Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced today that an Essex County jury convicted Mellissa Wilson, 35, of Newark of brutally assaulting another woman with a box cutter in a dispute over a man following a trial before the Honorable Thomas Moore, J.S.C.
Wilson was convicted on all charges – one count of burglary, one count of aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. She was also convicted on one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
Wilson attacked the victim in the presence of her six-year-old child, causing deep lacerations to the victim’s face and back. The assault occurred on June 5, 2010.
“This was a horrific case of a woman, who needed a place to stay temporarily with her young son, being ambushed by another woman in a fight over a man,’’ said Assistant Prosecutor Marlyen Habib.
Wilson is related to the wife of the man who allowed the victim to stay in a separate apartment in their multi-family home. The wife wanted the victim out of the house. The state’s theory of the case was that she enlisted the defendant to attack the woman.
When Wilson is sentenced on Feb. 1, 2013, she faces a maximum of ten years in New Jersey State Prison.
