Jersey City man's 2nd trial on charges of stabbing a friend to death hears conflicting accounts

Thursday, May 06, 2010
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Closing arguments were heard yesterday in the retrial of a Jersey City man charged with stabbing a man to death on a Greenville street in 2008.

"I submit to you this is a clear case of self-defense," said Ronald Hunt, who represents Kason Hockett, 24, who is charged with stabbing Jason Sharpe, 24, of Wilkinson Avenue, in the heart at 7 a.m. on May 13, 2008 at Ocean Avenue and Wegman Parkway.

In his closing argument, Hunt said Sharpe was drunk and high on PCP the day he died, arguing the combination made him aggressive and combative when Hockett asked about $100 he'd loaned him.

Hockett testified Sharpe told him he wasn't going to pay him back so he punched Sharpe and knocked him down before walking away, Hunt said. The defendant said that's when his friend, Justine McNeil, 21, yelled "He's got a knife," Hunt said.

Hockett turned around "and sees him with the knife coming at him. He grabs him and turns him and (the knife) goes into his chest," said Hunt, who also worked to discredit the state's witnesses.

But in her closing argument Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Davis Elson reminded jurors that a witness testified she yelled "Don't do it" when she saw Hockett holding a knife and running at Sharpe. She noted that a second witness testified that she heard the other witness say it.

Davis Elson argued that Hockett was the only person who took out a knife.

"The defendant is saying, 'You pull a knife on me? You pull a knife on me?'" said Davis Elson. "What does the victim do, he holds up his hand and lifts up his shirt and says, 'I don't have a knife.' He doesn't cower, doesn't run, doesn't give in. For that disrespect - bam - one shot to the chest, right to the heart."

Jury deliberation began yesterday afternoon and a short time later the jury passed a note to the judge asking to have the testimony of two witnesses read back. The readback will happen this morning.

Hockett's first trial ended in a mistrial in August when a juror had emotional difficulties, officials said.

Hockett was out on bail at the time of the homicide and on Sept. 24, 2008 he began serving a 4-year prison term for a drug offense and resisting arrest, state corrections records say.

Manhunt for murder suspect

Thursday, May 22, 2008
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A 21-year-old Jersey City man who has already served two prison terms and is out on $100,000 bail is wanted for a murder in Greenville last week, officials announced yesterday.

Police say Kason Hockett, of Bartholdi Avenue, stabbed Jason Sharpe, 24, of Wilkinson Avenue, to death on May 13 at 7 a.m. after an argument on the street at Ocean Avenue and Wegman Parkway.

"We have been looking for him since (Tuesday) and he is not at his usual haunts," Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said of Hockett. "He should be considered dangerous."

Anyone with information on Hockett's whereabouts is asked to call the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Squad at (201) 915-1345.

Hockett, aka "Beefy," walked away from the argument but came back minutes later and stabbed Sharpe once in the chest, DeFazio said. Sharpe was pronounced dead at 7:55 a.m. at the Jersey City Medical Center.

Hockett was in prison from June 13, 2005 to Feb. 22, 2007 and from May 8, 2007 to June 2, 2007 on two convictions for drug possession, according to the Department of Corrections web site.

In October, Hockett was charged with eluding police and resisting arrest, according to police reports. The day after his arrest Hockett posted $50,000 bail and was released, DeFazio said. On Nov. 1, he was charged with drug possession with intent to distribute and posted another $50,000 bail, DeFazio said.

DeFazio blamed bail bondsmen who are often willing to issue a bond for a fraction of the bail amount.

"It's about a bondsman making the premium as opposed to making nothing," DeFazio said. "The bottom line is that this guy shouldn't have been out based on his history."

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Suspected drug dealer out on bail now charged with murder

by Michaelangelo Conte
Wednesday May 21, 2008, 6:25 PM
Kayson Hockett is wanted in the May 13 stabbing murder of a 24-year-old Jersey City man.

A 21-year-old Jersey City man who has already served two prison terms and is out on $100,000 bail is wanted for a murder in Greenville last week, officials told The Jersey Journal today.

Kason Hockett, of Bartholdi Avenue, stabbed Jason Sharpe, 24, of Wilkinson Avenue, to death at 7 a.m. May 13 after an argument at Ocean Avenue and Wegman Parkway, cops say.

"We have been looking for him since (Tuesday) and he is not at his usual haunts," Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said. "He should be considered dangerous."

Anyone with information is asked to call the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Squad at (201) 915-1345.

After the argument, Hockett, aka "Beefy," walked away but came back minutes later and stabbed Sharpe once in the chest, DeFazio said. Sharpe was pronounced dead at 7:55 a.m. at the Jersey City Medical Center.

Hockett was in prison from June 13, 2005, to Feb. 22, 2007, and from May 8, 2007, to June 2, 2007, on two convictions for drug possession.

In October, Hockett was charged with eluding police and resisting arrest, according to police reports. The day after his arrest Hockett posted $50,000 bail and was released, DeFazio said.

On Nov. 1 he was charged with drug possession with intent to distribute and posted another $50,000 bail, DeFazio said.

DeFazio blamed bail bondsmen who are often willing to issue a bond for a fraction of the bail amount.

"It's about a bondsman making the premium as opposed to making nothing," DeFazio said. "The bottom line is that this guy shouldn't have been out based on his history."