Emil Fennell gets 17-year sentence for killing over ‘respect’

Shawn Marinnie didn’t respect Emil Fennell enough to put on a mask before he allegedly pulled a gun to rob him, at least that’s how Fennell saw it.

So Fennell put on a mask days later and shot Marinnie dead.

The illustration of the mentality of Trenton’s gang members came out in Mercer County Superior Court Thursday during a sentencing hearing that saw Fennell get a 20-year prison term.

The robbery and resulting “respect” murder occurred in December of 2011 after, as Assistant Mercer Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian explained, 20-year-old Marinnie showed no fear about robbing Fennell to his face.

So days later Fennell, 26, put on a mask and hoodie and walked up on Marinnie in the 800 block of Stuyvestant and shot him to the ground with three bullets, then pumped another into him to make sure he was dead.

Whatever the “disrespect,” it was avenged. But Fennell will have to pay for it with at least 17 years in prison under the plea deal worked out earlier between the prosecutor and his lawyer, Chris Campbell.

With credit for the two years he’s already served in the Mercer jail, Fennell could get out 15 years from now, at age 40, if he stays out of trouble in prison.

Mercer Superior Court Robert Billmeier told Fennell he’s lucky he’ll still be relatively young when he gets out of prison. Until then, Billmeier said he’ll have plenty of time to think about the point he supposedly made the day he gunned down and killed “S-Money” Marinnie.

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