FREEHOLD – A jury returned a partial verdict against two Asbury Park men in connection with a 2022 murder that took place in the same town, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Friday.
Joseph N. Argilagos, 18, was found guilty on one count of first-degree Murder, one count of second-degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon, and one count of second-degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose.
On December 18, 2024, after a two-week trial before Superior Court Judge Jill Grace O’Malley, the jury returned a partial verdict, finding the shooter, Argilagos, guilty on all counts against him. The jury did not, however, reach an agreement on the charges against co-defendant Lydell Brown.
Later that same day, upon the conclusion of the trial and dismissal of the jury, Brown, 20, pled guilty to one count of first-degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder. During the plea proceedings, Brown admitted that he did in fact conspire with Argilagos to kill the victim, stating that, with knowledge Argilagos had a gun, both defendants followed the victim to the Frederick Douglas Apartment Complex with the express intent to shoot and kill him.
Argilagos, originally a juvenile defendant, was waived to adult court in September of 2023, upon motion by the prosecution, shortly before a Monmouth County Grand Jury indicted both he and Brown as accomplices in the shooting murder of the victim.
The jury heard evidence establishing that shortly after 5:45 p.m. on Friday, July 8, 2022, members of the Asbury Park Police Department responded to a report of gunfire originating from the 100 block of Prospect Avenue, near the intersection with Atlantic Avenue. Upon arrival at the scene, officers encountered 19-year-old Dariel Vernet of Asbury Park, who had sustained multiple gunshot injuries. He was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased approximately one hour later.
The investigation into Vernet’s death, led by members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office’s Major Crimes Bureau and the Asbury Park Police Department, resulted in Brown and Argilagos, both Asbury Park residents, being identified as the individuals responsible. Argilagos was apprehended just days after the shooting, and Brown was located and arrested without incident in Toms River (Ocean County) in May 2023 by members of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Asbury Park Police Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force.
At a sentencing hearing scheduled for March 12, 2025, Argilagos will face a minimum of 30 years in a state prison. The State will recommend a sentence of five years in a state prison for Brown. Both sentences will require 85 percent of time served before the possibility of parole, in accordance with New Jersey’s No Early Release Act (NERA).
The case is being handled by Assistant Prosecutors Caitlin J. Sidley of the Office’s Major Crimes Bureau and Alexandra Strzykalski of the Office’s Trial Division.
Argilagos is being represented by Mark Bailey, Esq., with an office in Middlesex, and Brown is being represented by Emeka Nkwuo, Esq., with Lomurro Law in Freehold Township.
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