Defendant Agrees to Plea Deal in Schoolyard Slayings

A third defendant in the 2007 schoolyard murder of three college students accepted a plea agreement Friday in the case, officials from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said. 

Shahid Baskerville may face a 30-year prison sentence after his plea Friday to four counts of robbery, one count of conspiracy and one count of aggravated criminal sexual contact in connection with the Aug. 4, 2007 triple murder in the schoolyard of the Mount Vernon School in the Ivy Hill section of Newark.

In exchange for his guilty plea before Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin, prosecutors agreed to dismiss three murder counts, three counts of felony murder and one count of attempted murder, prosecutors said. 

In court, Baskerville described his role that night in which Iofemi Hightower, 20, Dashon Harvey, 20 and Terrence Aeriel, 18, all Delaware State students from Newark who were home on break, were robbed and killed behind the Mount Vernon School playground.

Another victim, Natasha Aeriel, was shot and attacked with a machete, but survived.

The violent crime shocked the Newark neighborhood where it took place.

Testimony at previous trials linked the slayings to a gang with roots in Central America.

Previously, defendants Rodolfo Godinez, 28, and his younger brother, Alexander Alfaro, 21, were found guilty at separate trials.

A third defendant, Melvin Jovel, 22, of Elizabeth pleaded guilty.

Jury selection was just completed in the case of defendant Jose Carranza, 32, of Newark. He is scheduled to go to trial in Jan. 10.

A sixth defendant Gerardo Gomez, 19, of Newark is still awaiting trial.

Under the terms of the plea agreement Baskerville faces 30 years in state prison when he is sentenced on March 8, 2012.

Baskerville must serve 85 percent of his sentence or 25 years and six months before he is eligible for parole under the No Early Release Act.

He will also be subject to lifetime supervision under Megan’s Law when he is released from prison.

– Staff reports