In the winter of 2016, a burst of gunfire shattered the night on a street in Newark, New Jersey, leaving two young men dead. One of the victims was Derrick Valentine, a 22-year-old male from Newark. On the evening of January 28th, Valentine, along with 23-year-old Terrence M. Moore, Jr. of East Orange, was fatally shot in the 300 block of New Street.
The incident was part of a wave of violence that had troubled the city.
The investigation into the double homicide led authorities to identify two suspects. In the months that followed, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office announced charges against 26-year-old Jhamid Love and 22-year-old Isaiah Jackson. The charges against both men included two counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and weapons offenses. At the time the charges were announced, Jackson was already incarcerated in the Union County Jail on unrelated matters.
For a period, Jhamid Love remained a fugitive from the law. However, law enforcement eventually located and apprehended him. Following his capture, Love was taken to the Essex County Jail to await a bail hearing. Both he and Jackson were to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The arrests brought a measure of progress to a case that had added to the city's grim tally of homicides that year.
