Kirvy Mims pleaded guilty to the 2014 attack and could face 8 years in prison.
TRENTON - A Trenton man admitted Tuesday to hitting another man with an object before slashing his throat in a motel room a year ago.
Kirvy D. Mims. (Mercer County Prosecutor's Office) Kirvy Mims, 48, pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated assault Tuesday for the incident and admitted to assaulting the man on purpose in 2014.
Mims was initially charged with attempted murder for the assault, but he accepted a plea deal to have the charge reduced to aggravated assault. He could face eight years in prison for the attack.
Authorities have said Mims admitted to police that he met the man through a dating website and picked him up in Trenton on Oct. 13, 2014. He drove the man to a Red Roof Inn in Lawrence and assaulted him there, prosecutors have said. He then stole the man's wallet, laptop and car, authorities have said.
On Tuesday Mims pleaded guilty to hitting the man in the head with an object multiple times. Authorities have said the object was a claw hammer. He also pleaded guilty to slashing the man's throat.
Prosecutors have said Mims also tied the man up with bed sheets before fleeing the scene. Police arrived at the motel that night around 9:30 p.m. to find the man tied up and bleeding from wounds to his head and neck.
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Mims was found in the stolen car and initially denied any role in the attack. He did admit to police that he was on cocaine at the time, authorizes have said.
The victim, a 64-year-old man, died a month after the assault of a heart attack unrelated to the incident, according to Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.
A sentencing will be held in April and prosecutors are asking for an eight-year prison sentence. Mims would have to serve six years and nine months of that sentence before he is eligible for parole, Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier told a courtroom Tuesday.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.