Atlantic City man sentenced in death of man he shot years earlier

An Atlantic City man who completed an eight-year sentence in a shooting that paralyzed a man will now go back to prison for the victim’s death. Germaine Boothe, now 29, was sentenced to 12½ years in prison Friday for the Jan. 22, 2014, death of Malik Green. Green was paralyzed from the neck down Nov. 22, 2009, when Boothe shot into Hudson’s Bar and Grill in Atlantic City. Green and Boothe did not know each other. Boothe was charged with murder in 2016, after it was determined that Green died of complications from the original shooting. “I’d like to apologize to the family,” Boothe said before Superior Court Judge Rodney Cunningham sentenced him. “Words can’t really make it better. But, honestly, I apologize.” Annette Green-Watson said she has been frustrated by the system. She watched as her son’s life was turned upside down after he was left paralyzed. Then, she lost him for good. “My son can’t walk out of the grave that he put him in,” she said. “You took a dear loved one from us,” said Green’s stepfather, Lionel Watson. “Unjustified, you took a human life.” Under the plea agreement Boothe must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence, and then will have five years of parole supervision upon release. Because he served time for the same incident, he received 3,041 days credit, or about eight years four months. That means he must serve at least an additional two years and four months before he is eligible for parole.