A now 27-year-old man must serve 85 percent of a 42-year prison sentence for the 2011 killing of a Plainfield man.
Malcolm Bradley, 27, of Edison, was sentenced to 42 years in prison for the 2011 murder of a Plainfield man. (NJ Department of Corrections) ELIZABETH -- Shortly after midnight on March 16, 2011, the then 22-year-old Malcolm Bradley had an argument with a man in a Plainfield restaurant.
Minutes later, Bradley followed the other, Curtis Stroud, outside to a car. Bradley pulled out a gun and started firing, fatally wounding Stroud in the back seat of the vehicle.
On Friday, Bradley was sentenced to 42 years in prison for a shooting that Superior Court Stuart Peim called a "callous and brutal execution," acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park said in a statement.
Peim ordered that Bradley must serve 85 percent of the sentence before he is eligible for parole, Park said.
Authorities said Bradley and Stroud, 31, got into an argument at a restaurant on Park Avenue at East Fifth Street in Plainfield.
Shortly after that argument, Bradley followed Stroud to the area of Berckman Street and South Avenue in Plainfield, and shot Stroud as he sat in a friend's car, said Union County Assistant Prosecutor Colleen Ruppet.
Stroud's friends took him to Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield, where they left him, authorities said.
They said Stroud was taken into the hospital for treatment and was pronounced dead at 1:45 a.m.
Bradley was arrested about 10 days after the shooting on drug charges. He subsequently was charged with Stroud's killing and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose and criminal restraint.
Last November, following a three-week long trial, a jury convicted Bradley of all the charges after deliberating over three days.
In February 2013, Bradley was sentenced to six years in prison for the drug charges.
Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.