2 Toms River, NJ, Men Get 40-50 Years in Prison For 2020 Murder of Teen

Two men from Toms River will each be spending decades in prison in connection to a 2020 murder.

On Friday, 26-year-old Leyron Jones was sentenced to 50 years behind bars having been previously found guilty of murder in connection to the shooting death of 19-year-old Javon Cutler of Bayville three years ago.

Jones' co-defendant, 21-year-old Daivon Sullivan, received a 40-year sentence for the same shooting.

The pair was also sentenced to ten years on an attempted murder charge for a second victim, another ten years for another attempted murder charge for a third victim, and five years on weapons charges. Those sentences will all run concurrent to the murder convictions.

Jones and Sullivan were found guilty of all the aforementioned charges this past August.

Timeline

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office says on the night of October 11th, 2020, Cutler and two friends were attempting to leave Toms River Apartments on Main Street in Toms River when an unknown individual opened fire on their vehicle.

Cutler, who was in the rear passenger seat, was shot in the head. He was taken to a local hospital where he died days later.

After a very thorough and comprehensive investigation that spanned the course of nearly three weeks, it was determined that Sullivan, Jones and a third defendant - Shadrach Correa, 21, of Toms River - acted together and in support of one another in carrying out the shooting that resulted in the death of Javon Cutler.

All three defendants were charged in connection with Cutler's murder on October 28th, 2020.

On April 24th of this year, Correa pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and unlawful possession of a weapon. Correa's sentencing date has not yet been set.

In a press release, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer thanked the countless agencies that worked on this case, including nine local police departments in the county, the New Jersey State Police, the FBI, and the New Jersey Department of Corrections.