By Robert Florida
Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II announced that Jashon Allen, 34, of East Orange, was sentenced to 28 years in prison following a guilty plea to aggravated manslaughter for killing Daimeir Nelson in October 2020.
On Friday, February 17, 2023, Allen was sentenced by the Honorable Ronald D. Wigler, Judge of the Superior Court.
Late last year, Allen admitted to shooting Nelson, 22, of East Orange, in exchange for the 28-year sentence in New Jersey State Prison. Under the No Early Release Act, Allen must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. The defendant also on November 28, 2022, pled guilty to second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun without a permit. He must serve five years of parole supervision after being released from State Prison.
Nelson was fatally shot on Oct. 27, 2020, in the doorway of an apartment on Lincoln Street in East Orange, where he was attending a party, according to Assistant Prosecutor Austin Edwards, who handled the case. The defendant had been kicked out of the apartment where the party was occurring. But when the apartment door was reopened, Allen shot into the doorway, fatally striking Nelson in the chest.
“This was a senseless act of violence,” said Edwards. “I hope this sentence brings some closure to the Nelson family, although I know they will forever be affected by the actions of the defendant.”
This is Allen’s second conviction for a gun-related offense. In November 2016, he was sentenced to 42 months in State Prison after being convicted of unlawfully possessing a handgun without a permit.
