Strike 3: Drug dealer gets extended prison sentence
TRENTON » No mercy.
Longtime drug dealer Imier Green is serving a 30-year prison sentence, a harsh punishment for a repeat offender guilty of heroin distribution.
Green, 26, of Trenton, was arrested July 3, 2018, for possessing heroin with intent to distribute in the capital city, a first-degree crime. A direct indictment handed up Aug. 20, 2019, charged him with a litany of drug offenses and several weapons offenses.
Firmly convinced of his guilt, a trial jury convicted Green last November on most counts. The jurors unanimously found him guilty on 17 of the 19 counts, including possession of dum-dum, hollow nose or body armor penetrating bullets. The jury, however, found him not guilty of second-degree possession of a firearm, records show.
The jury had reasonable doubts on whether Green packed heat while peddling drugs, forcing the state to dismiss the 19th count charging Green with certain persons not to have a weapon due to his prior convictions.
Green previously pleaded guilty in 2015 to drug distribution and unlawful possession of an assault firearm in Mercer County and was sentenced in February 2016 to five years of state incarceration. He also pleaded guilty in 2015 to conspiracy to manufacture drugs in Bergen County and was eventually sentenced to time served, according to his rap sheet.
As previously reported by The Trentonian, Green was paroled from state prison in January 2018 and quickly resumed his drug-dealing ways, getting busted in July 2018 and ordered to pretrial detention.
Following the jury trial conviction last fall, Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor John Boyle filed a motion seeking to hammer Green with an extended term of incarceration.
Repeat offenders like Green — notorious defendants with two or more prior felony convictions — may face extended terms of incarceration if found guilty of new criminal activity.
Superior Court Judge Thomas Scully granted Boyle’s motion at the Jan. 22 sentencing hearing, which is why Green’s firstdegree drug distribution landed him in the slammer for 30 years. The normal sentencing range for first-degree drug peddling is 10 to 20 years.
Scully ordered Green to serve 30 years in state prison with a 15-year mandatory term of parole ineligibility. The judge also imposed a mandatory $3,000 Drug Enforcement and Demand Reduction penalty, suspended Green’s state driver’s license for six months and ordered Green to provide a DNA sample and pay the costs for testing of the sample provided, according to the judgment of conviction.
Green received 502 days of jail credit for being in custody from July 3, 2018, to Jan. 22, 2020, minus a few days or weeks to which he was not awarded credit during the pretrial phase, records show.
Jail credit reduces a defendant’s prison exposure.
Private defense attorney Lauren A. Wimmer represented Green at the sentencing hearing last month. Scully finalized his judgment of conviction on Tuesday, and Green was formally discharged from the Mercer County Correction Center on Thursday, records show.
Finally transferred into the state prison system, Green as of Friday was being housed at the Central Reception and Assignment Facility in Ewing Township. He has a current parole eligibility date of Sept. 7, 2033, and a current max release date of April 6, 2038, according to the New Jersey Department of Corrections.
As a street hustler, Green had his fair share of enemies. He was targeted by Jabreel and Ali Abdullah in a May 2014 shooting that injured a 9-year-old Trenton girl who survived being shot three times. The Abdullah brothers pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the shooting.