State of New Jersey v. Jada M. McClain

Freehold, New Jersey criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant seeking post-conviction relief.





The tragic facts of this case are gleaned from the record. In 2018, at the age of seventeen, defendant learned she was pregnant. Defendant discussed her pregnancy with the child's father, her boyfriend Quaimere Mohammed. Text messages between defendant and Mohammed indicate that they did not want to have a child because, as defendant explained, "we both can't afford it and we have our whole life ahead of us." On December 13, 2018, defendant texted Mohammed that she wanted to "force a miscarriage." Mohammed questioned, "How do you do that?" Defendant responded, "just hurting it." Defendant then added that killing the child was not something she wanted to do but it was "the last option."[1] In one text defendant admitted that she punched herself, but it was "not hard enough," In another, defendant described getting a hammer and "just hammer this shit out of me." On February 3, 2019, defendant texted that she "punched myself a couple of times then I used this thing and just started hitting myself with it."



Defendant's efforts to terminate the pregnancy failed and on March 29, 2019, at approximately 4:00 a.m., defendant gave birth to a boy in the bathroom of her parent's home. The baby was crying at the time of birth and defendant named the child Legend. Defendant then took the infant into her bedroom, placed him on her bed and pressed with both of her hands on the infant's chest until he stopped breathing. At 4:08 a.m. defendant texted Mohammed, "I did it baby." In a later text, defendant described killing the infant, stating she "heard him struggling to breath [sic] when I was killing him." In another text, defendant acknowledged initially attempting to kill the newborn by "breaking his neck."



After killing the infant, defendant wrapped the body in a blanket which she placed in a bag. She then drove with the body to Mohammed's residence, picked him up, then drove to the Washington Village Apartment complex in Asbury Park where Mohammed threw the bag containing the infant's body into a dumpster.



On April 4, 2019, Neptune Township police learned from a high school classmate of defendant's that defendant had recently given birth and the classmate feared that the infant was dead. The classmate was with defendant in November 2018 when she took a pregnancy test and learned she was pregnant. During her pregnancy, defendant told the classmate that she was drinking alcohol, smoking "weed" and ingesting pills in an attempt to kill the baby. On March 31,2019, defendant informed the classmate that she had delivered a baby and sent a photo of the infant on defendant's bed appearing "blue and purple."



Later that afternoon, defendant was interviewed by police and admitted to killing her newborn on March 29, 2019. That evening, defendant accompanied officers to the Washington Village Apartments and identified the trash dumpster where Mohammed had disposed of the infant's body. Video surveillance showed defendant's vehicle arriving at the site on March 29, 2019, at 9:30 a.m., and Mohammed getting out and disposing of a blue trash bag. Defendant was arrested and charged with murder, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3A(1) and desecrating human remains, N.J.S.A. 2C:22-1.



State v. McClain, 19001375 (N.J. Super. Nov 22, 2024)

Affirmed