Gunshot Victim's 'Tremendous Empathy' Led To Plea In Ocean County Shooting, Prosecutor Says

JACKSON, NJ — A 79-year-old victim's "unequivocal desire to extend mercy" to the Jackson Township woman who shot him in October had led to a plea agreement, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday.

Marian B. Rojas, 34, pled guilty Monday before Superior Court Judge Kenneth T. Palmer to aggravated assault in the shooting that happened Oct. 24 in Jackson. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 24, at which time prosecutors will be seeking a seven-year term in prison subject to the No Early Release Act, the prosecutor's office said.

"This plea agreement was reached only after extensive discussions with the victim who expressed an unequivocal desire to extend mercy to this defendant," Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. "But for the victim’s compassionate and forgiving nature, this plea agreement would have never been contemplated by the state — let alone approved."

"This defendant should consider herself very fortunate that the victim — in a show of tremendous empathy — requested that this case be resolved in this manner," Billhimer said.

The shooting was reported about 9:15 p.m. Oct. 24 at a home on Jackson Pines Road, and police found the 79-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his shoulder, the prosescutor's office said.

He was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River for treatment of minor injuries and later released.

Investigators determined Rojas had shot him and then fled, and descriptions of her and the vehicle she was driving were broadcast to surrounding towns, the prosecutor's office said.

About 45 minutes after the shooting was reported, Manchester Township police pulled over a vehicle matching the description of Rojas's vehicle and found her driving it, the prosecutor's office said.

Rojas was arrested without incident and has been held at the Ocean County Jail since her arrest, authorities said.