HACKENSACK — A Paterson man was sentenced Tuesday to 48 years in state prison for the 2021 stabbing deaths of two people in a gruesome double murder that stunned a quiet Hackensack neighborhood.
Clarence Stokes, 46, received the sentence in Bergen County Superior Court under a plea deal that requires him to serve at least 85% of his term before becoming eligible for parole, in accordance with New Jersey’s No Early Release Act.
Stokes pleaded guilty in January to murdering Latrice Avery, 44, and Stanley Gunter, 67, at a multi-family residence on August 25, 2021. Prosecutors say he attacked Avery on the front porch of the home shortly before 9 p.m., stabbing her multiple times in the head, arms, and torso. She died later at Hackensack University Medical Center.
Inside the home, police found Gunter’s body in his upstairs apartment. Hackensack EMS attempted life-saving efforts, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities recovered surveillance footage from a doorbell camera showing the attack on Avery. According to autopsy reports, Avery suffered at least 36 stab wounds, and Gunter sustained 21.
Stokes was found by officers several houses away from the crime scene, covered in blood. A knife was recovered nearby. He was arrested on the spot and charged by Hackensack police and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Homicide Squad.
The sentencing was handed down by Judge Vincent Militello in Hackensack.