New Jersey Men Sentenced 60, 50 Years

Two New Jersey men were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for separate fatal shootings: Tyrone Cradle, 29, received 60 years for ambushing and fatally shooting his stepfather, Rasool Crews, outside their Newark home on May 19, 2023, and Jimmy Mercedes, 41, was sentenced to 50 years for gunning down 62-year-old Daryle Robinson on a Paterson street on May 5, 2024. Cradle was convicted of first-degree murder and weapons offenses after surveillance video showed him emerging from the side of the home, firing multiple shots and fleeing; he was arrested four days later and must serve at least 85% of the term (about 51 years) under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act. Reports also tie Cradle to a prior federal indictment related to drug distribution and alleged gang affiliation. Mercedes was convicted earlier this year and received consecutive terms totaling 50 years — 40 years (with 37.5 years parole ineligibility) plus 10 years (with five years parole ineligibility) — based in part on surveillance footage; he was arrested five days after the Paterson shooting. Prosecutors described the killings as cold, premeditated acts and framed the lengthy sentences as accountability for violent crimes that left families grieving.