Mercer County Man Will Die In New Jersey State Prison For 2021 Murder

Sunday, August 3, 2025, 11:00 A.M. ET. 4 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

TRENTON, NJ.- Last Monday, a 33-year-old Trenton, New Jersey, man, learned he will spend the rest of his life in New Jersey State Prison, after being sentenced for the botched targeted shooting that tragically claimed the life of a 53-year-old innocent bystander, who was fatally gunned down a street in New Jersey Capital City duing the summer of 2021.

     According to Mercer County Prosecutor Janetta D. Marbrey, on Monday, July 28, 2025, Blake Pittman, 33, formerly of Trenton, New Jersey, appeared in Mercer County Superior Court and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge J. Adams Hughes to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for his November 16, 2023, conviction for the shooting death of Pablo Herrera Chun, 53, of Trenton, New Jersey.

     In handing down the sentence on Monday, Judge Hughes additionally sentenced Pittman to 10 years with a five-year parole ineligibility for his conviction by the same jury of unlawful possession of a weapon and certain persons not to possess weapons. Judge Hughes ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

The Convictions And Monday’s Sentence Stems From A 2021 Homicide Investigation

     The convictions and Monday’s sentences stem from an investigation that unfolded on July 14, 2021, when, just shortly after 8:30 p.m., members of the Trenton Police Department responded to a ShotSpotter activation in the area of 43 North Stockton Street in the City of Trenton. Upon arrival, Police Officers found Mr. Herrera Chun unresponsive on the ground, having sustained a life-threatening gunshot wound to his upper chest. Mr. Herrera Chun was transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he would later succumb to his injury and be pronounced deceased.

     Following a swift-moving investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and the Trenton Police Department, Detectives were able to identify Pittman as the shooter, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Just two weeks later, on July 28, 2021, Pittman was located and taken into custody by members of the U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force inside a room at a Bensalem, Pennsylvania, motel.

     During the fall of 2023, Mercer County Assistant Prosecutors William P. Fisher and Scott Gershman presented evidence and testimony during a four-week trial before Judge Hughes that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that on the evening of July 14, 2021, Pittman intended to shoot an individual driving North on Stockton Street in the City of Trenton, but missed the intended victim and instead struck Mr. Herrera Chun as he was walking on the sidewalk on North Stockton Street between Wood and Academy Streets, fatally wounding him.

     At the culmination of the trial, the jury found Pittman guilty on all counts of the indictment, including first-degree Murder; second-degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose; Unlawful Possession of a Weapon; and Certain Persons Not to Possess Weapons.

     According to a spokesperson for the Prosecutor’s Office, at the time of the murder, Pittman had only been released from prison for less than a year after serving sentences for aggravated manslaughter and robbery. Due to these prior convictions and Pittman now being convicted of murder, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office moved before the trial court for a life sentence without the possibility of parole, pursuant to New Jersey’s “Three Strikes Law,” which would allow a person convicted of three crimes within a ten-year period to be sentenced without the possibility of parole rather than the 30 years to life.

     However, following the Mercer County jury finding Pittman guilty on all counts but prior to his sentencing, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Erlinger v. United States, mandating that a jury must determine the facts that would trigger New Jersey’s “Three Strikes Law,” rather than a Judge.

Prosecutor Marbrey Commends Assistant Prosecutors

     “Assistant Proisecutors Fisher and Gersham could have easily accepted sentencing to the ordinary term for Pittman, but their drive for justice and quest to protect the community from future harm prompted them to push for more,” Prosecutor Marbrey said. “As a result, on May 16, 2025, they secured a conviction by a jury that qualified Pittman for this week’s sentence of life without parole. This was the first-ever jury trial of its kind in the State of New Jersey, and I am extremely proud of the ambition and determination displayed by these assistant prosecutors.”