jennings was beating Williams with the table leg, the Mozee sisters and Jones were in the room and Browne was egging all on to beat Williams and he was shooting him with the BB gun. She said Williams was "screaming and yelling and squirming all over," and Browne put the pillowcase over his head to keep him quiet.
Browne was telling everyone to "stomp on him," and Jones was jumping on Williams' head. The beating did not stop until Williams was no longer moving. Browne used duct tape to gag Williams and used a belt, tape and wire to tie his arms behind his back. She said they wrapped Williams in a blanket and Jennings and Browne carried him out and placed him in Browne's Escalade, the cooperating witness testified.
Adams said Browne drove all of them to a location she was not familiar with and Browne and Jennings carried Williams out before they drove away. She said their next stop was at a Pathmark where Latoya Mozee and Browne bought cleaning products. Adams identified the pair on video from the supermarket shown by the prosecutor, Adams testified, adding that she and Latoya Mozee then scrubbed the bloody apartment.
With injuries including stab wounds to the head, Williams managed to crawl out from under the mattress and some 20 or 30 feet toward Tonnelle but as the pillowcase over his head became more and more blood-soaked, he suffocated, a medical examiner testified.
The jury began deliberating on Thursday around 3 p.m. and the verdict was rendered before 3 p.m. today. Browne would have faced 30 years to life if convicted of murder.
Brown was also found not guilty of aggravated manslaughter. He will be sentenced by Hudson County Superior Court Judge John Young at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 17 in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.