Maurice Skillman and Hykeem Tucker got life for the shooting death of Carl Batie, an off-duty corrections officer in 2012
TRENTON - Late on a November night four years ago, Maurice Skillman stood in a parking lot and fired 22 shots at a balcony above, fatally hitting off-duty corrections officer Carl Batie, 26, in the forehead.
His accomplice, Hykeem Tucker, stood nearby.
Though the men - now 30 and 29-years-old, respectively - played different roles in the fatal attack, they faced the same fate Friday morning - life in prison.
Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson handed down the sentence Friday after remarking on the brutality of the crime and saying he hoped the life sentence would be a wakeup for the community.
"It seems every time we turn around there is another shooting," Smithson said.
Skillman and Tucker were charged with murder in the months after the shooting on Nov. 11, 2012. Mercer County Prosecutors have said the men went to a party at the Baldassari Regency Banquet Hall - the same party Batie and his brother were attending. Prosecutors have argued the men plotted the shooting outside the hall before Skillman stood in the parking lot below the balcony and fired the shots. Prosecutors have said Batie was not the intended target.
The men were convicted of murder during their second trial in June. Their first trial ended in a hung jury.
During the sentencing Friday, both Assistant Prosecutor James Scott and Tucker's defense attorney, Chris Campbell, argued that Tucker should be given a lighter sentence than Skillman.
Murder retrial examines evidence in the street
"The person who pulls the trigger has more culpability," Scott said in court.
Campbell echoed his words.
"It's a lot easier to plan something than to go through with something," Campbell said, adding that Skillman decided to pull the gun's trigger when Tucker might not have done the same.
But for Smithson, Tucker's intent - even as an accomplice - made him just as culpable. That intent paired with Tucker's history, which includes seven criminal convictions as an adult, led Smithson to issue the life sentence.
"(Tucker) has a constant disdain for the rules of society," he said.
Campbell later called Smithson's decision "a shock."
Carl Batie, Mercer County Corrections officer killed Nov. 11 in Trenton. But for family members and friends of Carl Batie - who packed the wooden benches and lined the back row in blue uniforms during Friday's sentencing - Smithson's decision was a relief.
"It gives us some closure," Batie's brother, Kareem Batie said outside of the courtroom, remembering his brother. "He was a good parent. He laid the foundation for his brothers and sisters... I think about him every day."
A friend and fellow corrections officer, Chanique Veal, who spoke at the sentencing, said that Batie's, "Spirit, soul and light will continue to shine in the hearts of everyone who loved and adored him."
The life term is set at 75 years in prison for each man. They must serve 85 percent of that sentence - or just over 63 years - before they are eligible for parole.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman