Murder victim's nephew: Don't blame reforms

PROVIDENCE — In the two and a half weeks since Troy Pine was fatally stabbed inside a Federal Hill hookah bar, some have used his death as an example of criminal-justice reform gone wrong.

The man police say is responsible, a violent gang leader named Joel Francisco, had been released from prison just a few months earlier under a federal law signed last year by President Trump.

But in comments read into the congressional record Thursday, Pine’s nephew urged people not to blame Trump or the First Step Act.

“Anyone who speaks my uncle’s name, please speak it in a way that will draw people together, and bring help to people in these communities, including human beings who have been locked up for too long,” Jay Chattelle, a Woonsocket resident with Pawtucket roots, said in a statement read by U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York City.

The comments came during a congressional hearing looking into the effects of the First Step Act. Members of the House Judiciary Committee questioned federal officials about how things are going in the months since the bill was signed in December. Pine’s death came up when Jeffries read Chattelle’s statement, and when U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, offered his condolences to Pine’s family.

In some places outside of Congress, scrutiny of the law in the wake of Pine’s death has been much more intense. Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News highlighted the case; U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican of Arkansas, called Francisco’s case “tragic, but not surprising.” Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, called it a “predictable outcome of ‘sentencing reform.’”

In his statement to Congress, though, Chattelle asked people not to “use my family’s name or pain for a political agenda.”

Scrutiny, Chattelle said, should be reserved for people on lower levels — Francisco had been arrested in July, after his release from federal prison, but federal probation officials did not move to revoke his supervised release or bring him into court for a public hearing.

On Friday, Francisco was still on the run.

Francisco had been convicted in 2005 and sentenced to life in federal prison for dealing crack cocaine. The life sentence was mandatory under laws put in place to counter the crack epidemic; Francisco, the local leader of the Latin Kings gang, had multiple felony drug convictions on his record, as well as violent crimes including assault with intent to murder.

In 2010, a law signed by President Obama reduced the penalties for dealing crack, bringing them more in line — but not totally in line — with penalties for dealing powder cocaine.

The 2018 law, among other things, made the 2010 law retroactive for older convictions, like Francisco’s. Less than two weeks after Trump signed it, Francisco cited it to get out of prison. On Feb. 5, under an agreement reached between prosecutors and a public defender and approved by U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., Francisco was released, prompting concerns from the deputy chief of the Providence Police Department. Cmdr. Thomas Verdi said Francisco had a “propensity for violence.”

On Oct. 2, police say, the man who was once in prison for life but got a second chance fatally stabbed Troy Pine, 46.

Chattelle and his family are devastated, he told Congress, but added: "At the funeral, my brother spoke of the need for love and forgiveness — and I wish the world had heard it.”

When Chattelle talks about the criminal justice system, he speaks from experience: In an interview, he estimated he’d spent about five and a half years of his 44 years of life incarcerated, starting in a lockup for juveniles.

His uncle, Pine, also had a criminal record. But besides a misdemeanor charge of obstructing an officer this year, all charges were more than a decade ago. Like Francisco, Pine had felony drug convictions, but only one, from more than 20 years ago, that resulted in time in prison — 18 months.

After those earlier run-ins with the law, Pine was committed to living on the right side of the law for the last decade-plus, Chattelle said.

Chattelle said his own record was the result of being a “violent person.”

“I got into a lot of fights,” Chattelle said. “I had anger-management issues, and I got into a lot of fights.”

Chattelle now channels his energies into poetry, and has worked on nonviolence initiatives and with criminal justice reform advocates in Rhode Island.

A domestic violence charge of violating a protective order is pending against Chattelle; he described it as the result of a contentious separation, and said it was unfounded. He is sure he will be found not guilty, he said. It’s one of several domestic violence charges on his record.

He acknowledged he has had a lot of second chances.

“Some I took full advantage of, and others I wasn’t mature enough at the time,” he said.

He has experience in grieving publicly. In 2014, his 18-month-old son, Jayce, drowned.

Heavily tattooed and with a boxer’s physique, Chattelle can look imposing. But that façade wears off when he’s talking about his son and the lessons he learned in grief.

“Whether you’re here a year and a half like my son was, or 44 years like I am,” Chattelle said, choking up with tears, “life is really a gift.”

— bamaral@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7615

On Twitter: bamaral44

Watch: U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries reads a statement from Jay Chattelle, nephew of Providence murder victim