Neptune man gets 40 years for 2008 murder of Eatontown man
Asbury Park man, two other Neptune men previously sentenced
Lashawn Fitch, 23, Neptune was sentenced Friday to 40 years in a New Jersey state prison for his role in the 2008 murder of 24-year-old Nathaniel Wiggins of Eatontown, according to a news release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Brothers Tahj J. Pines and Aron T. Pines, both of Neptune, and Kenneth M. Bacon-Vaughters, of Asbury Park, were previously convicted and sentenced for their involvement in the incident.
The convictions stem from a March 11, 2008 incident when Eatontown police responded to a late night 9-1-1 call of shots fired in the borough and arrived to find Wiggins lying on the floor of his second floor apartment with a serious gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead the following day.
According to evidence presented during this case and statements made in court, Fitch, the Pines brothers, and Bacon-Vaughters drove to Wiggins’ Eatontown apartment with the intent to rob him. Three of the four, including Fitch, exited the motor vehicle and Wiggins’ apartment while the fourth man remained in the vehicle to facilitate a quick getaway after the robbery.
Bacon-Vaughters knocked on Wiggins’ door and the victim, recognizing Bacon-Vaughters, opened the door believing he was alone. Tahj Pines and Fitch waited outside the door when . One of the three men shot Wiggins with a handgun. All three men then fled from the scene in the waiting vehicle.
Fitch was convicted in February of felony murder, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
The 40-year sentence is subject to the No Early Release Act (NERA), requiring he must serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed, or 34 years, before he is eligible for parole.
Bacon-Vaughters was sentenced to 40 years in prison with an 85 percent period of parole on March 24, 2011.
Aron Pines was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment with an 85% period of parole ineligibility on February 7, 2012.
Tahj J. Pines was sentenced to 50 years in prison with an 85 percent period of parole ineligibility on December 21, 2012.
The case was prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Christopher J. Decker and Christopher Matthews. Fitch represented himself at trial with the assistance of standby counsel, Theodore Campbell, Esq., of New Brunswick.
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