Arrest Made In South Jersey Birthday Party Double Slaying; Ex-Con Released Earlier Due To COVID

Ronny Paden of Hawthorne Way in Delran was charged with first-degree murder and other weapons and conspiracy offenses, according to Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Edgewater Park Township Police Chief Robert D. Hess 

Paden was taken into custody on May 7, they said. 

Paden reportedly was released from state prison on an earlier charge due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Coffina said. 

An investigation began after police were called to a home in the 200 block of Dogwood Road about 1 a.m. on Jan. 24 and found the bodies of Burlington County residents James Gist III, 29, of Westampton and Marcus Thompson, 29, of Willingboro.

Gist had been shot while inside the driver’s seat of a parked vehicle. Thompson was shot inside the residence. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene, Coffina said. 

About 10 people had gathered at the house to celebrate a birthday in Edgewater Park. The victims were the only ones struck by gunfire. The investigation found that neither victim was the intended target, according to Coffina.

During a hearing on Wednesday in Superior Court, Judge Christopher J. Garrenger ordered that Paden be detained in the Burlington County Jail until the charges are adjudicated.

Assistant Prosecutor Jamie Hutchinson said during the proceeding that the homicides were committed after Paden was released months early from a New Jersey state prison sentence in November 2020 under a law designed to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus among state inmates. The law automatically reduced prison sentences with less than one year remaining, Coffina said. 

Coffina said this case “forces us to pause and consider the public safety implications of the drive over the past year to release inmates early, purportedly due to the coronavirus pandemic.”

“While no one wants state inmates or detainees placed at undue medical risk, the data suggests that inmates are no more likely to die of COVID-19 than any other New Jersey resident,” Coffina said.

“Our residents have been traumatized by the pandemic over the past year-plus, forced to fear for their health, their jobs and their children’s education. They shouldn’t have to fear indiscriminate gun violence as well, Coffina said on Wednesday.

Assistant Prosecutor Bob Van Gilst is handling the case.

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