Christian Tinli, left, and Cash Johnson, right, during their trial In August.
EDISON — Activists in the Asian Indian community are urging community members to attend an event this afternoon to express their outrage that a jury acquitted two Old Bridge youths of the most serious crimes in connection with the fatal beating death of an Old Bridge man three years ago.
The jury convicted Christian Tinli, 20, and Cash Johnson, 20, two weeks ago of simple assault in connection with the beating death of Divyendu Sinha, but acquitted them of murder, aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and other more serious charges that could have given them lengthy prison sentences.
“This was an unbelievable miscarriage of justice,” an invitation to the event read. “The Indian American community is very upset and shocked at this verdict. Normally our people are peace loving with lots of tolerances, but this time many people are very upset and want to protest the verdict and demand for justice. We want the prosecutor to challenge the verdict in a higher court.”
Tinli, Johnson, and their three co-defendants, Steven Contreras, 20, Christopher Conway, 20, and Julian Daley, 19, are scheduled to be sentenced Friday morning in New Brunswick. The three face prison sentences under plea bargains reached with the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office in return for their truthful testimony.
Shortly after the verdict came in, members of the Indian community put up a petition on change.org, demanding Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz, who presided over the case and will sentence the defendants, to overturn the plea bargains and sentence Daley, who faces 15 years in prison, Conway, who faces eight years in prison, and Contreras, who faces four years in prison, to the maximum they could get under the law.
The petition, which has more than 4,800 signatures, also demands the judge give Tinli and Johnson the maximum they can get for their convictions of simple assault, a disorderly persons offense,-six months in the county jail.
Sinha was walking with his wife, Alka, and their two sons, Aashish, then 16, and Ravi, then 12, the night of June 25, 2010 in their Old Bridge neighborhood when they were attacked by four teenagers. Sinha was punched in the head and died from a massive hemorrhage three days later at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
All five teenagers were arrested within days of the event and charged with murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, three counts of aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit riot, and other lesser charges.
Contreras was the first to go to trial and a jury acquitted him of murder and aggravated manslaughter. Jurors hung on manslaughter and Contreras eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. Daley and Conway pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter with Daley, who also pleaded guilty to an unrelated burglary, facing 15 years in prison and Conway, eight years in prison.
Today’s event is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at Royal Albert’s Palace on King Georges Post Road in the Fords section of Edison.
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