A man has been convicted — for a second time — in a fatal 2018 shooting in Newark, after an appellate court reversed a previous jury’s conviction because testimony from a lead investigator in the case was deemed improper, officials said.
Hassan Todd, 36, of Newark, was found guilty of murder, aggravated assault and weapons possession, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday. He now faces life in prison when he is sentenced on Aug. 16.
Todd fatally shot Elijah Roberts and wounded a second person in front of an Avon Avenue pizzeria on Sept. 22, 2018, the office said. The second person survived.
In 2019, Todd stood trial and was convicted by a jury, but the decision was reversed in the appellate division and a new trial was ordered, authorities said.
The lead detective in his first trial repeatedly testified that a person seen in footage of the crime was indeed Todd.
The detective on multiple occasions used Todd’s full first and last name as the person in the footage and called him “the shooter.”
The testimony was improper, the appeals court found, because she was not an expert witness, but a lay witness, and her opinion “invaded” the jury’s job as fact finder. The case was mainly based on witness identification.
Reporter Kevin Shea contributed to this report.
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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
