East Orange Man Murdered Victim In Newark, Intimidated Witnesses: ECPO

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A jury in Essex County found an East Orange man guilty of murder and other crimes after he shot a victim five times in Newark at “point-blank range,” prosecutors announced earlier this week.

Isaiah J. Knight, 31, killed Tyzier White, 23, on June 1, 2021 on Campbell Street in Newark, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

Knight allegedly felt insulted during an interaction involving himself, his cousin and the victim. Two eyewitnesses told investigators that Knight then shot White five times at point-blank range, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say that Knight and accomplices then made several attempts to intimidate one of the eyewitnesses:

“On Dec. 21, 2021, the eyewitness was lured to a location by a female accomplice of the defendant where two men tried to force him to sign an ‘affidavit’ recanting his statement at gunpoint. Jailhouse communications between the defendant and several individuals led to the arrest of the defendant’s sister, cousin and girlfriend for their roles in the plot. Charges against those individuals are pending. The same eyewitness and his family were also threatened via text messages. Additionally, the eyewitness’s statements to police were edited over a rap video referring to ‘snitches,’ which was posted on Instagram.”

The admissibility of the affidavit made its way to the Supreme Court of New Jersey, which ruled that it was physical evidence of a crime, and that the state can obtain the document from the defense counsel, NJ Advance Media reported.

Knight was convicted of first-degree murder, weapons charges and conspiracy to commit witness tampering on April 17. He was also found guilty in a separate trial of first-degree unlawful possession of a weapon by a person prohibited, stemming from a 2013 aggravated assault conviction.

Knight is scheduled for sentencing on June 5. He faces a potential sentence of life in prison, prosecutors said.

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