Man sentenced to life in prison for Edison, NJ gas station murder

👨‍⚖️ Man shot gas station clerk during robbery

👨‍⚖️ Sentenced to life in prison

👨‍⚖️ Also charged with killing his cellmate

EDISON — A South Carolina man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 2018 murder of a gas station clerk from Woodbridge.

Marcus A. Wright, 27, of Beaufort, S.C. was sentenced in Middlesex County Superior Court on Monday.

It comes after Wright was convicted last September after a two-week trial on charges including first-degree murder, first-degree armed robbery, second-degree conspiracy to commit robbery, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, and second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

The charges stem from an armed robbery at an Edison Speedway on Dec. 20, 2018.

According to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, Wright walked into the gas station on Amboy Avenue and demanded money from the clerk while holding a handgun.

John Bertram, 38, was working behind the counter that night. Bertram went into the register and gave Wright the cash.

Wright then shot Bertram despite his cooperation. The clerk had worked at the store for about eight months before the killing, according to his obituary.

"He was a gentle giant, always helpful, and a man true to his word. He loved to garden and will be missed by all who knew him," Bertram's obituary said.

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Wright and Olya Quinnam, 26, also of Beaufort, were both arrested in South Carolina just over two weeks after the killing. Authorities said Quinnam waited outside the store while Wright carried out the robbery.

Quinnam pleaded guilty in 2019 to one count of first-degree armed robbery. She testified against Wright at his trial to shorten her sentence to ten years in prison, CBS 2 New York reported.

After Wright's arrest in 2019 but before his extradition to New Jersey, he was being held at the Lieber Correctional Institute in South Carolina.

The South Carolina Department of Corrections said to WLTX-TV that Wright killed his cellmate Matthew Williams during a fight in their cell on Sept. 13, 2019.

Williams's family received a $250,000 settlement from South Carolina after filing a wrongful death lawsuit in 2022, WCSC reported.

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