Downtown Toms River Shooting Murder Nets Decades In Prison For 2 Men

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Two Toms River men have been sentenced to decades in prison for murder in the shooting death of a Bayville man in downtown Toms River in 2020, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced.

Leyron J. Jones, 26, and Daivon K. Sullivan, 21, both of Toms River, were sentenced Friday by Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan in the killing of Javon Cutler, 19, of Bayville, in October 2020, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Cutler and two friends were leaving the Toms River Apartments in Main Street about 8:15 p.m. on Oct. 11, 2020, when someone started shooting at the car, authorities said. Cutler, who was in the back seat, was shot in the head. His friends drove him to Community Medical Center and Cutler was transferred to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, but died three days later, authorities said.

The Ocean County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of his death was an intermediate-distance gunshot wound to the head, the prosecutor's office said.

After a three-week investigation, Jones, Sullivan and Shadrach Correa, 21, of Toms River, were charged on Oct. 28, 2020, with murder in Cutler's death. Jones and Sullivan were arrested the next day. Correa had been in jail on unrelated charges, the prosecutor's office said.

Jones and Sullivan were found guilty of murder, conspiracy and other charges on Aug. 17, 2023, following a three-week jury trial.

Jones was sentenced to 50 years in New Jersey state prison on the murder charge, and 10 years on an attempted murder charge in connection with a second victim, with the attempted murder sentence to be served consecutively with the murder charge, authorities said. Both are subject to the No Early Release Act, which requires he serve 85 percent of the sentence before he becomes eligible for parole. That equals 42.5 years on the murder charge and 8.5 years on the attempted murder charge, or 51 years before he is eligible for parole in 2073.

Jones also was sentenced to five years in prison for unlawful possession of a weapon in the shooting, to run concurrently with the murder sentence, the prosecutor's office said.

Sullivan was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder in Cutler's death, and 10 years in prison for the attempted murder of a second person in the car, to be served consecutively. Both are subject to the No Early Release Act, which equals 34 years on the murder charge and 8.5 on the attempted murder charge, or 42.5 years before he becomes eligible for parole.

Sullivan also was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder of the third person in the car, and five years for unlawful possession of a weapon, with those sentences to run concurrently to the murder sentence, authorities said.

Correa pleaded guilty on April 24, 2023, to conspiracy to commit murder and unlawful possession of a weapon; his sentencing date has not yet been scheduled, the prosecutor's office said.

Billhimer praised the law enforcement entities involved "for their combined and collective efforts investigating and solving this heinous and senseless crime, ultimately leading to guilty verdicts by the jury and now, decades in state prison for both Jones and Sullivan."

Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Robert Cassidy and Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Burke tried the case.

Contributing to the investigation were: Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime, and High Tech Crime units, Narcotics Strike Force and Regional SWAT Team, along with the Victim Witness Advocacy Unit; the Toms River Police Department, its Detective Bureau, Emergency Services Unit and Special Enforcement Team; the Manchester Township, Barnegat Township, Berkeley Township, Seaside Heights, Brick Township, Lakewood Township, Jackson Township and South Toms River police departments; the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit; New Jersey State Police; Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office; Ocean County Department of Corrections; New Jersey State Department of Corrections; New Jersey State Police; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office.