MEDIA RELEASE – APRIL 26, 2013
MOUNTAINVIEW INMATE SENTENCED TO SEVEN YEARS FOR MANSLAUGHTER
Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns, III announced the sentencing of one inmate that had been charged in the death of a fellow inmate at the Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility in August 2012. The Clinton Township facility is part of the New Jersey Department of Corrections prison system and houses low risk male offenders between 18 and 27 years old.
Inmate Floyd Nichols, age 24, of Paterson, was charged in August 2012 with second degree manslaughter after a joint investigation by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey Department of Corrections Special Investigation Division. Mr. Nichols later accepted a plea agreement and entered a guilty plea on that charge.
The Honorable Stephen B. Rubin, J.S.C sentenced Mr. Nichols today to seven years in state prison on the second degree charge. Nichols has been held at New Jersey State Prison since the assault.
The case stems from an incident that occurred at the Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility on August 14, 2012. The victim, Joshua Jones, age 23, of Englewood, was punched and knocked out by Floyd Nichols in one of the dormitories on the prison grounds. Jones sustained a severe head injury after collapsing onto the concrete floor. He was flown by a New Jersey State Police Medivac team to Morristown Medical Center where he died two days later. A medical examiner subsequently ruled that the cause of Mr. Jones’ death was blunt force trauma and the manner of death was homicide. Detectives worked around the clock for several days and conducted dozens of interviews until they charged Mr. Nichols with the assault.
Prosecutor Kearns said, “Our condolences continue to go out to the Jones family. It is our hope that the healing process begins for this family now that Mr. Nichols has been sentenced.”
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