Admitted triggerman in 2015 Asbury Park shooting given 16 years

The shooting death of a onetime standout Asbury Park High School athlete means up to 16 years in prison for the man who admitted pulling the trigger.

Diquan Speights, 23, of Asbury Park, was sentenced Monday in connection with the December 2015 death of Jamal Small, and for the shooting of his brother Tyreek, who survived, and for brandhising a gun in the directon of Small's sister Tieshe. He pleaded guilty in February of this year.

Speights is required to serve more than 13-and-a-half years before parole eligibility, and to undergo five years of parole supervision after release, according to the office of Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni.

Judge Joseph Oxley ordered Speights's 10-year and 18-month sentences for aggravated assault in the shootings of Smalls's siblings to run concurrently.

Asbury Park police found the brothers prone on Summerfield Avenue just before noon on December 20, 2015. Investigators narrowed their probe to Speights, who in February admitted firing five shots into a car that they occupied
Detectives also established that Speights pointed the weapon at Tieshe Small moments earlier. Jamal Small died at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune.

Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Maria Franceschini and Martha Nye presented the state's case. Speights retained the services of New Brunswick attorney Carlos Diaz-Cobo.