---

A city man has been indicted for the 2011 murder of RyeKill Agostini, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced in a press release yesterday.

The indictment handed up by a Monmouth County Grand Jury charges Gregory Hopson Jr., 25, with “first-degree murder, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, and second-degree certain persons not to possess weapons,” the release reads.

Hopson was charged with murder in April 2012 as the result of an investigation following Agostini’s death in October 2011.

Hopson’s father, Gregory Hopson Sr., is running for city council on the Forward Asbury Park ticket. He is also a past president and current member of the city’s board of education. After learning of his son’s indictment, Hopson Sr. said the charges will not affect his campaign, as his son is an adult who has made his own choices.

From the press release:

On Oct. 2, 2011, Asbury Park police were responding to a report of a disorderly male at Mr. Pizza around 2:11 a.m. when gunshots were heard from the 100 block of Ridge Avenue. The responding officer found the unresponsive victim seated in the driver’s seat of a vehicle. He was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, where he died the following day.

The Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death was gunshot wounds to the head. A subsequent investigation revealed Hopson shot the victim following a verbal dispute.

As a result of the investigation, Hopson was arrested and charged with murder on April 14, 2012, and lodged in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution where he remains held on $3 million bail as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Thomas F. Scully, J.S.C.

If convicted of murder, Hopson faces a minimum sentence of 30 years in a New Jersey State Prison, with a 30-year period of parole ineligibility and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The murder charge is subject to the provisions of the “No Early Release Act,” which requires that a defendant serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed before being eligible for parole. If convicted of the second degree charges, Hopson would be subject to 10 years in a New Jersey state prision with a five-year period of parole ineligibility for each offense.

Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.

The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Diane Aifer and Paul Alexander. Hopson is represented by Allison Tucker, Esq., of Freehold.

————————————————————–

[NOTE: This story was edited to include the comments of Gregory Hopson Sr.]

---