A man was sentenced to 50 years in prison Friday for brutally beating a photographer walking home after a night out at a Trenton bar.

Jonathan Weathers, 29, of Trenton, on Friday faced relatives of the man he killed in Superior Court of Mercer County as they read prepared statements at his sentencing, the county prosecutor’s office said.

Weathers, in need of cigarette money, followed and later attacked Stephen Merrill, a local photographer active in the city’s arts community, when the city resident was walking home from Trenton Social, a bar and restaurant, around 1 a.m. on Aug. 2, 2016.

Weathers left Merrill, 60, in the street and took his phone and FitBit device, along with a leather wallet - which he emptied of cash before trying to burn it, prosecutors have said.

Merrill, who was 150 feet away from his front door on Lamberton Street, suffered a brain bleed and collapsed lung from the beating and died in a hospital two weeks later.

“A wallet, a FitBit, a phone...we have no father, and for what? No words can adequately describe the incomprehensible pain and loss we have endured,” said Olivia Merrill, his youngest daughter, who was present with her sisters Hannah Merrill and Stephanie Moschera, and their mother.

Stephen MerrillFamily photo

She recalled the last time she heard his voice - in a voicemail asking her to come over for dinner after he returned from California. Maybe he’d grill something, she’d make a salad, the ice cream man who Merrill knew well would show up with a chocolate-dipped cone.

“I dial him back... ‘Maybe tomorrow if not this weekend, Dad?’ I said. Little did I know that voicemail would be the last thing I have of my father. Because that tomorrow never came.”

The attack, when she was 24, changed her life forever and she still suffers from the trauma of his death. She hopes to one day forget Weathers.

“I hope the rest of the world forgets about you too,” she told him. “But Dad, we will remember you, I miss you.”

After a trial that spanned six weeks, with Merrill’s family there every day, a jury convicted Weathers of felony murder committed during the course of a robbery.

Administrative Assistant Prosecutor Stacey Geurds tried the case with Assistant Prosecutor Laura Sunyak.

Weathers must serve 85 percent of his 50 years, or about 42 years and five months, before he is eligible for parole, Geurds said.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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