The Essex County men responsible for a daytime carjacking in Westfield a little more than three years ago have been sentenced, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Friday.
State Superior Court Judge Robert Kirsch Thursday ordered that 28-year-old Lamar Randleman of Newark serve 25 years in state prison, with 85 percent of the term (21 years, 4 months) to be served before the possibility of parole under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act (NERA).
According to authorities, on March 31, 2014, at approximately 1 p.m. on the victim, a then-62-year-old female, arrived at her home on Minisink Way in Westfield and was approached in her driveway by an unknown male, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Jessica Guarducci, who prosecuted the case.
Following a brief struggle during which the woman was shoved to the ground, the man, later identified as Randleman, took the keys to the victim’s Lexus SUV and drove away, Guarducci said.
Hearing the victim’s screams, a neighbor looked outside, saw what was going on, and entered his own vehicle, pursuing Randleman for a short distance and calling 911 to alert police, according to a joint investigation by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, the Westfield Police Department, and the Mountainside Police Department.
Randleman drove a short distance east and parked the Lexus in a lot off of a Route 22 exit ramp in Mountainside. Immediately thereafter, a Mountainside police officer responding to the area spotted Randleman and started pursuing him on foot until he arrived at a nearby gas station and quickly entered a second vehicle being driven by a man later identified as 27-year-old Cavaan Hinson.
Following a brief police pursuit, the getaway vehicle crashed at the corner of Orchard and New Providence roads in Mountainside, after which the two defendants were taken into custody without further incident.
The carjacking victim was not seriously injured, nor was either of the two defendants. The Mountainside officer who had been pursuing Randleman was taken to a local hospital for treatment of a leg injury.
In April 2017, a Union County jury convicted Randleman on charges of first-degree carjacking and third-degree theft following a two-and-a-half-week trial before Judge Kirsch and several hours of jury deliberations. Several days later, Hinson, also a Newark resident, pleaded guilty to charges including second-degree eluding police and third-degree conspiracy to commit theft.
On Friday, Judge Kirsch sentenced Hinson to nine years in state prison.
Photo: Lamar Randleman