FLORIDA MAN GETS 20 YEARS IN STATE PRISON FOR SHOOTING CAR

 


By Kathy Ancar



Joseph A. Blaine Dejoie IV


Nationwide (BlackNews.com) -- As he did every Saturday night for
the previous four years, on August 20, 2011, single dad Joseph A. Blaine
Dejoie IV, prepared for work while his seven-year-old daughter played
nearby. Joseph's custody agreement called for his daughter to be picked
up by her mother, Dina Moreno West, from Joseph's place of employment
on Saturday nights. Two days prior, Mr. Dejoie testified against Mr.
& Mrs. West in custody court, where he sought more time with his
daughter.

On this particular Saturday evening, Joseph's father (Joseph Dejoie III)
received a telephone call from Mrs. West asking, "Are you home?"
Finding this strange, Mr. Dejoie III immediately called his son and
warned him to be careful during the handoff. Mr. Dejoie III had reason
to be concerned by the call because Mr. & Mrs. West had a
longstanding history of threatening his son. Mr. West, in particular,
had on more than one occasion threatened to shoot Mr. Dejoie. This fact
has been corroborated by Mr. Dejoie, III, who repeatedly mediated
discussions between the Wests and his son.

As they spoke, Joseph told his father, "It's okay Dad. She's pulling up now, and she's alone. I'll call you back in a minute."

When several minutes passed with no call from his son, Mr. Dejoie III
called his son's cell phone. After repeated attempts to reach his son
failed, the call was finally answered - by a Pensacola Police Department
officer, who informed Mr. Dejoie III that his son had just shot Marcus
West, his daughter's stepfather.

When he arrived on the scene, Mr. Dejoie III learned that just as he and
his son hung up their phones, Marcus West pulled up in his car, charged
across the lawn, shoved and forcefully bore his forefinger into
Joseph's forehead, and began arguing about the custody hearing.
Attempting to avoid the situation escalating further, Joseph ordered Mr.
West to leave. Several neighbors testified that they did indeed hear a
man yell, "Get off my lawn," several times. Mrs. West also pleaded with
her husband to leave, to no avail. Mr. West ignored his wife's pleas,
and in fact, according to Mr. Dejoie, cursed her and pushed her into her
car when she attempted to intervene. According to Joseph Dejoie, and
neighbors who witnessed the scene, West then claimed to have "something
that will blow you and your house down!"

At this point, only after repeated demands that Marcus West leave his
property, Joseph pulled a handgun from his belt and again ordered Mr.
West off his lawn. Mr. West leaned over and reached into his car, and
Joseph fired his weapon, hitting Mr. West in the legs and buttocks.
Only then did Mr. West get into the car. Joseph, fearing that Mr. West
was now inside the vehicle where he said he had a weapon, ordered him to
show his hands. Mr. West continued to rummage under his seat, so Joseph
shot again, hitting the car, but not Mr. West. Mr. West fled the scene.
Joseph called 911, as had several neighbors before shots rang out, who
reported hearing a loud argument between a man and a woman. Joseph
remained on the phone with the operator until police arrived. Officers
arrived on the scene within minutes.

After speaking with Joseph, the first officer on the scene said to him
that this appeared to be a clear-cut case of self-defense. After all,
Joseph was assaulted on his own front lawn. However, continued the
officer, it all depends on how it is written up in the police report.

The investigator, who did not interview all the witnesses, "summarized"
the statements of those she did interview. Neighbors who had called
police came outside to tell what they heard and saw, only to be told to
go back inside. As a result, Joseph was arrested! Not only that, the
attacker, Mr. West, who was treated and released from the hospital two
days later, was never charged or arrested. Remember, Mr. West came onto
Mr. Dejoie's lawn, threatened him, struck him, assaulted his own wife,
and gave conflicting statements that did not match those of several
witnesses. However, Joseph was charged with aggravated battery and
firing a weapon into an occupied vehicle. His charge was later elevated
to attempted murder.

