An Atlantic City man who admitted to throwing a gun from a car as he and three others fled a shooting that killed a 10-year-old boy last year was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday.
Tyrell Dorn, 28, stressed that he was not involved in the Nov. 15 shooting that killed Micah "Dew" Tennant and wounded two others at a Pleasantville High School football game.
Neither Dorn nor the three men in the car with him were charged in connection with the shooting.
But that has not stopped the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office from connecting the men to the crime in public news releases about the case, defense attorney Michael Schreiber told the judge.
“The sensationalizing at my client’s expense is really not proper,” Schreiber said, adding that his client didn’t even know the shooter.
Supporters of all four men have previously expressed similar opinions.
“I would never discharge a firearm near any women or children,” Dorn told the judge.
The father of three was in court with his wife and two younger children, including an infant.
Schreiber said the gun charge would normally carry a plea deal of five years do at least 3½ years, or possibly five full years.
Instead, he said the Prosecutor’s Office offered eight years with five years minimum, with it being “very difficult” for him to get the one year taken off to reach the seven-year agreement.
While the minimum time is the same, Schreiber noted that the additional two years affects parole.
“I believe the offer was because the prosecutor thinks it’s in connection with the shooting,” Schreiber told the judge. “You would think the county prosecutor himself would know the facts of the case.”
Tyner’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Schreiber’s accusations.
Before imposing sentence, Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury agreed that there was nothing in the evidence that linked Dorn to the shooting.
“He brought a gun to a high school football game,” Assistant Prosecutor Edmund Mallqui-Burgos said.
But Schreiber said the gun, which his client took responsibility for, never left the car.
“He ran from the shooting just like everyone,” Schreiber said of the panic that followed the gunfire in the packed stands.
Alvin Wyatt is charged with murder and attempted murder in the shooting that killed the 10-year-old from Atlantic City and wounded a teen along with the alleged intended target, Ibn Abdullah.
Dorn’s former co-defendant, Shahid Dixon, was driving the car, which Mallqui-Burgos said was given to Dorn in exchange for drugs.
Dixon, who was in Recovery Court at the time, allegedly FaceTimed with Wyatt from the game to let him know Abdullah was there.
That may make the shooting relevant to Dixon’s sentencing, but not to Dorn’s, Schreiber said.
Dixon has not been charged in connection with the shooting.
Instead, he pleaded guilty to eluding, after he failed to stop for police.
Dixon faces three years in prison under the plea agreement. He was set to be sentenced Thursday, but that was postponed.
Attorney Jim Grimley is still hoping to get Dixon back into Recovery Court, but that was not looking likely during a court appearance Thursday when a representative from the court said the recommendation was against it.
Once Dixon is sentenced, charges against the other two men in the car — Michael Mack and Vance Golden — are expected to be dropped.
