NJ Spotlight News December 31, 2024

NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi

Tonight, a special edition of NJ Spotlight News. As 2024 comes to a close, NJSN reflects on what it has been able to achieve in bringing important stories to you-- but also what it lost. Including a dear friend, and colleague, the consummate Newsman Michael Aron. He was dubbed the Dean of the State House press corps and covered every major political story of the state dating back to the days of Governor Brendan Byrne. But Michael was a dogged reporter even outside the state house… and one story he covered for more than a decade could in fact be is legacy. It certainly is if you ask Quincy Spruell. At 19 years-old, Spruell was charged with murder. For the killing of Leonard Thompson, an East Orange drug dealer. The details of his story struck a chord with Michael Aron... after years of his reporting along with the help of a former NJ Attorney General and the Rutgers Law Clinic... they proved his innocence. Uncovering a frightening story of mistakes... and misconduct that led to Spruell's wrongful conviction. Michael was there when Spruell walked out of Northern State Prison in Newark a free man...after serving nearly 25 years of a 30-year-prison sentence. Michael’s reporting was turned into a documentary that aired in 1996 called “A Call for Justice” –Tonight, Part one and then a conversation with Quincy Spruell.