A Trenton man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 2021 accidental killing of a pedestrian on North Stockton Street.
Blake Pittman, 33, was sentenced on July 28 by Mercer County Superior Court Judge J. Adam Hughes to life in prison without parole for his November 2023 jury conviction, said Mercer County Prosecutor Janetta D. Marbrey.
Pittman was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm and certain persons not to possess to firearm. All of Pittman’s sentences are to run concurrent.
At approximately 8:39 p.m. on July 14, 2021, Trenton Police received a Shot Spotter activation in the area of 43 North Stockton Street. Responding officers located Pablo Herrera Chun, 53, suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Chun was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Pittman was arrested two weeks later on July 28 in a Bensalem, Pennsylvania hotel room by members of the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Evidence and testimony presented at Pittman’s trial showed that he intended to shoot an individual driving north on North Stockton Street, but missed and instead hit Chun, who was walking on the sidewalk of North Stockton Street between Wood and Academy streets.
Pittman was convicted on all counts of the indictment.
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 crimes and Pittman now being convicted for murder, the State moved before the trial court for a life sentence without the possibility of parole pursuant to New Jersey’s “Three Strikes Law” rather than accept the ordinary term of 30 years to life for murder.
However, following the Mercer County jury finding Pittman guilty on all counts but prior to his sentencing, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Erlinger v. United States, mandating that a jury must determine the facts that trigger the Three Strikes Law rather than a judge.
This meant that in order to obtain a life sentence without parole for the defendant, the State had to empanel a new jury to decide if Pittman qualified as a “Three Strikes” offender.
“Assistant Prosecutors Fisher and Gershman could easily have 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,” Marbrey said.
“As a result, on May 15, 2025, they secured a conviction by a jury that qualified Pittman for this week’s sentence of life without parole,” she said. “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.”
The investigation was led by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and Det. Karl Johnston of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
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