News from

John Amodeo and Chris Brown

New Jersey General Assembly, District 2
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 29, 2012 Contact: 609-677-8266

AMODEO AND BROWN BILL TO CHANGE TO MANSLAUGHTER SENTENCING PASSES ASSEMBLY

NORTHFIELD Two murders. Two different penalties. A bill sponsored by Assemblymen John Amodeo and Chris A. Brown (both R-Atlantic) that passed the General Assembly last Thursday would correct that discrepancy and bring fairness to New Jerseys sentencing laws. It is time for families to receive the justice they deserve, Amodeo said. There were two prominent cases in our county. One man gets a life sentence for killing his girlfriend and another man gets nine years for killing his wife. We dont see why there should be any difference in the punishment. The two cases were Nicholas Nigro III who killed his girlfriend and her mother and John Hilyard who killed his wife. Nigro will serve at least 106 years (two life sentences) in prison while Hilyard will serve just over seven years in a prison cell. The key difference between the cases was that Hilyard committed his crime in the heat of passion. The violent taking of a life should not just be second degree crime, Brown said, referring to the current law which deems Hilyards crime as passion-provocation manslaughter. Passion-provocation manslaughter is classified as a crime of the second degree that is punishable by imprisonment for five to 10 years and a fine not to exceed $150,000 or both. Our bill balances the scales of justice to where they should be. Amodeo and Brown are prime sponsors of A-2712, which would upgrade passionprovocation to a crime of the first degree, carrying penalties of 10 to 20 years of imprisonment and a maximum fine of $200,000. A-2712 now heads to the Senate for further consideration.

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