An Atlantic City man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Friday in a shooting that left one man dead and a toddler mentally scarred.
“The psychological impact of this crime is tremendously significant on this young boy’s life,” Assistant Prosecutor Allison Eiselen told the judge before Joshua Cross was sentenced.
Cross, now 31, was convicted of acting as lookout in the July 29, 2012 killing.
He is the first of four men charged in the killing to go to trial, including alleged shooter Mujahid Blackwell, who was just 16 at the time of the shooting.
Sedrick Lindo, 25, was gunned down as he talked with the boy’s mother on a porch in Carver Hall.
When the gunfire began, the woman tried to push the little boy out of the way. He was struck by shrapnel.
The woman’s struggles after the shooting led to her mother getting custody of the boy, who is now in fourth grade.
He now considers Lindo his guardian angel, having taken the bullets that could have killed him, Eiselen explained.
“Sedrick was loved by everybody who knew him,” Velma Anderson said of her son. “He didn’t deserve for them to gang up on him … Whatever the reason was, they didn’t accomplish anything.”
She said she was there to represent her son’s three children, one who he never got to meet.
Cross gave his condolences to the family, but said he maintains that he is innocent.
Superior Court Judge Patricia Wild sentenced him to 30 years in prison without parole for the killing. He was given 10 consecutive years for endangering the welfare of a child, and must serve five.
He got credit for the more than six years in has been in the Atlantic County Justice Facility. He will be eligible for parole by the time he’s 60 years old.
Outside the courtroom, Anderson thanked Eiselen for her hard work in the case: "Justice finally prevailed."
