During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Rutland, Judge Geoffrey Crawford told Joell Joyce he was getting a break and could have been given more than 25 years behind bars under federal guidelines.
Joyce had earlier asked the judge for leniency, saying that while behind bars awaiting his trial and then sentencing, he had worked to improve his life.
He added that he was a devoted father to his three young daughters. When eventually released from jail, he said, he wants to go home and talk to younger people about the dangers of coming to Vermont and selling drugs.
Crawford said the sentence will allow Joyce to get out of prison and do all those things, provided he doesn’t go back to dealing crack cocaine and heroin.
“You’ll be young enough to make that change,” the judge told him.
Crawford agreed to a request from Joyce’s attorney to depart from the federal sentencing guidelines, which serve an advisory role in calculating a sentence. Also, the judge agreed to treat crack cocaine the same as powdered cocaine when it came to calculating a sentence. Sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine offenses are harsher than for powdered cocaine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Perella said in court Wednesday that Joyce came to Rutland and “ran his business,” preying on those battling addiction, particularly women.
“It’s obvious he ran the operation,” the prosecutor said. “He made a whole lot of money on the backs of addicts in this county.”
On social media, Perella added, Joyce posted photos of himself flashing large wads of cash and yet had no job other than dealing drugs.
Perella, arguing for a longer sentence, said that while Joyce talks about how much he cared for his own daughters, he had no problem running a drug operation that sold drugs to the daughters of other people in Rutland County.
“He preyed on them to do his dirty work,” the prosecutor said of Joyce. “He stayed home smoking pot.”
Perella also said, “A good father doesn’t deal drugs.”
A presentence investigation report prepared by probation officers called for a sentence of 324 months to 405 months in jail, or at least 27 years.
“The record demonstrates that the only thing that keeps Vermont and Rutland County safe is having Joell Joyce in jail,” Perella added.
While the prosecutor described Joyce as the leader of a major drug dealing business that operated for several months and sold hundreds of grams of crack cocaine, his defense attorney referred to him as a street-level dealer.
“I don’t think there is evidence that shows all of these people acted at the discretion of Mr. Joyce,” said Williams, adding in court filings: “At best, the evidence show that Mr. Joyce, and those working with him, were street-level dealers of relatively small amounts of drugs in the Rutland, Vermont area.”
He urged the judge to see the possibility that a person can change. He talked of the tough upbringing Joyce had in Brooklyn.
“Like many others who grew up in the Louis Armstrong Houses in the 1990’s, Mr. Joyce experienced a daily diet of chaos and violence, with many nights punctuated by the sound of gunfire,” Williams wrote in a court filing.
The attorney added, “His mother worked hard to protect and insulate him from the outside world, but as he grew older he was drawn into the orbit of the neighborhood kids who lived on the edge of the law.”
By 18, Joyce had several felony convictions and a federal conviction for drug possession, Williams wrote.
“Mr. Joyce has repeatedly expressed his understanding that he is now at a crossroads,” the defense attorney wrote, “and that this might be his last opportunity to request leniency from a court, pay whatever debt he owes to society for his behavior, return home to his children and turn his life around.”
Williams called a sentence of at least 27 years in jail “absurd” and asked for five years instead — the mandatory minimum.
In December a federal jury in Rutland convicted Joyce, arrested in April 2015, of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and heroin as well as possession with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of crack cocaine base.
Federal prosecutors have said based on evidence at the trial, Joyce used associates in Brooklyn to bring heroin and crack cocaine to the Rutland area. Then, Joyce used addicts in the area to deal drugs, often staying at their homes in Rutland and West Rutland as a base of operations, paying them with heroin and crack cocaine.
Prosecutors say he made tens of thousands of dollars selling drugs through the operation, often managing his drug dealing business in Rutland by cellphone when he was in Brooklyn.
Joyce, wearing bright orange prison garb, stood up Wednesday in court and addressed the judge. He said growing up in a Brooklyn housing project he learned early in life that “right is wrong” and “police are against me.”
He has since learned differently and is taking actions to lead a new life, he said, at times wiping tears from his eyes. Once released from jail, Joyce said, he wants to start a nonprofit aimed at breaking the cycle of addiction back in Brooklyn.
He added, “I believe a long prison sentence isn’t the answer.”
