Hello, we are Demetrius and Margaret Joseph, and we are in a fight for the life of our son, Demetrius Joseph Jr, who was given a life sentence for a crime no one (not even the jury who convicted him) thinks he committed.

Demetrius was arrested on Oct 4, 2015, for a robbery-murder in Coatesville and charged in Chester County with second-degree homicide--which carries a mandatory life-without-parole (or death by incarceration) sentence in Pennsylvania.  No one ever alleged that he was the shooter or took part in the shooting, and no one has even proved that he was present when the incident happened. There was no physical evidence putting him there, and the main eyewitness in the trial said on the stand that he didn't know who our son was until he saw his photo in the newspaper. The only evidence that directly implicated him was an edited 5-second blurry cell phone clip from the police that showed him walking down the street at around the same time.  There was more direct evidence against some other people, but they took deals and left only our son and one other person to be tried together.  The jury did not want to find our son guilty of anything that would lead to a life sentence, and when they asked if they had to find our son and the other man guilty of second-degree homicide, the judge gave a 20-minute explanation that had no clear answer. The jury reluctantly found him guilty, and had no choice but to give him a mandatory life sentence.

The night the verdict came, the prosecutor came to our son’s lawyer and said. "Come see me after holidays. This was not right, no one wanted this to happen.” But the appeals court said that, while the judge’s explanation was confusing and the jury didn’t understand it, the sentence was still technically legal. No one wanted this to happen, but no one in the system will help us make sure that our son isn’t sentenced to die in prison for something he was not involved in.

We have already spent tens of thousands of dollars on a trial lawyer and a first appeal lawyer, and we have to ask for your help to pay for the next step towards getting Demetrius justice. It’s not easy for us to ask for help, but we’re in a hard spot and are hoping we can get some support from the community to help us find the $5000 we need for the next appeal. Anything is greatly appreciated, and we are very grateful that people are even thinking of us and Demetrius.