Talk about a downward departure.
The plea deal went from 25 years with cooperation for a man charged with murder to a dozen years – without any explanation from prosecutors.
Grady A. Blue III
Grady Blue III, 23, jumped at the plea deal Friday in Mercer County criminal court.
In doing so, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter for fatally shooting Naquan Ellis, 23, as he was stood with a group of people outside of the North 25 housing complex in June 2014.
A woman was also hit by gunfire but did not sustain serious injuries.
Blue, who also pleaded to an unrelated gun charge, admitted shooting “recklessly” into the crowd, but didn’t say why or who he was targeting.
His agreement calls for him to serve 12 years for killing Ellis and a concurrent 7-year term on the gun charge, which are expected to be imposed by Judge Thomas Brown at sentencing in November.
Prosecutors sweetened their offer to Blue, who had been floated a deal last year that called for him to serve 30 years for murder.
Assistant Prosecutor Kathleen Petrucci also offered an alternative deal at that time that would have called for Blue to spend 25 years in prison if he cooperated with prosecutors in another case. Petrucci declined to go into detail about what case prosecutors wanted Blue’s help in.
It was not clear if his 12-year deal includes the same terms of cooperation.