Essex County Store Clerk’s Murderer Gets Life In Prison

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A man who murdered an Essex County store clerk – allegedly to prevent him from testifying in a robbery case – has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors say.

On Friday, a Superior Court judge sentenced Rick King, 34, of Newark, was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for fatally shooting Amit Patel, an Edison resident, at his place of employment, Roseway Liquors in Irvington, in 2015.

King also received a consecutive 40-year sentence for robbery, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office stated.

According to prosecutors:

“In December of 2017, an Essex County jury convicted King of murder, witness tampering, armed robbery, aggravated assault on a police officer and weapons offenses. The evidence at trial showed on the afternoon of Feb. 15, 2015, King went to the Roseway Liquors in the 700 block of Lyons Avenue and shot Patel in the head.”

Prosecutors continued:

“Patel, 28, of Edison died at the scene. Patel was the lone witness to a robbery previously committed by King. The state’s position was that King killed Patel to prevent him from testifying in the robbery case. The robbery occurred on Halloween 2013.”

While imposing sentence, Superior Court Judge Mark Ali noted that King had 11 prior arrests and had been convicted of felonies on five prior occasions. Those crimes included possession of an illegal weapon and possession of narcotics, prosecutors said.

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