Man sentenced to 60 years for murder may get shorter prison stint

An appellate panel ruled that the Cliffside Park man should get another chance to negotiate a plea deal.

A Cliffside Park man sentenced to 60 years in state prison on a murder charge may get a shorter sentence.

Edwin Estrada (Bergen County Prosecutor's Office)

An appellate panel ruled Monday that Edwin Estrada should have a chance to renegotiate a plea deal.

Estrada claimed to be high on drugs when he beat an 88-year-old World War II Army veteran to death with a cooking pot. He was sentenced in September 2014.

The three-judge appellate panel said a trial court judge should not have thrown out a plea deal reached between the Estrada and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. The deal was for Estrada to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter and serve 27 years in prison.

The trial judge at the March 2013 sentencing hearing expressed "strong reservations" about the plea deal.

She said she wouldn't accept it unless the victim's family agreed to it.

The prosecutor spoke with the family and returned saying the state wouldn't oppose the court if it rejected the plea deal. The case went to trial before a different judge. A jury convicted Estrada on nine counts, including murder.

The appellate panel said the judge at the 2013 hearing was wrong to throw out the deal. The law "requires the court, not representatives of the victim, to make the ultimate -- and often difficult -- decision as to whether a plea agreement should be set aside."

The panel also said the judge was long for saying Estrada's claim that he was high was not a valid defense for murder. It can, in fact, be a valid defense, the panel said.

The panel ordered the prosecutor's office and Estrada's public defender to renegotiate a plea deal within 90 days. Estrada is to remain in custody until then.