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Thomas Fischkelta was acquitted of all charged yesterday in connection to a 2010 murder in Jersey City

A Jersey City felon charged with murdering a Newark man in a Jersey City housing complex three years ago was acquitted of all charges Thursday after only 45 minutes of jury deliberation.

“He started crying,” attorney Daniel Welsh said of the moment Thomas A. Fischkelta, 28, of Bleecker Street, heard the jury pronounce him not guilty of the July 6, 2010 murder of Jamaal Caldwell, 33, who died in a hail of bullets at Holland Gardens. The victim was was pronounced dead at the Jersey City Medical Center.

“I was fearful he was going to faint so I had him sit down,” Welsh said of his client, who was in jail at the time he was charged with the murder. On Feb. 27 Fischkelta finished serving a 3-year prison term for assault, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and conspiracy to possess drugs.

Welsh said the prosecution’s key witnesses were two of Fischkelta’s former roommates who testified that he told them he killed Caldwell.

But Welsh stressed to the jury that homicide investigators had several suspects, including one who was arrested two days after the killing, but they failed to follow up on them because statements made by the roommates.

Welsh said the man originally arrested was identified by an off-duty police officer who said the man left the building shortly before the shots were fired outside one of the buildings and he did not return.

The attorney said the initial suspect went on the run afterward because he knew he was being sought by police. When he was tracked down he was he was charged with a drug offense, but not the murder.

After finishing his prison sentence, Fischkelta was moved to Hudson County jail in Kearny, where he was held on a $1 million bail on the murder charge and two related weapons charges related to a handgun.

Last night he was finally a free man, Welsh said.

“I was very heartened because I truly believed he was innocent and I am very overwhelmed and humbled that the jury paid attention, they were diligent and they came back with the right verdict,” said Welsh.

The trial was heard before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Joseph Isabella. It began on Nov. 12 and included five days of testimony.



The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's spokesman could not be reached for comment on the acquittal.