An Update: Justice Served

Every now and then the scales of justice will balance. When I first wrote about this, I wasn't even thinking toward a resolution, but here it is.

From the Asbury.Park.Press, July 11, 2008.

FREEHOLD — A jury in Monmouth County today found a Virginia man guilty of murdering a 30-year-old Long Branch man and attempting to murder a 26-year-old Long Branch man in a double-shooting outside a bar in 2006.After deliberating less than a day, the jury found Rashaan Lewis, 26, of Nathalie, Va. guilty of the murder of Herbert Hoover Lambert Bell and the attempted murder of Ryan Cunningham on Aug. 19, 2006 outside Murphy's Bar on Division Street in Long Branch.

The jury also found Lewis guilty of weapons offenses. Lewis had been on trial before Superior Court Judge Edward M. Neafsey since June 17.

Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Marc LiMieux presented witnesses during the trial that testified Bell, a father of five, was shot seven times outside the bar, minutes after having a fistfight with Lewis. Cunningham was wounded by one of the bullets, which cut through his body, perforating his intestines and requiring a foot of them to be removed.

Defense attorney Kelly Anderson Smith argued during the trial that Lewis, who formerly lived in Long Branch, was a victim of a rumor mill that blamed him for the shooting only because there was a longstanding animosity between him and Bell. That animosity stemmed from an incident in 1998 when Lewis broke into the home of Bell's girlfriend, according to Smith. LiMieux argued Lewis shot Bell to preserve his street reputation after losing the fistfight to Bell minutes earlier. Lewis faces 30 years to life in prison for the murder and 10 to 20 years in prison for the attempted murder. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Neafsey on Aug. 28.