Joseph's dad, an Escambia County Sheriff, asked the prosecuting attorney
why the state attorney was pursuing these charges, when it was clearly
self-defense. According to Mr. Dejoie, the prosecuting attorney
responded that it was out of his hands, and that his orders "from above"
were to push this case hard.

During his trial, despite the witnesses' testimonies verifying that Mr.
West was clearly the aggressor, the jury found Joseph not guilty of
attempted murder, but guilty of firing into an occupied vehicle. For
that charge, Joseph IV faced 20 years in state prison. What!? NOT GUILTY
for shooting a man, but 20 YEARS, under the 10-20-Life Law, for
shooting a car?
This gets even better. Under Florida law, the prosecutor, NOT THE JUDGE,
is the only person eligible to waive the mandatory minimum!*

Upon learning this, family and friends of Joseph wrote letters to the
prosecutor pleading for leniency. The victim, Marcus West, when
interviewed by the pre-sentencing PSI, said that he did not want Joseph
to go to prison, stating that the only person to suffer if her dad went
to prison would be Joseph's daughter, De'Ana Moreno Dejoie. The PSI
requested that Mr. Dejoie be given a reduced sentence, stating that he
did not deserve to go to prison at all for this, as it was clearly
self-defense. Their pleas fell on deaf ears. At the July 5, 2012
sentencing, Joseph's parents spoke on his behalf. Joseph read a
prepared statement during which he admitted to shooting Mr. West, but
reiterated that his sole intention was to defend himself and his
daughter from imminent danger.

The judge stated that he believed this was an unfortunate incident that
had been brewing for a long time and finally reached a boiling point. He
asked the prosecutor if he wished to waive the mandatory minimum, which
the prosecutor refused to do. Of course he refused to waive the
mandatory minimum. It looks good for his office when he sends the "bad
guys" away for a very long time. But, this was not a bad guy.

Joseph Dejoie was employed and paying child support. He was also a
full-time student, who was in court fighting for MORE CUSTODY TIME with
his daughter just two days prior to this incident. Additionally, he was
on his own front lawn. He did not go out looking for trouble; trouble
came to his front door, and he defended himself.

It is ill-fated when citizens, in an effort to curtail crime, vote in
favor of flawed laws that grant the power to determine a person's fate
to a prosecuting attorney rather than to the judge. Why do we even need a
judge to preside over criminal cases if his only power is in ruling in
favor of or against objections on the parts of the opposing attorneys?

Joseph Dejoie IV plans to appeal the ruling. In the meantime, he has
been sentenced to the mandatory minimum of 20-years in state prison FOR
SHOOTING A CAR. This is a travesty. This man is not a career criminal.
He is a victim, who in self-defense shot an attacker below the waist,
and his wounds were not life threatening. As a result of the
prosecutor's decision to sentence him to the mandatory minimum, his
daughter, who was accustomed to speaking to her dad every single day,
and being with him four days each week, will not hug him again until she
is 28 years-old.

Until citizens stand up to these injustices and blatant abuses of power
at the hands of elected officials, we will lose many more men like
Joseph Dejoie to the system, and more little girls will suffer the
trauma of having their daddies ripped from their lives and their hearts.
We cannot let that happen.

If you wish to reach out to Mr. Dejoie, there are several ways to help his case and at the same time, make your voice heard.

* Email justice4blaine@yahoo.com and his parents will print out and mail your letters to him.

* If you wish to contribute to Mr. Dejoie's appeals defense fund, you can do so via PayPal.

* For Floridians only, contact your local legislators to voice your opinion and the State of Florida Prosecutors Office at:
Office of the State Attorney
190 Government Center
Pensacola, FL 32501
Phone: 850-595-4200 Fax: 850-595-4212 Email: kasha_murphy@sa01.org

* (Florida Statute 775.087) is a mandatory minimum sentencing law in the U.S. state of Florida.)



-END-

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