Noel Powell III, a former Lawrence Township resident, was sentenced to seven years in prison and three years of supervised parole on a charge of second degree passion provocation manslaughter for shooting Devin Smith in the head as the victim sat at the bar at Applebee’s restaurant on Route 1 in Lawrence in November 2017.
The sentence was delivered March 11 by Mercer County Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta in a virtual sentencing.
It is subject to the “No Early Release Act,” which means Powell must serve at least 85% of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
Powell will be credited with 1,208 days – the number of days he has been held in the Mercer County jail since his arrest on Nov. 19, 2017. He will be eligible for parole after serving five years, 11 months and 16 days from the day of his sentencing, Pereksta said.
Mother of man executed in Applebee’s apologizes to killer’s family at sentencing
Updated Mar 12, 2021;
Posted Mar 11, 2021
Noel Powell III, left, with his attorney Robin Lord during a 2017 court appearance in the death of Devin Smith.(Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media)
Facebook Share
It’s usually the other way around at a court sentencing: Defendants who have taken a life sometimes apologize to the victim’s surviving family members.
On Thursday, Debora Lapointe apologized to the family of Noel Powell III, the man who killed her son Devin Smith inside the Applebee’s in Lawrence in 2017.
“I am very sorry for anything and everything that Devin has done to your family,” Lapointe said, leading off a deeply emotional address in which she was blunt about her son’s actions and struggles, explained some of what led to the crime, and ended by forgiving Powell.