FREEHOLD – Police have charged 2 men in connection with a July, 2015 murder in Eatontown. The arrests are the result of a joint investigation between the Eatontown Police Department and Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office which begun on July 10, 2015 and continued over the course of almost a year and a half, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
On July 10, 2015, at approximately 12:13 a.m., Eatontown Police responded to the entrance of Country Club Apartments at the corner of Tilton Avenue and Country Club Road based upon shots being fired. Upon response, police located the victim, Rasheem Palmer, 37, of Eatontown, who was located lying in the roadway on Country Club Road. Police quickly determined that the victim had been shot and contacted emergency medical services, who arrived shortly thereafter. The victim was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center; where, despite life-saving efforts, he was pronounced dead at 2:47 a.m.
As a result of this joint investigation, Frederick Reed, 20 of New Castle, Delaware and Perry Veney, 30 of Long Branch, New Jersey were charged with first degree Murder and second degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose. Veney was also charged with second degree Certain Persons not to have a Weapon.
If convicted of first degree Murder, Reed and Veney face a minimum sentence of thirty years in State Prison during which time they would be ineligible for parole and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, subject to the provisions of the “No Early Release Act (“NERA”). NERA requires that a defendant serve 85% of the sentence imposed before becoming eligible for parole. If convicted of second degree Possession of a Firearm for an Unlawful Purpose, they face a maximum of ten years in State Prison, which is subject to a mandatory minimum of 1/3 of the sentence imposed or 3.5 years, whichever is greater, without parole. Veney also faces a maximum sentence of ten years in State Prison if convicted of the Certain Persons not to have a Weapon charge, which is subject to a mandatory minimum of five years without parole.
Frederick Reed was taken into custody on December 28, 2016 in Delaware and is currently being held in a local correctional institution while he awaits extradition back to New Jersey. Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Kathleen A. Sheedy set Reed’s bail at $1.1 million, cash only.
Veney turned himself in to police on December 30, 2016 and is being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution. Veney’s bail was set at 1.2 million, cash only, by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Honora O’Brien Kilgallen.
The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Meghan Doyle.
Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.
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