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Murder of Sujeiti Ocasio

On June 27th, 2008, pregnant 18-year-old Nicole Guyette was walking in her neighborhood. At the same time, her neighbor, 18-year-old Sujeiti Ocasio, was having a party. She had just graduated from Barringer High School, the same school Guyette had once attended.

As Guyette walked past the party, someone called her a “trick,” a slang word for a promiscuous woman. Guyette took offense and confronted the ladies, but no one would admit to saying it. She told the girls, “I’ll be back.”

Guyette went home, got a gun, and returned to confront the girls a second time. She claims that Ocasio challenged her to a fight. Guyette swung the weapon to hit her neighbor, but it went off and shot and killed Ocasio. The same bullet also hit another girl in the chest, but she survived.

Guyette was charged with murder, aggravated assault, and weapons charges. At trial, she took the stand and was able to beat the murder charges. She was convicted of aggravated manslaughter.

According to the prosecutor’s office, she was facing up to 30 years for aggravated manslaughter, 20 years for the weapons charges, and six months for the simple assault conviction

She was later sentenced to 12 years, 8 months, and 29 days, to 15 years for aggravated manslaughter, 3 to 6 years for unlawful possession of a handgun, 6 months for simple assault, and 1 day for possession of a firearm for unlawful purposes

In 2015, NJ.com reported that the judge shaved 5 year off her sentence. She was released from prison on November 4th, 2020.