Eldridge Hawkins

Eldridge Hawkins (born September 4, 1940) is an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1972 to 1978.

Hawkins was born in East Orange, New Jersey. Hawkins is a lawyer, and served from 1970 to 1972 as the city prosecutor of East Orange. In 1971, Hawkins was elected to the District 11D of the New Jersey General Assembly at the age of 31, along with his running mate, Caldwell mayor Peter Stewart. In 1973, Hawkins ran for the Assembly in the 26th District with Richard Codey and Frank J. Dodd for the New Jersey Senate, with all three winning seats. In the 1977 Democratic primary for the Senate seat, Hawkins and tennis star Althea Gibson challenged incumbent Frank J. Dodd, who had the support of Essex County Democratic organization under County Chairman Harry Lerner. With Gibson and Hawkins splitting the anti-organization vote, Dodd won the nomination and the subsequent general election.

In 1975, at the request of then New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne, who was reviewing a request to issue executive clemency for Rubin Carter and John Artis, both convicted of a triple-murder case in Paterson, New Jersey, on June 17, 1966. Hawkins, assisted by investigator Prentiss Thompson, issued "The Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter and John Artis Investigation" concluding that the triggermen were not Carter and Artis, but Eddie Rawls and Elwood Tuck, predominantly based upon one witness's recollection of the murders, after the first trial of Carter and Artis.

His son, Eldridge Hawkins, Jr., was elected as mayor of Orange, New Jersey in 2008.

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