NEWARK — Before sentencing Gerardo Gomez to 195 years in prison today for the execution-style murders of three college-aged friends, Judge Michael L. Ravin read a note from the man's medical file.

As an inmate, first at a Hudson County youth facility and then at the Essex County Jail, Gomez was prescribed sleeping pills, the judge read.

"Why can’t Mr. Gomez sleep?" Ravin asked, his voice tinged with sarcasm.

"Perhaps he’s haunted — haunted by his own evil. Perhaps he cannot get out of his mind, no matter how hard he tries, the voice of (his victims) that night: ‘Help me, Jesus! Help me, Jesus! Help me!" Ravin yelled like a man enraged, his voice growning angrier, fists pounding the bench.

The words became so fervent they startled some inside the Newark courtroom while provoking sobs and audible hums of agreement from members of the victims’ families.

Gomez, 20, was the youngest of six defendants with ties to the MS-13 street gang to be convicted or plead guilty to the slayings outside of Mount Vernon School in Newark and the last to be sentenced.

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Ravin called the Aug 4, 2007, attack "evil incarnate" and sentenced Gomez to 60 years each of the murders of Iofemi Hightower, Dashon Harvey and Terrance Aeriel, and 15 years for the attempted murder of Natasha Aeriel, all students or incoming students at Delaware State University.

The terms will run consecutively.

Today’s sentencing marked the culmination of the criminal portion of one of the most infamous murder cases in Newark’s history. The case attracted national attention for its brutality, consumed hundreds of days of trial testimony over nearly five years and resulted in more than 1,000 years of prison time for the killers.

"This is a very important day to remember what was taken from us," acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray said. "These were good kids who were headed to bright futures, young people who proved you can grow up in Newark and go on to do great things for our community."

The five other defendants pleaded guilty to the crime or were convicted by a jury and are serving a combined 867 years in prison. With Gomez’ sentence the indictment becomes the first to result in a 1,000-year prison term in the county’s history, Assistant Prosecutor Romesh Sukhdeo said.

On that warm August night five years ago, Gomez, along with five others robbed four friends who had come to the schoolyard to relax and listen to music. Three of the victims were led down a set of stairs where they were forced to kneel and then were shot, execution-style, in the head. Natasha Aeriel, now 24, was shot and attacked with a machete, but survived.

Gomez, who turned 15 that day, did not wield a knife or a gun and defense attorney Michael Robbins has called him a victim of circumstance, influenced by the older men in the attack.

James Harvey, father of Dashon, dismissed any notion that Gomez’ age should afford him leniency. "Although he might not have been the triggerman he was a willing participant," Harvey said. "I look at those pictures from their arrest and they’re not kids to me, they’re demons."

In an impassioned address to the court today, Shalga Hightower, the mother of Iofemi, recounted her heartbreaking journey from the night detectives called her to the medical examiner’s office to today.

"Emptiness will haunt me everyday for the rest of my life," Hightower said to the court. "I have lost my confidante, my calm voice in the storm, my go-to child, my rock." She turned to Gomez and said, "I don’t hate you, Gerardo. I hate what you took part in and what took my daughter from me and what you stand for."

Gomez sat, head bowed with his back to those who spoke, wiping tears from his cheeks. He declined to address the court.

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For the family members who have sat through five years of court proceedings, today’s sentencing closes the door on the criminal case and locks it behind those men responsible.

Next week, a civil trial against the state-run Newark school district begins.

The multimillion dollar lawsuit alleges the district was warned numerous times to safeguard the graffiti-laden, dark, unlocked schoolyard and failed to do so. Ten days before the murders, Councilman Ronald Rice wrote that the unlocked gate "may be a potential location for illegal activity or a crime waiting to occur."

"I want the world to know that out of this nightmare that I have been living breathing, eating for five years, I’m still here," Hightower said. "God has given me closure in this chapter of my life and now my angel, Iofemi can rest in peace and spread her angel wings."

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