Ibn Muhammed, the shooter, and five other men were sentenced in connection with the Sept. 1, 2013 shooting death of Jesus Torres
NEWARK -- Maria Torres said she has trouble sleeping at night.
When Torres closes her eyes, she sees the lifeless body of her 20-year-old son, Jesus Torres, after he was shot and killed in September 2013 while working as a pizza deliveryman in Newark.
"I once was an uplifting person filled with beautiful, happy energy, but now I am a mother with a broken heart and soul, a soul that died along with her son," Torres said.
Now Torres said she hopes the six men involved in the fatal shooting are not able to sleep either.
"Our lives will never be the same, and I pray to God that they will never get to sleep peacefully and the image of what took place that day can haunt them all of their living days," she said.
Torres fought back tears as she offered those remarks on Monday in a Newark courtroom during the sentencing hearing of Ibn Muhammed, who fatally shot Jesus Torres during the Sept. 1, 2013 incident.
Muhammed, 19, of Newark, was sentenced to 15 years in state prison after pleading guilty on Aug. 4 to aggravated manslaughter and a weapons offense. He must serve nearly 13 years before becoming eligible for parole.
"He's accepted responsibility for this awful act," Muhammed's attorney, Raymond Beam, said during the hearing.
Muhammed's father, Fred Jones, grew emotional during the hearing as he discussed the impact on his son and Jesus Torres.
"I didn't raise a murderer. Unfortunately, two lives are destroyed," Jones said. "It hurts. It really hurts."
But Jones noted he can still see his son. "They can't see their son no more," he said, referring to the Torres family.
Prosecutors had recommended a 17-year prison term for Muhammed under a plea deal, but Superior Court Judge Robert Gardner issued the 15-year sentence after noting various factors, including that the incident represented Muhammed's first arrest and first conviction.
MORE: 'No justice' in killing of Newark pizza deliveryman, mother says
The judge handed down the sentence after sentencing the five other defendants - Al-Shaqar Williams, Shaquille Faines, Solomon Williams, Lonnie Simmons and Raymond Hiers - during separate hearings on Monday.
Each of the men, all of Newark, pleaded guilty last month to their roles in the incident.
Al-Shaqar Williams, 18, who provided the gun to Muhammed, was sentenced to five years in prison on a weapons charge. He must serve three years before becoming eligible for parole.
Solomon Williams, 21, received an 18-month prison sentence on the charge of endangering an injured victim. That sentence will run concurrent to a five-year prison term Williams received in an unrelated attempted murder case. He must serve slightly more than four years before becoming eligible for parole.
Muhammed, Al-Shaqar Williams and Solomon Williams each will receive credit for about two years of time served.
Maria Torres, the mother of Jesus Torres, addresses the court on Monday, Sept. 21, during the sentencing hearing for Ibn Muhammed, 19, of Newark, who fatally shot Torres on Sept. 1, 2013 while Torres was working as a pizza deliveryman in Newark. (Bill Wichert | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Faines, 23, and Simmons, 19, were each sentenced to time served and two years of probation on the charge of endangering an injured victim. In pleading guilty, Solomon Williams, Faines, and Simmons admitted to participating in the incident and leaving the scene after Torres was shot.
Hiers, 18, was sentenced to time served and two years of probation for a weapons offense related to him throwing a bicycle into a window of Torres's vehicle.
Faines, Simmons and Hiers were in custody for nearly two years before being released after their guilty pleas.
The six men were each indicted on felony murder, robbery and weapons charges, and Muhammed also was charged with murder.
An aspiring musician, Jesus Torres had recently taken the Pizza Hut delivery job to provide for his newborn son, his mother said. Torres, a Newark resident, also was interested in joining the Coast Guard and becoming a police officer, she said.
The shooting occurred after Torres crashed his car into a fence near the intersection of 13th Avenue and South 11th Street in Newark.
The six men then surrounded the vehicle. Hiers has said the group decided to damage Torres's car, because the collision had disrupted a block party they were attending.
Hiers said he threw a bicycle through one of the car's windows, and Al-Shaqar Williams said he handed a gun to Muhammed in order to scare Torres.
Muhammed said he was banging on the driver's side window with the weapon when the gun went off, ultimately killing Torres.
"This case is tragic on so many different levels," Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Brian Matthews, who handled the case, said during Muhammed's sentencing.
Matthews noted the "juxtaposition" of Jesus Torres and the six defendants.
While the defendants were attending an illegal block party, Torres was "out earning a living to support his child by delivering pizza at night on Labor Day weekend."
During Hiers's sentencing, Matthews also reminded the judge that all six men played a role in Torres's shooting death.
Hiers's attorney, Roger Solomon, said Hiers was being a "stupid kid" and that the incident was "ridiculously unplanned, stupid and unfortunate," but Solomon claimed Hiers was not responsible for the fatal shooting.
Solomon asked the judge to show sympathy for Hiers.
"He lost two years of his life for this stupidity," said Solomon, referring to the time Hiers spent in custody before his release last month.
But Matthews said Torres's family members "lost someone's life." Matthews said he can appreciate how Hiers spent two years in jail, but he noted "a life was lost as a result of the actions of six people that day."
Jesus Torres, 20, of Newark, was shot and killed on Sept. 1, 2013 while working as a pizza deliveryman in Newark. An aspiring musician, Torres also was interested in joining the Coast Guard and becoming a police officer, his mother said. (Photo courtesy of Maria Torres)During their hearings, Faines, Solomon Williams, Simmons and Hiers declined to make a statement before being sentenced. Al-Shaqar Williams and Muhammed each apologized to the Torres family before receiving their sentences.
"Now it's time for me to deal with the consequences," Muhammed said.
Maria Torres, however, said she has attended every court hearing for months and has not seen "any type of remorse come from any of them."
More than two years after Jesus Torres's death, Maria Torres said she's at a loss for words when her younger sons tell her to "ask God to let him come visit because they miss him."
Jesus Torres's grandmother is "severely traumatized" by the incident, Maria Torres said. The grandmother has a storage unit filled with his belongings and she does not want to wash them, because they still have his body fragrance, Maria Torres said.
Maria Torres noted in particular how the killing took Jesus Torres away from his son, who was a little over a month old at the time of the shooting.
The family shows the child pictures of Torres for the boy to see his father's face, and gives the child Torres's music for him to hear his father's voice, she said.
"He will never get the chance to enjoy the handsome, inspiring and good-hearted soul his father was or even have his own memorable moments with his dad," Maria Torres said.
"They all stole that from him."
Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.