FREEHOLD – A Monmouth County jury has returned guilty verdicts against the two men responsible for a drive-by double shooting that took place in Asbury Park a little more than two years ago, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey announced Friday.
Jonathan M. Marvine, 27, of Sayreville and Gary R. Brooks Jr., 30, of Neptune City were both convicted of first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, with Brooks additionally convicted of first-degree attempted murder and several related weapons offenses following a trial before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill G. O’Malley.
Shortly after 11 p.m. on Friday, August 2, 2019, members of the Asbury Park and Neptune Township police departments responded to multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting in the area of Monroe and Ridge avenues in Asbury Park. Moments later, the two shooting victims, an 18-year-old male resident of Asbury Park and a 28-year-old resident of Neptune Township, entered the emergency room at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
A joint investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Asbury Park and Neptune Township police departments, assisted by the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit, resulted in Marvine and Brooks quickly being identified as suspects in the case. They were arrested later on the same night of the shooting at a home on the 400 block of Myrtle Avenue in Neptune City – after investigators used traffic cameras to track the white Hyundai Sonata used in the commission of the crime to that location.
The defendants were indicted in October 2019. Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Luciano handled the prosecution for the State at trial.
“This was a brazen, calculated act of brutality emblematic of the serious issue of gun violence that has plagued the neighborhood where it took place for far too long,” Acting Prosecutor Linskey said. “We thank the jury for their service in ensuring that those responsible have been brought to justice – thereby also making that neighborhood safer.”
Sentencing in the case has been scheduled for Friday, January 7, 2022, when Marvine will face a term of 10 to 20 years in state prison; Brooks will face up to life in prison.
