What to Know
- A man who killed his neighbor during an early morning 2016 street robbery has been sentenced to 30 years in prison without parole
- Jimmy Kearney received his sentence Friday. The 20-year-old Elizabeth man had pleaded guilty in March to murder
- Prosecutors say Robert Rouse, 61, a veteran who had served in Vietnam, was his way to the downtown Elizabeth train station when attacked
A man who killed his neighbor during an early morning 2016 street robbery has been sentenced to 30 years in prison without parole.
Jimmy Kearney received his sentence Friday. The 20-year-old Elizabeth man had pleaded guilty in March to murder.
Union County prosecutors say 61-year-old Robert Rouse — a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who had served in Vietnam — was his way to the downtown Elizabeth train station to commute to his job at a factory in neighboring Middlesex County when Kearney attacked him on Halloween 2016.
According to prosecutors, Kearney then ran back to his house and got a gun which he used to fatally shoot Rouse in the neck as the victim was lying in the street and then going through his pockets.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Following the execution of a search warrant at Kearney’s home, the victim’s blood-stained backpack and the murder weapon, a .45-caliber handgun, were found in Kearney's bedroom, and a subsequent search of a storm drain near the scene of the crime turned up the victim’s wallet, identification cards, credit cards, and train and bus tickets, prosecutors say.
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Kearney was also wearing sneakers found to have the victim’s DNA on them at the time of his arrest, according to prosecutors.
Three members of Rouse’s family spoke prior to sentencing, including two sisters and his only child, a 35-year-old son who shares his name.
“I’m glad I got to see him that day,” the younger Rouse said. “But I didn’t know it would be the last time.”
Kearney must serve the full 30 years before being eligible for parole.
