Man Sentenced in Shooting of Villanova Student From Ridgefield

By ERIC KIEFER (Patch Staff)

A Montclair man may serve 50 years in jail for killing a Ridgefield resident and Villanova student during an alleged drug deal in 2012, authorities reported.

On Monday, a New Jersey Superior Court judge sentenced Ernest Williams, 24, of Montclair, N.J. to 50 years in state prison for killing Villanova student Brian Schiavetti, 21, of Ridgefield.

According to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, on Nov. 2, Williams was found guilty of aggravated manslaughter, felony murder, robbery, weapons offenses and conspiracy to distribute drugs for fatally shooting Schiavetti on July 22, 2012, in the hallway of a senior apartment building in Montclair.

Williams was subsequently acquitted of murder, prosecutors stated.

At trial, Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Naazneen Khan argued that Williams, an admitted drug dealer, lured Schiavetti to New Jersey to rob him.

Khan charged that Schiavetti and his friend Connor Gore, came to New Jersey to purchase oxycodone pills.

Related:

• Ridgefield Man Shot, Killed in New Jersey
• Man Shot Sunday Was Athlete, Academic
• Two Montclair Men Plead Not Guilty in Connection with Villanova Student’s Murder
• Why Was Murdered Student In Montclair?
• Montclair Man Indicted in Murder of Villanova Student
• Montclair Man Accused of Killing Villanova Student Rejects Plea Deal, Report Says
• Judge Nixes Montclair Man’s Request to Drop Charges in Drug Shooting Case
• UPDATE: Montclair Man Charged In Murder Of Villanova Student
• Trial for Shooting Death of Ridgefield College Student Gets Started

Schiavetti was introduced to Williams by Williams’s co-defendant, James Pitts, Jr., the son of Essex County undersheriff James Pitts, according to Khan.

According to prosecutors, Pitts and Schiavetti met while they were attending Villanova University.

Pitts lived a few doors down from Williams and had known him for about eight years at the time of the homicide, authorities stated.

Pitts testified for the state and was sentenced to one year in county jail for his role, according to prosecutors.

Under the No Early Release Act, Williams must serve 85 percent of his sentence, or 42 years and six months, before he is eligible for parole.

According to prosecutors, Superior Court Judge Carolyn Wright noted while imposing her sentence that while Williams had no felony convictions as an adult, he had been arrested five times as a juvenile and been allowed to enter diversion programs.

From the time he turned 18 years old in August 2009 until the time of the Schiavetti’s death in 2012, Williams was arrested 14 more times and was found guilty of disorderly persons offenses in municipal court on six occasions, Wright stated.

Williams has already served 1,237 days in jail and will receive credit for that time, according to prosecutors.

“This is truly a tragic case,” Khan stated. “When Ernest Williams killed Brian Schiavetti over $400, he ended the life of a promising young man and destroyed his own life as well. Brian Schiavetti made a huge mistake coming to Montclair looking to buy drugs, but he should not have had to pay for that with his life.’’