18-year jail sentence for gang-related slaying of NJ teen, 16

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) - One of three defendants arrested as juveniles in the shooting death of another teenager at a New Jersey restaurant the day after Christmas in 2018 has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Now-18-year-old Jaquay Gleaton of Jersey City was sentenced Thursday in Hudson County in the Dec. 26, 2018 murder of 16-year-old Judane Holmes. Gleaton was also 16 at the time of the slaying of the Snyder High School student, which authorities said was gang-related.

Authorities said Holmes was gunned down by a masked man moments after stepping away from the counter of a Jersey City fried chicken restaurant where he had just placed an order. Authorities said Gleaton was identified as the shooter and his case was waived from juvenile to adult court.

Gleaton pleaded guilty in January 2020 to aggravated manslaughter, authorities said. He will have to serve 85 percent of his term, or 15 years and three months, before being eligible for parole, they said.

Prosecutors said two other teens, aged 14 and 15, were arrested as accomplices and their cases were kept in juvenile court.

NJ.com reports that Holmes' death led to at least one retaliatory shooting in January 2019 that left two people injured. Two suspects were charged in the case and also face federal charges related to gang activity, authorities said.