A Newark NJ man was recently sentenced to 5 years in New Jersey State Prison for shooting and killing another man in Bloomfield, NJ.
The fatal shooting occurred on a Bloomfield street in April 2013. The 27-year-old suspect killed a 24-year-old Belleville man in the 500 block of Beardsley Avenue in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
According to witnesses, the altercation happened after the suspect was approached by several intoxicated people.
Although emergency responders attempted to save the victim, they were unable to do so; he was pronounced dead less than an hour after the shooting.
The suspect was placed under arrest and charged with murder. He was also charged with multiple weapons offenses.
The suspect later reached a plea agreement with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless manslaughter.
During a plea hearing in Essex County Superior Court, the suspect’s public defender argued that the suspect was acting in self-defense because he was “under attack” when the shooting occurred. According to an audio recording of the plea hearing, the suspect’s attorney said that his client’s actions were “understandable” under the circumstances. The Essex County prosecutor countered that the suspect still acted wrongly by killing the victim, who was unarmed.
As a result of the plea deal, the suspect will be required to serve slightly less than 5 years in NJ State Prison. The prosecutors in the case had requested that he be sentenced to 7 years in state prison.
When issuing the sentence, the superior court judge said that the suspect has no prior criminal record and that he is unlikely to commit another violent crime in the future.
For further information about this case, view NJ.com article entitled “Newark Man Gets 5 Years for ‘Understandable’ Fatal Shooting.”
