Life sentence for robber who killed N.J. gas station clerk

The man who fatally shot a Speedway gas station clerk during a 2018 robbery in New Jersey was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole.

It was just days before Christmas, around 4 a.m., when Marcus Wright, now 27, shot 38-year-old John Bertram in the face after the clerk handed over cash at the Speedway station in Edison.

Wright, of Beaufort, S.C., was joined by Olya Quinnam, who drove the getaway car, though she claimed at the time not to have known her partner in crime was going to shoot someone. Both were 22 when they committed the crime.

The pair were arrested in January 2019 in their hometown and extradited to New Jersey. Quinnam was charged with second-degree conspiracy to commit armed robbery and hindering apprehension, NJ.com reported at the time. Wright was charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery, plus second-degree conspiracy to commit armed robbery and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

While awaiting extradition to New Jersey, Wright allegedly killed his cellmate in a fight in 2019, the Courier News and Home News Tribune reported.

Quinnam pleaded guilty in September 2019 to one count of first-degree armed robbery. Under a plea agreement she testified against Wright and consented to a 15-year sentence, My Central Jersey reported. Wright was convicted in September 2023.

The Dec. 20, 2018, robbery stunned those who knew and loved Bertram, who had a learning disability and was working the night shift solely to afford taxes on the house he had just inherited from his father, My Central Jersey reported.

Bertram was remembered by those who mourned him as “extremely loyal” to his family, his aunt told the Courier News and Home News Tribune.