Franklin Twp. Man Gets 60 Years For Killing Perth Amboy Man

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, NJ — A Franklin Township man was sentenced Thursday to serve 60 years in state prison for fatally shooting a man who worked as a Perth Amboy youth counselor on Valentine’s Day in 2015.

Jahmmel Cephas, 35, of Franklin Park, was found guilty on September 6 of this year for the fatal shooting of Richard Pryce, 31, of Perth Amboy. He was also found guilty of unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of a firearm with a purpose to use it unlawfully against the person of another, hindering his own apprehension, tampering with physical evidence and being a certain person prohibited from having a weapon.

Cephas had been previously convicted in six separate unrelated criminal cases, including a 2004 aggravated assault case in which he pointed a handgun at and pistol whipped the victim.

Prosecutors say Cephas shot Pryce multiple times on Amboy Avenue at the Barclay Street intersection following an argument at a bar on Amboy Avenue on February 14, 2015.

After being shot, the victim, who was there for a birthday party, returned to the bar and was rushed by friends to Raritan Bay Medical Center, Perth Amboy Division. Pryce, a Perth Amboy youth counselor, was pronounced dead at the hospital at 3:02 a.m.

Cephas fled with the handgun after the shooting and remained at large until he was apprehended in DeKalb County, Georgia on March 20, 2015.

He was brought back to New Jersey by the U.S. Marshal’s Service Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Image via Morguefile