now housed in a single-man segregation cell because of a fight he was involved in, leija has plenty of time to ponder past decisions. man, i got some good letters, too. steven sutherland, however, is housed in a general population unit where he s around other inmates. and for him, that carries a risk. for anyone to know that i used to be a deputy here potentially could be dangerous for me. i m in a medium-high security area, where these inmates are potentially going to prison for 15 years to life. if it was ever perceived i was part of the system, somebody may take advantage of that. 20 years earlier sutherland was a kent county sheriff s deputy and was even assigned to the jail in which he s now housed. he tries to keep that a secret, because when ex-law enforcement officers go to jail, they re often targets for attack. there s at least one inmate
lives you may have taken with no remorse. you didn t just shoot a person, you shot my son. you took a very big part of our lives away and that piece of the puzzle will always be missing. i hope you rot in prison for the rest of your life. even that will be too good for you. brad didn t deserve to die the way he did. he died a very violent and lonely death. no one should have to die that way. rot in hell, mr. leija, that s exactly where you deserve to be. you need to be off the streets so you can t hurt anybody else. i pray the court agrees with me and you get life in prison. when the victim s mother is finished with her statement, leija has an opportunity to read his apology. mr. leija, anything further you d like to say before i impose sentence? no, your honor. so mr. leija, mandatorily on felony firearm, it s the sentence of this court that you be committed for two years to the michigan department of corrections. consecutive to that and on second degree murder, it s the sente
even though joe leija pled guilty to second degree murder for shooting a man six times in the face, he has been in a state of limbo at the kent county jail. his judge cannot issue final sentence and send him to prison until his co-defendant s case is resolved. it s dragged on for more than two years, until now. he just lost trial yesterday. which is sad news, real sad news. so, you know, i was kind of couldn t really enjoy my meal yesterday when he came back from court. i was eating dinner and he told me like through the door, it s over, you know. he is just letting me know. he s at peace, you know. it happened. he still have peace in his heart. he wants to follow god. people come to jail and they find god. my faith ain t that strong
that was very much in control of his life, physically in shape. and as you go through to the next booking, alcohol had started to play a bigger factor. facial features have changed. and then you get into the last few years, i think i looked like i aged 20 years, and the fire went out. right now at the stage of my life, i m almost relieved to be in here right now. coming up there s at least one inmate in here that knows i was a deputy. steven sutherland tries to avoid the predators who target ex-cops. later, his own actions are called into question. about two seconds later i see his hand come out of the shower, i was like, this dude is an actual predator. and i should have killed the lady and her son, her son was 18 years old, he was my age. joe leija laments his decision to leave witnesses behind.
joel leija has had more than two years to find ways to pass time. he has pled guilty to second degree murder and will eventually transfer to state prison. i still want to come home young. so i m hoping to get at least 20. 18 would be nice. i could do that. i got a mindset on that. but i want to know for sure. once i know for sure, i think i ll be more at ease, i ll be more at peace. leija s sentencing has been delayed while his co-defendant s trial drags on. so he does what he can with what little he has. i take the little teeth out of these combs. the seasoning package that comes with seasoning for the noodles. i ll take that and make them in two. i take the staple and i make a hole. could just easy put them in there.