Newark – Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino announced today that Akeeme Thompson, 26, of East Orange and Bloomfield, was sentenced today for the April 3, 2017 murder of Pierre Collins, 34, of East Orange.
Superior Court Judge Verna G. Leath sentenced Thompson to sixty years in prison.
Collins was fatally shot by Thompson near the intersection of Ashland Avenue and Prospect Terrace in East Orange.
At the time of the shooting, Collins was on the phone with a friend, telling her that Thompson was pointing a gun at him. An Essex County jury convicted Thompson of murder and weapons charges on June 7, 2018, after a trial before Judge Leath.
Thompson must serve a minimum of 85% of the sixty- year sentence before he is eligible for parole, according to Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Shaughnessy, who tried the case for the state. Thompson will also have to serve five years of supervised parole after completing his sentence, according to Shaughnessy.