Newark – Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II, announced today that the Honorable Verna G. Leath, Judge of the Superior Court, sentenced Mustafa Hill, 43, to 25-years in New Jersey State Prison for killing 19-year old Armani McPhall on Dec. 22, 2016.
Both men were Newark residents and lived just blocks from the shooting. McPhall was shot around 8 p.m. outside Vailsburg Wine and Liquors in the 900 block of South Orange Avenue in Newark.
In September of this year, on the eve of trial, Hill pled guilty to aggravated manslaughter and unlawful possession of a weapon in exchange for a recommendation of a sentence of 25 years in state prison. He must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
Assistant Prosecutor Justin Edwab, who handled the case, also noted that the sentence included five years parole supervision when Hill is released for prison.
The shooting was captured on an in-store video which helped the Essex County Prosecutors Office Homicide Task Force charge Mustafa Hill that same evening.
In response to the defendant’s request for leniency Edwab said, “The defendant shot Mr. McPhall not once, not twice, but four times. He didn’t show the victim any leniency. This man deserves no leniency from this court,’’ said Edwab.
During sentencing Edwab highlighted to the Judge that Hill had shown no remorse.
This is Hill’s second homicide. In May of 1993, when he was a juvenile, he was waived up to adult court and sentenced to 20 years for aggravated manslaughter. That sentence required him to serve