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“I f–ked him up,” authorities said Tyheem Jones told police after he and three companions chased down and jumped Nicolas Reyes, then kicked, punched and pistol-whipped him near the corner of Auburn Street and Godwin Avenue on Aug. 27, 2020.
Reyes died of his injuries at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson the very next day.
“Evidence of the assault was captured on surveillance camera which depicted the entirety of the incident, which lasted approximately eleven minutes,” Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said.
Passaic County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Evan Mongiardo presented the case to the jury, which returned a verdict of aggravated manslaughter against Jones on Friday, Nov. 3 after deliberating for a day and a half.
Superior Court Judge Joseph Portelli scheduled sentencing for Jan. 25, 2024.
Defense attorney Mark Bailey argued that several other friends of the 31-year-old man who was shot in the head joined Jones in chasing Reyes for several blocks before pummeling him.
Prosecutors called Jones the main aggressor while noting that he punched and kicked Reyes, then jumped on his head with two feet while supporting himself against a car.
Jones had previously served time for a 2007 shooting and received probation for another aggravated assault conviction in 2018, records show.
He's remained jailed since police arrested him with blood on his sneakers at the scene of the beating.
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