He fatally shot intoxicated firefighter, was granted new trial — then opted out

A Detroiter who fatally shot a drunken Rochester Hills firefighter and was subsequently granted a brand new trial after the state Courtroom of Appeals overturned his conviction citing trial courtroom error determined to not seem earlier than one other jury Tuesday and pleaded no contest.

In change for his plea to voluntary manslaughter, prosecutors dismissed the 2 different expenses Terell Josey was convicted of three years in the past: carrying a hid weapon and a felony firearm.

The case in opposition to Josey unfolded after a reported street rage incident in Oakland County that led to the dying of Francis “Frank” Dombrowski, a lieutenant within the Detroit Hearth Division. Josey was tried in 2022 in Oakland County Circuit Courtroom, charged with open homicide, which gave jurors the choice to think about first-degree homicide, first-degree homicide and manslaughter.

Discovered responsible of manslaughter and the 2 firearm-related crimes, he was sentenced to 7 to 17 years in jail.

However final April, the Michigan COA overturned the conviction, ruling that the trial courtroom erred in denying Josey’s request to instruct the jury on self-defense as a protection to voluntary manslaughter, saying he was entitled to a brand new trial “with a correctly instructed jury.”

Jurors had been instructed about self-defense as a protection for homicide, however not for the lesser offense.

Because of the COA ruling, 31-year-old Josey was launched from jail in July after serving roughly three years behind bars. He was subsequently booked into the Oakland County Jail, the place he’s being held pending sentencing. The sentencing listening to is scheduled for Dec. 15 earlier than Oakland County Circuit Choose Daniel O’Brien, who presided over Josey’s 2022 trial and denied a request for a brand new trial in 2023.

Voluntary manslaughter carries a jail sentence of as much as fifteen years and/or a nice of as much as $7,500.

Highway rage escalated

Simply earlier than the taking pictures, Josey was a passenger in a Jeep pushed by his then-fiancée, who testified at trial that he narrowly prevented a collision on Rochester Highway after Dombrowski turned proper in entrance of her with out stopping at a purple mild. Josey and Dombrowski exchanged a barrage of profanities at one another as the 2 autos drove down the roadway, ending at a fuel station in Troy the place each males exited their autos. Surveillance video introduced to the jury confirmed Dombrowski shortly approaching Josey, the 2 struggled and Dombrowski was shot. He was pronounced lifeless a short while later at an space hospital.

Lawyer Marc Lakin had constructed a self-defense declare, with Dombrowski because the aggressor who took Josey’s gun. Dombrowski had a blood alcohol degree of 0.22 % and methadone in his system when he approached Josey, who fired his 9mm handgun at him thrice. Josey’s 2-year-old son and his then-fiancée had been within the Jeep on the time of the taking pictures.

Josey and his then-fiancée went to Troy police a number of hours after the taking pictures to report the incident, not realizing on the time that Dombrowski was lifeless.