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February 8, 2014
Earl Joseph III, who was indicted Wednesday night on a first-degree murder charge, is being charged as an adult and has been moved from the Lafayette Juvenile Detention Center to the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.
No bond has been set at this time, Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Kip Judice said Wednesday.
Judice said Joseph will be housed in an area separate from the general population.
“Joseph is being housed in an area of the jail that is not accessible by general population in compliance with the standards of the ACA best practices guidelines specific to youthful offenders,” Judice said Thursday in an issued statement.
Joseph is accused of shooting Jockey Lot employee Michael Patin, 49, of Arnaudville, shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday at the Jockey Lot flea market.
District Attorney Mike Harson said Joseph “should be arraigned within the next 30 days and then the normal process will occur.” Joseph won’t face the death penalty, Harson said, because of his age.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2005 decision in the Roper v. Simmons case made it unconstitutional to impose the death penalty for crimes committed by juveniles under 18.
Joseph does not face a mandatory life sentence, according to Lafayette attorney Alfred Boustany. The 2012 U.S. Supreme Court’s Miller v. Alabama decision, Boustany said, ruled mandatory life sentences without parole are unconstitutional for juvenile offenders.
If Joseph is convicted, a special court hearing must held to decide whether he will receive a life sentence, Harson said.
“It also appears that there will be a hearing, if convicted, to determine if he should get life without parole or if he should be given a chance for parole at some determinate time,” Harson said via email Thursday.
Although only Joseph has been charged in Patin’s death, he was among a group of five other boys, ages 12-16, under investigation for an attempted break-in Sunday night at Jockey Lot, as well as other incidents over several days, including carjacking and thefts.
