[News] [NJ, USA] Man sentenced to time served in Maplewood transgender killing

[Stephanie Stevens]

The Star-Ledger - NJ.com, NJ, USA


Man sentenced to time served in Maplewood transgender killing

Published: Thursday, June 07, 2012, 3:38 PM | Updated: Thursday, June
07, 2012, 4:26 PM

By Alexi Friedman/The Star-Ledger


[Photo: Marquise Foster is sworn in before testifying in the Alrashim
Chambers murder trial at the Essex County Courthouse last month.
Chambers is accused of fatally shooting transgender female Victoria
Carmen White in Maplewood in September 2010.]

MAPLEWOOD — The co-defendant who testified last month at the trial of
a man charged with fatally shooting a transgender female in Maplewood,
was sentenced today to time served, after pleading guilty to a lesser
crime.

He will likely be released from jail today or Friday, authorities said.

Marquise Foster, 26, was originally charged along with Alrashim
Chambers in the September 2010 killing of Victoria Carmen White.
Foster soon pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension in exchange for
his planned testimony against Chambers. The Essex County Prosecutor's
Office put Chambers on trial for murder and bias intimidation, saying
he shot and killed White, 28, after discovering her gender identity.

A jury acquitted Chambers, 25, of all charges at his murder trial late
last month in Superior Court in Newark, despite Foster's testimony
that pointed to him as the killer. Chambers was released from jail a
day later.

At Foster's sentencing today, Assistant Prosecutor Eileen O'Connor
said the defendant testified truthfully at the murder trial, despite
difficult circumstances, with many of Chambers' supporters in court
that day. Chambers' relatives and friends attended most of the trial.

O'Connor added that Foster had been been kept in protective custody
"for a substantial period of time" because he had put himself in the
position of being labeled a "snitch."

Foster already served nearly two years in prison since his arrest
shortly after White's killing. His plea deal, which was merged with a
previous gun possession guilty plea on a different case, called for a
5-year-flat prison sentence.

[Photo: Victoria Carmen White was fatally shot in 2010.]

Foster's attorney, Sterling Kinsale, requested the time-served
sentence, and O'Connor said she had no objection.

About a dozen of Foster's relatives were in court today, but
surprisingly, it was Victoria Carmen White's two aunts who addressed
the court, saying they forgave him and thanked him for testifying
against Chambers.

"You basically laid your life on the line for us," said Robelia Tyra
White. "We know how it is on these streets and we appreciate you doing
the right thing on her behalf."

Foster also addressed the court, asking the judge for leniency before
the sentence was handed down.

"Please allow me to get myself together and get past the mistakes I
made in my life," said Foster, whose criminal record includes eight
arrests. "Give me the opportunity to start my life over."


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