Judge in Hackensack has harsh words, 4-year sentence, for girlfriend beater

“I know you have four children, and your sentence to state prison will be a hardship for them,” Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi told Michael Maggette. “But you are the one who has created this hardship.

“At some point, you haven’t learned your lesson,” the judge said.

Public Defender Gail Hargrove asked that DeAvila-Silebi to reduce the sentence to three years, but the judge said a plea deal reached with prosecutors already cut what would could have been a 12-year term by two-thirds.

“I cannot reduce it by another year,” she said.

Originally charged with several offenses, Maggette, 39, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

Under the No Early Release Act for being convicted of a violent crime, he must serve nearly three and a half years before he is eligible for parole.

The case was transferred from Passaic County to Bergen because of potential conflicts: The victim works in the criminal justice system there.

DeAvila-Silebi denied Maggette’s request to await his transfer to state prison in the Passaic County Jail.

“He’s sentenced in Bergen so he’s going to go to Bergen County Jail,” she said. “He’s a convicted prisoner now.”

Bergen County Sheriff’s officers then returned Maggette to the county lockup.

STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

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