The co-defendants who shot and killed 19-year-old Devahje Bing in 2013 are now state prisoners.
Tahj Laws, 22, and Kareem McNeil, 28, have each pleaded guilty for their roles in the homicide and are serving hard time in state prison, records show.
(From left) Tahj Laws and Kareem McNeil
A Superior Court judge formally punished the duo last month, sentencing Laws to 18 years of incarceration and McNeil to 10 years behind bars.
The shooting occurred about 5 p.m. May 25, 2013, at Trenton’s Oakland Park Apartments following a verbal argument between Laws and Bing. Laws escalated the conflict by obtaining a handgun from McNeil, who willingly handed over the weapon, authorities said.
Laws fired several shots from the weapon, striking Bing several times in the upper torso, prosecutors said. The victim later died at the hospital.
Devahje Bing
Police arrested Laws on May 27, 2013, two days after the slaying. He was a 16-year-old juvenile on electronically monitored house arrest at the time, authorities said.
McNeil, a convicted burglar, was 22 and serving non-custodial probation at the time of the homicide, records show. Police arrested him several weeks later.
A grand jury handed up an indictment in September 2014 charging Laws and McNeil with murder and weapons offenses. Both men pleaded guilty last September, Laws confessing to first-degree aggravated manslaughter and McNeil owning responsibility for second-degree reckless manslaughter, records show. Both of the killers are from Trenton.
In addition to their prison sentences, both defendants have been ordered to pay $18,637 in restitution joint and several. Most of that money will compensate the Bing family for their loss, according to the judgment of conviction.
Laws has been awarded 2,185 days of jail credit for being in custody from May 27, 2013, to May 20, 2019. He is currently incarcerated at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility and is scheduled to be released from prison on Sept. 12, 2028, according to the New Jersey Department of Corrections.
McNeil has been awarded 2,161 days of jail credit for being in custody from June 20, 2013, to May 20, 2019. He is currently incarcerated at South Woods State Prison with a parole eligibility date of Dec. 19, 2021, and a maximum release date of June 29, 2022, according to the DOC.
Upon release from state prison, McNeil will be subjected to three years of parole supervision and Laws will be subjected to five years of parole supervision. Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw sentenced both men on May 21.