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Police & Fire
Killer Who Waited On Victim's NJ Porch To Shoot Him Convicted: Prosecutor Killer Who Waited On Victim's NJ Porch To Shoot Him Convicted: Prosecutor
Killer Who Waited On Victim's NJ Porch To Shoot Him Convicted: Prosecutor A 55-year-old North Carolina resident was convicted in the June 2021 shooting death of Renown Wilson, a 55-year-old Orange resident, authorities said. James Height was found guilty of aggravated manslaughter in the first degree on Wednesday, August 9 following a two-week trial in Essex County Superior Court, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II said. Height was also convicted on several weapons charges, Stephens said. Height shot Wilson with a .32 revolver inside Wilson's Orange home, Stephens said. Height died a week later, Stephens said. Video footage shows Height walk…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Paramus Motorcyclist Struck Near Home Dies, Driver Charged With Aggravated Manslaughter UPDATE: Paramus Motorcyclist Struck Near Home Dies, Driver Charged With Aggravated Manslaughter
Update: Paramus Motorcyclist Struck Near Home Dies, Driver Charged With Aggravated Manslaughter A Paramus man who was critically injured when he was struck by a car last weekend died, authorities confirmed on Friday, July 28. Charges against the intoxicated driver who hit him were upgraded, they said. Cody Cleary, 28, was on his 2015 Yamaha motorcycle when he was rammed from behind on Farview Drive -- practically around the corner from his family's home -- shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, July 23, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella confirmed. Cleary -- whose brother, Michael, is a Paramus police officer -- was rushed to Hackensack University Medical Center. He remained in critical co…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paramus Motorcyclist Struck Near Home Dies, Driver Charged With Aggravated Manslaughter Paramus Motorcyclist Struck Near Home Dies, Driver Charged With Aggravated Manslaughter
Paramus Motorcyclist Struck Near Home Dies, Driver Charged With Aggravated Manslaughter A Paramus man who was gravely injured when he was struck by a car last weekend died, authorities confirmed on Friday, July 28. Charges against the intoxicated driver who hit him were upgraded, they said. Cody Cleary, 28, was on his 2015 Yamaha motorcycle when he was rammed from behind on Farview Drive -- practically around the corner from his family's home -- shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, July 23, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella confirmed. Cleary -- whose brother, Michael, is a Paramus police officer -- was rushed to Hackensack University Medical Center. He remained in…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
DUI Driver Sentenced For Crash That Killed Popular NJ Restaurant Owner DUI Driver Sentenced For Crash That Killed Popular NJ Restaurant Owner
DUI Driver Sentenced For Crash That Killed Popular NJ Restaurant Owner A repeat drunk-driving offender was sentenced to 12 years in New Jersey State Prison for a crash that killed a popular restaurant owner last September. Desmond Newberry, 45, of Marlton, was sentenced on Monday, June 19  for causing the death of Mount Laurel's Glenn Keen in the parking lot of Cucina Carini, the restaurant he owned, according to Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw. Newberry pleaded guilty earlier this year to aggravated manslaughter. The investigation began on Sept. 3, 2022, when officers from the Mount Laurel Police Department were dispatched to t…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
NJ Amazon Driver's Killer Gets 25 Years Behind Bars: Prosecutor NJ Amazon Driver's Killer Gets 25 Years Behind Bars: Prosecutor
NJ Amazon Driver's Killer Gets 25 Years Behind Bars: Prosecutor A 28-year-old Plainfield man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the fatal shooting of an Amazon driver in 2021. Quahif Lane's sentence for aggravated manslaughter was handed down on Friday, May 26, by Union County Superior Court Judge Stacy Boretz, Union County Prosecutor William Daniel said. In September 2021, Plainfield Police responded to the 200 block of Garfield Ave and found Jamar Harris, a 36-year-old Newark resident, suffering from a gunshot wound, Daniel said. Harris was pronounced dead at the scene, Daniel said. 

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
Hotel Homicide: Bergen County Man Gets 25 Years Behind Bars Hotel Homicide: Bergen County Man Gets 25 Years Behind Bars
Hotel Homicide: Bergen County Man Gets 25 Years Behind Bars A 32-year-old Bergenfield man was sentenced to 25 years in state prison for stabbing a man at a hotel in Elizabeth in 2022. The sentence for aggravated manslaughter was handed down to Javan Johnson on Thursday, May 25 by Judge Thomas Isenhour, Union County Prosecutor William Daniel said. In March 2022, Elizabeth Police responded to the Country Inn and Suites and found Marlon Pantin critically injured from being stabbed, Daniel said. The man was transported to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Daniel said. 

