"The time that I will receive from you will be a long time," Sykes added, ''and I see that I've got to be strong for myself and for my family."
During the trial, state police testified that Sykes gave them at least three different versions of what happened in the early morning of Aug. 14, 1992. In the first version, he was not present when Maimone was killed. In the second, he ran over her accidentally while driving her red Camaro. In the third version, which Sykes now contends is the truth, a jealous boyfriend killed Maimone.
But the truth, according to prosecutors, is that Sykes got into a drug- related argument with Maimone, ran the car over her, dragged the body down a ravine to hide it, and finished her off with repeated blows from a tree branch.
The exact details of Maimone's death may never be known, Friedman said in imposing the sentence. Nonetheless, a jury found Sykes guilty of Maimone's murder, he noted.
Maimone's life was not blameless, Friedman said, noting that she was a ''big drug user." But that doesn't lessen the severity of the crime, the judge added.
"Her life, drug user or not, was as valuable and precious as the life of the most exalted among us," the judge said.
Before the sentencing, Friedman dismissed a defense motion for a new trial. Public defender David Jacobs had argued that the verdict should be thrown out
because one juror, a woman who was excused for health reasons, later said she would have pushed for a lesser verdict, such as manslaughter.
The life prison sentence is the most common in New Jersey felony murder cases, though the judge could also have sentenced Sykes to 30 years in prison, again with no chance of parole for 30 years.
