Morristown man pleads guilty to assaulting girlfriend, torching car outside hospital in ’21

Chancelle Young. File photo.
0

 

A local man who spurred a tense armed standoff outside Morristown Medical Center in 2021 pleaded guilty Tuesday to roughing up his girlfriend, torching her relative’s car, and carrying a handgun in violation of a weapons ban.

Although Chancelle Ibin Young, 30, could get more than 20 years in prison and $300,000 in fines, Morris County Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Tia Manochio will recommend eight years for second-degree arson, and $24,000 in restitution for the burned-out Honda Accord, when Young is sentenced by Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor in March.

“Someone gonna die tonight,” Young allegedly told police on the night of Oct. 25, 2021, outside the Franklin Street apartment complex where he lived with his girlfriend and their 4-year-old child. It’s near the emergency department entrance to Morristown Medical Center.

Morristown police said he pointed a silver handgun at them and threatened to shoot “in the jugular” officers, who took cover behind a tree. After smashing windows and mirrors of the new Honda, he set it on fire. Firefighters battled the blaze while law enforcement officers attempted to disarm and arrest Young. Morris Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll commended officers for de-escalating a crisis that could have ended in tragedy.

During Tuesday’s virtual proceeding, Young acknowledged arguing with his girlfriend prior to the police standoff. She was injured when he hit her and threw a bicycle at her, he admitted under questioning by his public defender, Joseph Corazza.

“You would agree as well that that the car lit on fire caused the danger of death or bodily injury to either yourself or any of the other people on Franklin Street?” Corazza asked.

“I guess. Yes,” Young replied, via a video link at the Morris County Jail.

He told the judge he used a lighter and a piece of paper to set the car ablaze.

The prosecution also seeks concurrent sentences of five years for Young’s guilty plea to the second-degree crime of “certain persons not to have weapons,” and six months for simple assault, a disorderly persons offense.

In exchange for these pleas, Manochio agreed to drop seven other counts from Young’s indictment, including child endangerment, aggravated assault, terroristic threats and more weapons and arson charges.

Under the state’s No Early Release Act, Young must serve 85 percent of whatever sentence he receives for arson, Taylor said.

On the weapons conviction, Young must serve at least five years before seeking parole, according to the judge. Young will be banned from owning firearms, and be subject to three years of probation upon his release.

Young’s purchase of the Raven Arms MP-25 handgun brandished in Morristown violated his probation for a prior weapons conviction in Essex County. Taylor said he will deal with that complaint at sentencing.

In 2014, Young was charged with the 2014 murder of 35-year-old Elizabeth woman in Newark’s West Ward. Court records indicate the charge was dismissed, Young pled to the fourth-degree crime of possessing dum-dum bullets (they expand upon impact), and was sentenced to 18 months in Essex County Jail.

If you’ve read this far… you clearly value your local news. Now we need your help to keep producing the local coverage you depend on! More people are reading Morristown Green than ever. But costs keep rising. Reporting the news takes time, money and hard work. We do it because we, like you, believe an informed citizenry is vital to a healthy community.

So please, CONTRIBUTE to MG or become a monthly SUBSCRIBER. ADVERTISE on Morristown Green. LIKE us on Facebook, FOLLOW us on Twitter, and SIGN UP for our newsletter.

LEAVE A REPLY