One of three men who pleaded guilty in the beating of a teen outside a Pleasantville strip club last year has been released pending his sentencing.
John Hands, 25, of Pleasantville, was released Friday, more than three weeks after he admitted striking 19-year-old Irving Mayren-Guzman in the head outside the now-shuttered Centerfolds Cabaret on Delilah Road.
Hands, his older brother and another man all admitted to participating in the Jan. 23, 2022 attack.
Mayren-Guzman, who lived with his family in Egg Harbor Township, disappeared that night, launching a search. He was found dead in the nearby marsh almost two days later.
John Hands' attorney, Matthew Portella, had requested he be freed pending sentencing, which the judge granted at his plea hearing last month.
But the assistant prosecutor in the case asked that the decision be stayed while the state appealed.
An appellate division sent the case back to the judge, overturning part of her decision.
Judge Nancy Ridgway amended her decision last Friday, and again ruled to release John Hands.
The state quickly filed an appeal, again halting the release.
Filings went through this week, and Hands was released Friday.
"John is looking forward to spending some time at home," attorney Matthew Portella told BreakingAC.
He will have just more than two weeks to get his affairs in order before he is sentenced March 3.
The plea agreement calls for Hands and co-defendant Jamaul Timberlake to each get four-year sentences with no minimum terms.
Hands' older brother, Garnell, faces a five-year sentence.
John Hands was the only defendant the judge said she considered releasing following their pleas.
"Unfortunately, the defendant followed his brother's actions that night," Ridgway said at the time.
Garnell Hands and Timberlake remain in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
