We live in a world of text messages. But old-fashioned letters figured prominently Friday in the sentencing of a Morristown killer and the friend who helped him flee to Oklahoma in 2021.
Citing letters from still-grieving relatives of the victim, Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor sent Tyrell Lansing, 34, to state prison for 25 years for first-degree aggravated manslaughter and a second-degree weapons charge.
“A family lost a son, a cousin, a friend. And the world lost someone who brought joy to everyone he met,” the judge said, quoting a cousin of the late Raijah Scott, shot six times at close range by someone he considered a friend.
It was the maximum jail term under a plea deal last month that spared Lansing a murder trial and possible life behind bars. Now, he must serve more than 21 years before applying for parole, with five years of parole supervision upon release. He also must reimburse the victim’s family $6,197 for funeral expenses.
Letters of support helped sway the judge from jailing DeQuan McDaniel, who pled guilty to hindering Lansing’s arrest by driving with him to North Carolina and then Oklahoma, where they were arrested about 30 hours after the Aug. 18, 2021, shooting.
McDaniel could have gotten 10 years if convicted at trial. Instead, under terms of a plea bargain, Taylor gave him three years — but suspended the sentence. McDaniel will go to prison if he has any new scrapes with the law. Taylor also imposed 250 hours of community service.
Scott, 35, was shot in the back, probably while on the ground, Morris County Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Tara Wang said, citing medical examiner findings.
Authorities believe Lansing had a late-night altercation with Scott, who was intoxicated, outside a public apartment building on Clyde Potts Drive, and then was driven by fellow Morristown High School graduate Myles Dacres to Boonton to fetch the handgun used in the shooting. Dacres pleaded guilty in 2022 to providing a false alibi for Lansing.
‘A PIECE OF JOY THAT’S MISSING’
Letters from Scott’s family, including an aunt who raised him after his parents died, described the victim as a gentle, caring, “wannabe comedian” who “made even the hardest days brighter.”
“He was a good man with a big heart who didn’t deserve what happened to him,” wrote the aunt, Loretta Gabriel. Another relative wrote of lingering anguish and empty holidays: “There’s a piece of joy that’s missing, and we feel it every single day.”
Lansing’s lawyer, Arthur Margeotes, asked for leniency so Lansing’s 4-year-old daughter might have a father in her life. But Judge Taylor was quick to note that this “senseless killing” also deprived Scott’s daughter, now 6, of a dad.
McDaniel is the primary caregiver for his very young son, and for his 69-year-old mother, who is dealing with a lung transplant, according to defense attorney William Johnson and testimonials submitted to the court.
McDaniel’s mother, from Dover, was in the Morristown courtroom, as were the Hoffmans, an older couple with whom McDaniel and his girlfriend split their time. Lansing’s father also was in the gallery.
The judge weighed prior criminal records of Lansing and McDaniel — including two firearms convictions and 42 months in prison for Lansing, and McDaniel’s conviction for conspiracy to commit aggravated criminal sexual contact and a guilty plea to a drug charge–along with their apparent lack of remorse.
Lansing “has never once uttered an apology to the family” of his victim, Taylor said. Nor does a guilty plea imply taking responsibility.
“He cut a deal. He got a bargain,” at the last minute, as jury selection was set to begin, the judge said.
Lansing had delayed the case with numerous legal motions; Taylor even slapped him with a civil contempt charge for not divulging his mobile phone passcode. Investigators eventually cracked the code and retrieved significant evidence, the judge said.
McDaniel’s recent behavior was especially troubling to Taylor.
After pleading guilty a few weeks ago to hindering the investigation, a third-degree crime, McDaniel reprised the story he first gave to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. He and Lansing had been taking a vacation, not fleeing a homicide, he told a Morris County probation officer. After visiting Lansing’s baby daughter in North Carolina, they climbed back into McDaniel’s Hyundai Elantra and headed for Colorado and some hiking.
A cross-country vacation — with no bags, and no extra clothes, according to Taylor’s icy recitation of the probation report.
Pressed to explain this story swap, McDaniel tossed up a word salad. He mentioned losing his father and grandparents, and finding new purpose as a father and as his mother’s “new lung.” Testimonial letters show “I’m a man of great character,” he said.
“Everyone finds religion on sentencing day,” the judge told the Morristown High alumnus. “It’s whether it’s sincere or not that I’m trying to get at.”
Assistant Prosecutor Jeff Conrad argued for three years’ jail time.
“I think we owe it to the victim’s family to send a message to the public that if you help somebody flee from a crime as serious as a homicide, there are going to be true consequences to that,” Conrad said.
If McDaniel messes up and goes to state prison, he will get credit for 69 days held in detention, most of them in Oklahoma. Lansing will be credited with 1,548 days.
The post Emotional letters shape sentences in 2021 Morristown killing appeared first on Morristown Green.
