A Passaic County jury has convicted Mark A. Holdbrooks in the 2015 killing of former New York Knicks draft pick Michael Wright, wrapping up an eight-week trial with guilty verdicts on every count and setting the stage for a high-stakes sentencing this summer.
Holdbrooks, 69, of Closter, was found guilty of first-degree murder along with related theft, drug, disturbing human remains and hindering charges. Sentencing is scheduled for Friday, July 10, 2026, in Passaic County Superior Court, where a judge will decide just how many decades he will serve behind bars.
Jurors delivered their decision after weeks of testimony and forensic evidence in Superior Court, bringing a long-running, cross-state investigation to a decisive moment.
According to Daily Voice, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Holdbrooks was found guilty on all counts at the close of the eight-week proceeding. The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office led the investigation after Wright was reported missing in November 2015.
The case dates back to November 2015, when Wright was reported missing and, days later, his body was found inside an SUV parked on a Brooklyn street, as reported by CBS News. Wright, a former University of Arizona standout drafted by the Knicks in 2001, never appeared in an NBA regular-season game and instead built his professional career overseas. Authorities eventually charged Holdbrooks and an alleged accomplice after a yearlong probe into the Midwood, Brooklyn discovery.
Inside the prosecution’s story
Prosecutors told jurors that on Nov. 5, 2015, Holdbrooks drugged Wright with gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) at the Closter home the two men shared and then killed him by striking him in the head with a cinder block, according to Daily Voice.
The state contended that co-defendant David “King” Victor later drove Wright’s vehicle to Brooklyn and abandoned it. Victor previously pleaded guilty in the case, officials said, leaving Holdbrooks to face jurors alone.
Over eight weeks, prosecutors leaned on testimony, phone records and forensic evidence to draw a line from the Closter home to the Brooklyn street where Wright’s body was found.
Sentencing clock starts ticking
Sentencing is set for July 10, when the judge will weigh aggravating and mitigating factors before deciding Holdbrooks’ punishment. Under New Jersey law, a first-degree murder conviction can carry a sentence ranging from 30 years to life in prison, and the state’s No Early Release Act requires a minimum parole-ineligibility term equal to 85 percent of the sentence for covered violent crimes, per the New Jersey Administrative Code.
Defense attorneys are expected to present mitigating evidence at the hearing in an effort to chip away at the length of the term. Victim impact statements and legal arguments from both sides are also likely to factor heavily into the judge’s final decision.
For Wright’s family and the Closter community, the guilty verdict marks a turning point in a case that has stretched on for nearly a decade, shifting the focus from whether Holdbrooks did it to how long he will pay for it.
