A white supremacist in Sacramento, California, has been given the maximum sentence for killing a Black man in a drive-by shooting last June for no discernible reason outside of the victim’s race.
According to the Sacramento Bee, 48-year-old Joseph Paul DeMarco, who was found guilty in February of the murder of 38-year-old James Roseman in a 7-Eleven parking lot, was given a sentence of life without the possibility of parole by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Maryanne G. Gilliard.
During the sentencing hearing, which took place Friday afternoon, Gilliard reportedly gave DeMarco four separate opportunities to speak and show contrition for the hateful and senseless killing of Roseman. DeMarco not only refused to apologize each time, but on the fourth opportunity, he spoke up only to proclaim, “I’m not guilty, ma’am,” to which the judge responded by reminding him that the evidence against him in the trial was “overwhelming.”
“Mr. DeMarco, you took somebody from our community who was loved. You heard what his family said, they loved James. You didn’t even know him,” Gilliard said. “The fact of the matter is the jury of your peers found you guilty, and they were right.”
Several members of Roseman’s family had spoken to the court before sentencing, including his eldest sister, Latrina Davis.
“You couldn’t see past the color of his beautiful Black skin,” Davis said. “I think about his last breath every single day. I imagine him fighting for his life after watching the video of him standing up after being shot, trying to survive, only to fall again alone on the cold ground.”
Davis said her brother, a father of three daughters, was fixing a light on his car when he was shot by DeMarco, whose conviction included a special circumstance enhancement for intentionally killing Roseman because of his race. In other words, a hate crime.
“You are the reason why our world will never be the same. You are the reason why my parents cry when they think no one is watching,” Davis told DeMarco. “You are the reason we sit in silence, feeling the weight of what’s missing.”
So, why Roseman? Besides the fact that he was a Black man, what was DeMarco’s motivation for shooting and killing him specifically? Well, according to prosecutors, the killing carried a motive that is as ole as white supremacy in America itself: a Black person was accused of a crime, and a white man decided someone needed to pay, and any old Black person will do. In fact, Roseman was reportedly not the only victim.
From the Sacramento Bee:
Deputy District Attorney Matthew Moore, who prosecuted DeMarco, said the defendant is a white supremacist who was angry over an armed robbery that he claimed was committed by a Black person and went “hunting” one night looking to shoot any Black person he encountered.
There was another man who was shot earlier that night nearby. The prosecutor said the other Black man wounded by gunfire survived because the bullet didn’t hit a vital organ. He said the surviving victim had never met or interacted with DeMarco either.
“I think that really strikes at what is so tragic about this case is that this was completely senseless,” Moore said while asking the judge for the maximum prison sentence. “James had not done anything to him.”
According to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the shooting was reported shortly before 12:30 a.m. on June 9 after people heard gunfire outside of the 7-Eleven in the 1300 block of Fulton Avenue at Hurley Way. Deputies arrived at the scene and found Roseman on the ground, wounded. He was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after. DeMarko not only used his .22 caliber pistol to kill Roseman, but he also fired it at others from inside his vehicle with the intent to kill.
Thankfully, this monster has been taken off the streets for good. We wish Roseman’s family peace and healing.
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Sacramento White Supremacist Sentenced To Life With No Parole For Killing Black Man In Drive-By Shooting
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