Joseph Fletcher is finishing up a 39-month prison sentence, scheduled for a release in May of this year after a weapons charge conviction. Over the weekend, however, he appeared to admit to something far more serious — in a live Facebook video from a mobile phone while sitting in his prison cell.
At one point in the 49-minute video, Fletcher talked about LaDonte “Tay” Smith, who was found dead in a car after a fatal shooting in September 2010. The following year, Anthony “Champy” Smart was convicted for the killing after he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Now, it looks like Fletcher is admitting he was the one behind Smith’s death, even though Smart took the fall.
“If it wasn’t for Champy I’d have a life sentence right now,” Fletcher said in the video. He later added, “I did it….everybody know I did it.”
Fletcher also seemed to express minimal sympathy for Smith, saying, “You know I still got love for (Tay). The streets is mean like..But RIP Tay.”
Smith’s mother, Lashoane Andrus, saw the video and was shocked by what she saw.
“It really hurt me,” she told local Fox8. “I sat at the table for like a half hour just sitting there, just staring, just watching the video over and over again because my thing is I can’t understand how you said you did it and in the same breath turn around and say, ‘I love ‘Tay,’”
Authorities couldn’t explain how Fletcher was able to get away with recording the video for nearly an hour, or how he gained possession of the cell phone in the first place.
[Image via screengrab]