In the evening of February 21, 2021, Lakewood Township Police responded to a report of an unconscious man lying in the middle of the road in the area of Tudor Court. When they arrived, the police found Dajour Randolph, 20, having evidently suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. Randolph was pronounced dead after being transported to the southern campus of Monmouth Medical Center in Lakewood. The Ocean County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy the following day and found the manner of death to be homicide.
On February 23, 2021, Jahvontae Debose, 26, was arrested following a motor vehicle stop and was charged with Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute, Possession of a Firearm in the Course of Committing a Drug Offense, and being a Certain Person Not to Possess a Weapon. While the defendant was in Ocean County Jail, an investigation concluded two days later that Debose was responsible for the victim’s death. Debose was served a complaint charging him in connection with the death of Dajour Randolph, while still being held in the Ocean County Jail.
On March 28, 2023, the defendant appeached before the Honorable Lisa A. Puglisi, J.S.C., and pled guilty to Manslaughter in connection with the 20-year-old’s death. Debose additionally pled guilty to being a Certain Person Not to Possess a Weapon, Possession of a Firearm in the Course of Committing a Drug Offense, and Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute.
The sentencing is scheduled for May 22, 2023, where the State will be recommending a sentence of seven years in NJ State Prison under the No Early Release Act as to the Manslaughter Charge. The State is also seeking five-year period of parole ineligibility as to the charge of being a Certain Person not to Possess a Weapon, and seven years in NJ State Prison with parole ineligibility as to the Possessing a Firearm in the Course of Committing a Drug Offense charge. These sentences are to run concurrently. The State will also be recommending a sentence of seven years in NJ State Prison as to the charge of Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute, which would run consecutively to the former sentences.
