Former Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy pardoned the son of a major fundraiser on the same day a jury convicted him of a fatal hit-and-run.
Harris Jacobs, 28, was charged with striking and killing 76-year-old Orlando Fraga in Atlantic City in September 2022, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Jacobs left the scene without calling law enforcement, according to testimony obtained by BreakingAC. The pardon arrived before the verdict did, defense attorney Lou Barbone said.
“My client received a call from governor’s counsel at 7:30 a.m.,” the lawyer said. “The pardon was issued but not in our possession. We know it was issued before the verdict.” (RELATED: Governor Frees Convicted Murderer From Prison After 25 Years Because Apparently Kim Kardashian Asked Him To)
The conviction would have sent Jacobs to prison for five to ten years, BreakingAC reported.
Jacobs is the son of Joe Jacobs, a powerful Atlantic City figure and longtime Murphy ally, the Inquirer reported. The elder Jacobs reportedly raised more than $100,000 for first lady Tammy Murphy’s failed 2024 Senate campaign at a single fundraiser, according to InsiderNJ. After the incident, Harris Jacobs contacted his father ten times but never dialed 911, testimony said.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office condemned the pardon in a statement, Politico reported. A Murphy appointee runs the office.
A N.J. power broker’s son was convicted in a fatal hit-and-run. Former Gov. Murphy pardoned him on his last day. https://t.co/79cRBcMkC4
— The Philadelphia Inquirer (@PhillyInquirer) January 20, 2026
“Unfortunately, when politics pervades justice, the rule of law becomes subordinate to influence and power,” the statement said. “Justice must be blind to status, relationships, power, and expediency; when it is not, the community loses faith in the very system meant to protect it.”
Murphy also commuted the sentence of Mordechai Berkowitz, 24, the New Jersey Monitor reported. Berkowitz pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide after killing a 44-year-old woman in Lakewood in 2022 while driving over 90 mph in a 35-mph zone with a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
A judge sentenced him in December to six years using the No Early Release Act, the Monitor reported. Murphy’s commutation will free him in early 2028 with three years’ parole. Berkowitz’s lawyer is Lee Vartan, a former federal prosecutor Murphy looked at as a potential attorney general in 2022, according to the outlet.
Murphy issued no pardons during his first term, Politico reported. He granted 455 clemencies in his final year alone.
The Daily Caller reached out to Murphy for comment.