He was in today in court in Newark where prosecutors dropped a charge of unlawful flight.
An Essex County man accused in the carjacking and fatal shooting of a man outside a New Jersey mall was tracked to an Easton area hotel through his cellphone’s GPS system, court documents say.
Details of the arrest of Basim Henry were revealed as the 32-year-old was scheduled to appear this morning in federal court in Newark where prosecutors sought to drop a charge of unlawful flight.
Henry is accused of violating the terms of his supervised release, stemming from a 2006 bank robbery conviction, which prohibited him from leaving the state of New Jersey.
Henry was one of four men arrested in the Dec. 15 carjacking and killing of Dustin Friedland outside The Mall at Short Hills, an upscale retail center in northern New Jersey.
The 30-year-old lawyer from Hoboken was shot in the head in the mall parking garage after being confronted by two carjackers, authorities said. The assailants drove off in his silver Range Rover, which was found the next morning in Newark, about 10 miles from Short Hills.
Surveillance video from the scene showed a vehicle registered to Henry's mother was used by the assailants to arrive at the scene, records say. A co-conspirator has also confirmed Henry's role as the getaway driver, according to court documents.
Two days after the shooting, a cellphone registered to Henry showed he was at a hotel in the Easton area, court records say. He was arrested Saturday morning by an FBI task force. The FBI raided a room early Saturday at the Comfort Inn at the 25th Street Shopping Center in Palmer Township, a hotel manager said.
Authorities have not said what ties, if any, Henry has to the Easton area aside from the stay at the hotel.
The charge of unlawful flight allowed federal authorities to arrest Henry out of state and return him to New Jersey without an extradition hearing. That charge was dismissed this morning as a procedural matter, authorities said, allowing U.S. marshals to hand over Henry to Essex County detectives on a charge of felony murder.
Henry also faces various weapons charges as well as carjacking and conspiracy counts.
While all charges are currently being filed under state law, there is the potential Henry and his co-conspirators could face the death penalty if they were charged in federal court. When prosecuted under federal law, felony murder includes the possibility of capital punishment.
Rebekah Carmichael, a U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman, said this afternoon that federal authorities were working closely with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office but no decision has been made on where the charges will be filed.
"We are working together to provide assistance when we can and we'll be continuing to talk to that office to determine what the best course of action will be going forward," she said. "It is too early in process to determine what the ultimate charges will be."
Henry and his three co-defendants are currently being held in the Essex County jail in lieu of $2 million bail.