Left: Edward Johnston (Atlantic County Jail). Right: Javier “Javi” Velez (GoFundMe).
A New Jersey man will spend over a decade in prison for a drunk driving crash that killed a young boy two summers ago.
In February, Edward Johnston, 25, pleaded guilty to one count each of aggravated manslaughter and driving under the influence in Atlantic County Superior Court — the full indictment against him.
On Tuesday, he was sentenced to spend 15 years in prison by Judge Joseph Levin. The defendant will have to serve at least 12 years and nine months behind bars before he is eligible for parole.
But authorities insist the case is, in a sense, not yet over.
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On the warm night of July 23, 2023, Javier “Javi” Velez, 8, was killed while sleeping in the backseat of his father’s car while on a fishing trip with his father and brother. The vehicle was parked far off Absecon Boulevard in Absecon, a small city less than 10 miles west of Atlantic City.
While the other members of the Velez family, who were visiting from Philadelphia, fished mere feet away at a creek, an out-of-control car bounded off the White Horse Pike around 3:25 a.m. and, traveling well past the shoulder of the road, slammed into the parked car.
“Wake me up when we get home,” Javi had told his father before he went to sleep in the car, according to in-court testimony during the sentencing hearing by BreakingAC.
Instead, he died that Sunday night, instantly, from the impact — just two weeks and one day after turning 8 years old.
Johnston was arrested while still significantly drunk — with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .122 “several hours after” the incident — and with marijuana found in both his system and vehicle, according to a press release issued by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.
The defendant, who hails from affluent Egg Harbor City, had been drinking all night at bars in nearby Atlantic City. He was traveling at 107 mph, 57 miles over the speed limit, at the time he lost control.
“Investigators believe Johnston may have been texting at the time of the collision,” the prosecutor’s office said in the press release.
The defendant, for his part, did not flee and admitted to drinking heavily in the hours before the incident.
Johnston was charged with one count each of aggravated manslaughter in the first degree and driving under the influence.
In spite of a detention request by the prosecution, the defendant was quickly granted pre-trial release by the judge overseeing the case. That bail decision sparked significant public outrage — and a movement to change Garden State law.
“It is about my kid, but the main focus should be why this man is still free,” Javi’s mother, Kaylah Smith, told Philadelphia-based ABC affiliate WPVI on July 28, 2023. “He killed my kid. My kid is gone, and this man is free. Uninjured. That man’s car flipped upside down and he’s alive, but my kid is gone. It’s not fair.”
Local authorities and elected officials agreed — seizing on Javi’s death and putting forward a bill, S-2295, which was recently unanimously advanced by the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee.
The law, sponsored by New Jersey State Sen. Vince Polistina, would establish a presumption of pretrial detention for certain drunk drivers charged with vehicular homicide. The bill also mandates driver’s license suspension and possible vehicle forfeiture upon conviction.
“This heartbreaking case has exposed a critical blind spot in our justice system — one that allowed a dangerous, impaired driver to remain free after taking a child’s life,” Atlantic County Prosecutor William Reynolds said in a statement. “It should never take a tragedy to spark reform, but thanks to the courage and resilience of the Velez family, and the leadership of Senator Polistina, we are now moving toward a safer, more just system. Together, we are turning loss into action, and making sure law enforcement has the tools needed to protect our communities.”
