Hopson, Jr. sentenced to 20 years for manslaughter
25-year-old admitted to shooting 30-year-old city resident RyeKill Agostini
An Asbury Park man who admitted he was responsible for the 2011 shooting death of another city man was sentenced to 20 years in a New Jersey state prison, according to a news release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Gregory Hopson, Jr., 25, was sentenced to prison Friday by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Reisner, J.S.C. for the 2011 shooting death of RyeKill Agostini, 30, also of Asbury Park.
Hopson is the son of former Board of Education President Gregory Hopson, Sr., who was an unsuccessful city council candidate last year.
While responding to disorderly persons call on Oct. 2, 2011 at Mr. Pizza, Asbury Park police heard gunshots from the 100 block of Ridge Avenue.
There, police found Agostini seated in the driver’s seat of a vehicle but unresponsive. He was transported to the Jersey Shore Medical Center but died from his injuries the next day. An autopsy determined the cause of death was gunshot wounds to the head.
An investigation revealed Hopson shot Agostini following a verbal dispute, leading to Hopson’s arrest on April 14, 2012. Hopson pleaded guilty on February 18, 2014, to the first degree crime of aggravated manslaughter. He later admitted in court he saw Agostini in a car near the intersection of Bangs Avenue and Ridge Avenue, shot him, and later learned he killed his victim. The handgun was never recovered.
He was sentenced to a concurrent three year prison term on an unrelated charge of third degree theft stemming from an incident that occurred in the Cameo Bar in Asbury Park, less two hours prior to the shooting of Agostini.
The plea agreement was reached after consultation with, and the approval of, the victim’s family.
The 20-year sentence is subject to the provisions of the No Early Release Act [NERA], requiring Hopson to serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed, or 17 years, before being eligible for parole.
In imposing his sentence, Judge Reisner cited numerous aggravating factors including Hopson’s involvement in a criminal street gang, his prior criminal record, the risk he will commit another offense, and the need to deter others from violating the law. He found no mitigating factors.
Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Diane Aifer and Paul Alexander handled the case for the State. Hopson was represented by Allison Tucker, Esq., of Freehold.
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