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Maliki Johnson, age 18, of Dover, Delaware was sentenced to nine years to life in state prison on Friday, May 5 for the 2020 murder of Yonkers resident Javon Merrill, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office announced.
On the day of the shooting, Oct. 27, 2020, just after 9:30 p.m., the then-15-year-old Johnson shot the 27-year-old victim in the chest with a .38 pistol as he was leaving the Triangle Deli at 286 Ashburton Ave. in Yonkers.
After the shooting, which was caught on surveillance video, Johnson then fled the scene and left a sweatshirt behind, which was later recovered by police and linked to him through DNA evidence.
Merrill was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Yonkers, where he died as a result of his injuries.
An investigation into Merrill's death conducted by Yonkers Police with the help of the Westchester County Department of Laboratories and Research used video surveillance, DNA forensics, and interviews with witnesses to identify Johnson as the suspect, officials from the DA's Office said.
Johnson, who was prosecuted as a juvenile defender under the law, was arrested in Dover on Aug. 4, 2021, and arraigned on an indictment in Westchester County on Aug. 10, 2021. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Friday, March 3, 2023.
"Today’s sentence is justice for Javon Merrill’s family and holds this defendant accountable for committing this cold-blooded murder," said Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah of the case.
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