A New Jersey man has been sentenced for brutally murdering three people and attempting to kill three others after becoming enraged over a Facebook post.
Jeremy Arrington, 32, was sentenced to 375 years behind bars following a 10-day jury trial for the murders of Ariel Little Whitehurst, 7, Al-Jahon Whitehurst, 11, and Syasia McBurroughs, 23, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday.
The prison term is the equivalent of three life sentences per New Jersey law, to be served consecutively, along with additional 50-year sentences for each of three counts of attempted murder.
Under the state’s “No Early Release Act,” which mandates inmates to serve at least 85% of their prison term, Arrington will be eligible for parole in 281 years.
“Justice has been served,” said Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor Justin Edwab. “This defendant is pure evil and clearly deserves all 375 years in New Jersey State Prison for the terrible crimes he committed on Nov. 5, 2016. These families have waited over five years for this moment, and we are all so grateful for this sentence.”
Arrington stood accused of breaking into a Newark home on Nov. 5, 2016, with a loaded gun and holding six people hostage, as previously reported. His captives included the Whitehurst children and McBurroughs – all of whom he murdered – as well as the children’s then-29-year-old mother and her 13-year-old twin siblings, prosecutors stated.
Arrington tied the victims up and began torturing them by “stabbing them with kitchen knives.”
At the time, there were nine people in the home, which was owned by the Whitehurst victims’ grandmother.
“Police were able to respond because a young girl with autism, who is unrelated to the family and was just visiting, escaped and called for help from her phone in a closet,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
source : adomonline