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Getaway Driver, 21, In Fairview Drug Murder Gets 30 Years Without Parole UPDATE: Getaway Driver, 21, In Fairview Drug Murder Gets 30 Years Without Parole
Update: Getaway Driver, 21, In Fairview Drug Murder Gets 30 Years Without Parole The getaway driver in the cold-blooded killing of a Fairview man during a drug-related apartment robbery was sentenced to 30 years without parole in state prison. David Martinez, 21, of North Bergen watched as three men who were in the apartment when David Duque Soto was shot in June 2019 took guilty pleas rather than risk the consequences of a trial. Martinez let a jury decide his fate and was convicted on March 13 in Hackensack of felony murder, armed robbery, conspiracy and weapons possession. Assistant Bergen County Prosecutors Suzanne Cevasco and Matthew Fitzpatrick presented 16 witn…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Newark Woman Gets 28 Years For Deadly Drive-By Shooting Newark Woman Gets 28 Years For Deadly Drive-By Shooting
Newark Woman Gets 28 Years For Deadly Drive-By Shooting A 31-year-old woman from Newark who killed a man and wounded another in a drive-by shooting has been sentenced to 28 years in New Jersey State Prison. Chantal Mitchell, who had two prior drug-dealing convictions, was sentenced on Friday, March 17 for killing Deitrick Mitchell, 21, of Newark, according to Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens. The fatal shooting followed an argument in front of a bodega, Stephens said. The two Mitchells were not related. Chantal Mitchell admitted to the double-shooting in exchange for the 28-year sentence. She pleaded guilty to aggr…

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by Jon Craig
News
Ecuadorian National Pleads Guilty To Brutal Stabbing Death Of Popular Bergen County Chef Ecuadorian National Pleads Guilty To Brutal Stabbing Death Of Popular Bergen County Chef
Ecuadorian National Pleads Guilty To Brutal Stabbing Death Of Popular Bergen County Chef A Jersey City man who brutally stabbed a well-known chef to death during a party at the victim’s Little Ferry home cut a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter in exchange for a lesser sentence. Ray Edwardo Arcentales Sanchez, 24, could still get a minimum sentence of 10 years in state prison for the plea, entered in Superior Court in Hackensack earlier this week. Then there’s the matter of his citizenship. Police at the time said the Ecuadorian national was sitting on a curb, spattered with blood, when officers responding to a 911 call found a mortally wounded …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Angry Ex-Con Kicked Out Of NJ Party Killed Innocent Victim Inside — Now He Learns His Fate Angry Ex-Con Kicked Out Of NJ Party Killed Innocent Victim Inside — Now He Learns His Fate
Angry Ex-Con Kicked Out Of NJ Party Killed Innocent Victim Inside — Now He Learns His Fate An East Orange ex-convict who fired a gun inside a party he'd been kicked out of killing an innocent victim has been sentenced to time in prison. Jashon Allen, 34, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter for killing Daimeir Nelson at the Lincoln Street bash on Oct. 27, 2020, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II said. Allen had gotten the boot from the bash when he fired a gun in the doorway of the home, striking Nelson in the chest after the door had been reopened, according to Assistant Prosecutor Austin Edwards, who handled the case. Allen was sent…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Ex-Con Gets 10 Years As Accomplice To Still-Unidentified Killer Of Beloved Paterson DoorDasher Ex-Con Gets 10 Years As Accomplice To Still-Unidentified Killer Of Beloved Paterson DoorDasher
Ex-Con Gets 10 Years As Accomplice To Still-Unidentified Killer Of Beloved Paterson DoorDasher An ex-con was sentenced to a plea-bargained 10 years in state prison for his role in the cold-blooded killing of a DoorDash driver as she made a delivery in Paterson three years ago, authorities said. Authorities haven’t said whether Quadir Whitaker, 37, of East Orange has cooperated with their attempts to identify the shooter who ambushed 43-year-old Petra Rhoden the night of Oct. 4, 2019. That unfortunately leaves the case open -- and loved ones, friends and others who cared for Rhoden still without closure. Whitaker was driving as he and the mystery killer followed Rhoden from a pickup …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Manslaughter Charge Filed In Kearny Man's Killing Manslaughter Charge Filed In Kearny Man's Killing
Manslaughter Charge Filed In Kearny Man's Killing A man previously charged with desecration of human remains in the killing of a Kearny man is facing an additional, more serious offense: Aggravated manslaughter. The charge was filed against Matthew Kochell, 32, in the Tuesday, Sept. 20 stabbing death of Corey McFadden, who was found laying on the ground near Belgrove Drive and Afton Street with multiple stab wounds to his lower body around 5:45 a.m., Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. Kochell and 39-year-old Elliot Barton, a registered sex offender, were both charged with desecration of human remains, after McFadden was…

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by Cecilia Levine