Richard Barge is a Camden, New Jersey man convicted of the November 2007 murder of 22-year-old Nicholas Syders and sentenced to 57 years in state prison. The Camden, NJ murder case against Richard Barge was built almost entirely on witness testimony — an eyewitness who changed his story more than once and two jailhouse informants hoping for lighter sentences — and Barge’s appeals in state and federal court have so far failed to overturn the conviction.
The Thanksgiving 2007 Shooting
Syders was shot on the night of November 24, 2007, while sitting in his Toyota Solara in a parking lot near the Off Broadway Lounge at Broadway and Spruce Street in Camden. His passenger, Steven Goldsboro, was in the car. Syders tried to drive away after being hit, crashed into a wall, and was pronounced dead at the scene.1NJ.com. Jury Convicts Camden Man of Murder
Prosecutors said the killing grew out of a run-in between Barge and Syders about three weeks earlier at a Camden establishment called the “Nice Little Bar.” Accounts of that confrontation varied on whether it turned physical. Barge later testified he believed Syders was responsible for a separate shooting that had wounded Barge sometime after the bar incident.2New Jersey Courts. State v. Richard Barge, Appellate Division Opinion
The Witnesses Who Convicted Him
Barge, then 23, went to trial in Camden County Superior Court in early 2010. Assistant Prosecutor Peter Crawford tried the case for the state, and the jury convicted Barge of first-degree murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon, and a “certain persons not to have weapons” charge.1NJ.com. Jury Convicts Camden Man of Murder
The prosecution’s case rested on three witnesses. Goldsboro, the passenger, identified the shooter at trial as “Rich” — Richard Barge. His account had moved several times before he got there. He first told police he didn’t know the shooter. He then gave a taped statement naming Barge. On July 7, 2008, he signed a written recantation saying Barge was not the shooter. About a year later he reversed again, telling prosecutors the recantation itself had been a lie prompted by threats against him and his family. At trial he identified Barge and attributed the earlier flip-flops to fear.2New Jersey Courts. State v. Richard Barge, Appellate Division Opinion
The other two witnesses were jailhouse informants. Jamal Gibbs and Andre Munday both testified that Barge had confessed to them while they were held together at the Camden County Jail. Gibbs said Barge told him he had learned Syders was at the Off Broadway Lounge and went there to “get at” him. Munday said Barge described running up to the car and shooting Syders. Both acknowledged on the stand that they were hoping cooperation would reduce their own sentences.2New Jersey Courts. State v. Richard Barge, Appellate Division Opinion
Barge testified in his own defense and denied involvement. He said the bar incident with Syders was a verbal argument, not a fight. Three women testified he was at an apartment for Thanksgiving dinner when Syders was shot. The defense also tried to undercut the informants with a 2010 certification from a fellow inmate, Terrance Damon, who called Gibbs and Munday “jailhouse rats” and said Gibbs had admitted to reading other inmates’ legal paperwork and inventing confessions to earn favor with prosecutors. The trial court rejected Damon’s certification as a basis for a new trial, and the Appellate Division later affirmed.2New Jersey Courts. State v. Richard Barge, Appellate Division Opinion
The 57-Year Sentence
At sentencing, which included victim impact statements from Syders’s sister and parents, the court imposed 50 years for the murder and 7 years on a weapons charge, for a total of 57 years. Under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act, Barge must serve 85 percent of the 50-year murder term before he can be considered for parole, which places his earliest possible release around 2057.3NJ.com. Camden Man Sentenced to 57 Years
The Doorman Who Came Forward Years Later
In May 2015, Barge filed a petition for post-conviction relief in Camden County Superior Court. Attached to the filing was a certification from James Jordan III, who said he had been working the door at the Off Broadway Lounge on Thanksgiving night 2007. Jordan said he watched a man fire into a vehicle outside the bar and that “the shooter was not Richard Barge,” a regular customer he knew by sight. He explained his years of silence by saying he “did not want to get involved in the aftermath of it all and lose my job.”2New Jersey Courts. State v. Richard Barge, Appellate Division Opinion
Judge Gwendolyn Blue noted that there was no evidence Jordan’s name had ever been given to Barge’s defense team, meaning trial counsel had no way to know he existed. She allowed that Jordan’s statement “may be considered newly-discovered evidence” but held that a newly-discovered-evidence claim is legally different from the ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim Barge had actually filed. She denied the petition. The Appellate Division affirmed on July 31, 2017, observing that Jordan’s belated account “might form the subject of an application for a new trial,” but did not establish that trial counsel had performed deficiently.2New Jersey Courts. State v. Richard Barge, Appellate Division Opinion
Federal Habeas Denied as Untimely
On July 25, 2018, Barge filed a federal habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, docketed as Barge v. Attorney General of New Jersey, Civil No. 18-12033. Judge Noel L. Hillman of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed the petition on November 5, 2018, as time-barred and denied a certificate of appealability, finding that reasonable jurists would not debate the procedural ruling.4CaseMine. Barge v. Attorney General of New Jersey
The Younger Case Connection
Barge’s name also came up in a separate Camden murder case. Mansfred “Baby J” Younger was convicted of a June 2007 shooting outside the same Off Broadway Lounge that killed Tierra Presley and injured Adrien Jackson. Younger was sentenced to 78 years.5New Jersey Courts. State v. Manfred J. Younger, Appellate Division Opinion
In post-conviction proceedings, Younger argued his lawyer should have called Barge as a witness. Barge said he had been at the scene of the Younger shooting with his girlfriend, Maisha Brown, and that Younger was not one of the shooters. The same jailhouse informant, Jamal Gibbs, had testified against both men in their separate trials, a link that surfaced after the state disclosed Gibbs’s role in the Barge case.6iHeartRadio. Wrongful Conviction Podcast – Manfred Younger
The post-conviction court in Younger’s case found Barge’s testimony “not credible at all,” ruling that his claim of being at the scene was false and that a claimed meeting with Younger’s trial attorney never happened. Younger’s petition was denied and the Appellate Division affirmed.5New Jersey Courts. State v. Manfred J. Younger, Appellate Division Opinion
Where the Case Stands
Barge remains incarcerated in the New Jersey state prison system, serving the 57-year sentence, with parole eligibility not arriving until roughly 2057. His direct challenges through state post-conviction relief and federal habeas have been denied. The Appellate Division’s own language left one door slightly ajar: Jordan’s account, in the court’s view, “might form the subject of an application for a new trial,” a route separate from the ineffective-assistance petition already rejected.2New Jersey Courts. State v. Richard Barge, Appellate Division Opinion
New Jersey established a statewide Conviction Review Unit in April 2019, housed within the Attorney General’s Office, to examine claims of actual innocence in felony cases. The unit accepts applications from people who can present “objectively credible and verifiable evidence of innocence,” with priority for those still serving sentences.7New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Conviction Review Unit The file does not indicate whether Barge has sought review through that unit.