From honor student to prison, repeat offender begs federal judge in Detroit for mercy

He pleaded for mercy.

Promised he'd never do it again; that it was the booze that made him do it, and his troubled childhood: He had no father figure. Mom struggled and got high. The neighborhood was crime-ridden.

But the judge seemingly wasn't moved, if his sentence is any indication.

In federal court this week, U.S. District Judge David Lawson sentenced 30-year-old Joshua Fordham to 10 years in prison for robbing two men at gunpoint outside a Detroit deli — a crime he committed just three months after being released from parole for another gun crime. Fordham, who pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm for his role in the deli holdup, had asked the judge to give him a more lenient sentence of four years.

His lawyer, Sanford Schulman, urged the judge to take into consideration Fordham's acceptance of responsibility, supportive family and challenging childhood, stating in court documents, "He has been not just deterred, but redirected."

Feds: He hasn't proven himself

The prosecution, however, asked for a lot more, 10 to 12½ years, arguing Fordham hadn't learned his lesson and poses a "significant danger to the community."

"The seriousness of Fordham’s offense cannot be understated — he robbed a man at gunpoint, leading to a shootout in a public parking lot," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ranya Elzein argued in a sentencing memo, stressing Fordham's prior sentences have failed to keep him out of trouble.

"Fordham has proved that when he is in the community, he will have a firearm," the prosecutor wrote. "And he will use it."

Fordham's story is a familiar one in federal court, where repeat offenders show up week after week with criminal histories, supportive family members, scarred childhoods and promises to do better. His case also highlights a troubling and pervasive problem facing at-risk youths whose lives are marred by circumstances out of their control, like poverty, drugs, violence and death.

Fordham saw it all and lived it all.

'I'd rather be dead than in here ... I'm broken'

"I've been through things I have never spoke (of) and promised myself to never come to prison again," Fordham wrote in a letter to the judge.

Yet he's back in prison, for a decade this time, as there's no parole in the federal prison system - only good time behavior credits.

"Sometimes I tell myself I'd rather be dead than in here," Fordham, a father of five, laments in his letter. "I'm broken as a man."

In his own words, this is what broke him:

Smart kid loses his way

"Growing up, I was a very smart kid. Principals list, honor roll," he writes. "I was promoted and went to 9th grade a year early."

But life at home was hard. His mom was a single parent struggling to raise three boys by herself in a rough neighborhood.

"The things I saw my mother do to take care of us are what made me feel I had to do anything to help my family," he writes.

His mom worked two jobs, yet struggled to pay the bills.

When the power was cut off, the family lit candles around the house. When the heat got cut off, they used the stove for warmth.

"There were even times my mother would have to sell her food stamps to pay bills," he writes.

Mom had to 'get high and drink to feel better'

And there was weed and nonstop partying at the house.

"She would be so stressed, she would have to get high and drink to feel better," he writes.

Soon, he said, he did the same.

"Everywhere we lived was like a party house when my mother was home," he writes. "Doing drugs and abusing alcohol became a way to escape from all of life's problems."

Fordham's mother let him drink booze at a very young age, he writes, though "I never blamed her for my addiction to it."

Along with the alcohol and drugs came guns.

"Growing up, I was always smaller than everyone so I felt I had to find anyway to protect myself," he writes.

So he started carrying guns.

And wound up in prison.

Imprisoned at 19 for armed robbery

At 19, Fordham was sentenced to 5-15 years in prison for armed robbery. According to court records, he was in a car with two individuals who were buying heroin when he demanded their cellphones at gunpoint. After receiving the phones, records show, Fordham took the keys out of the ignition, shot one victim in the leg and fled.

Fordham served about six years of his sentence — an experience that still haunts him.

"Seeing guys raped, stabbed and having to protect myself from those things done drove me crazy," he writes.

Months in solitary confinement was perhaps worse. He called it "the hole … and that was mentally breaking me."

He was prescribed medications for depression, anxiety and high blood pressure.

Losing loved ones to violence

By November 2020, he was a free man again after being released on parole, though life would prove difficult. Four months before getting out, his best friend was shot and killed. Fordham would turn to the bottle again, "to make me feel better and forget all that I've been through."

More trauma followed.

Two months after his release, two of his relatives were killed in a triple homicide.

So, he drank even more.

He started to build a relationship with his father, but months into that rebuilding his dad died. Then his brother was murdered.

He got through it all with alcohol — to forget, to feel happy, he said.

In November 2022, he was discharged from parole. Yet,three months later, he wound up back in jail.

The deli holdup

On Feb. 8, 2023, Fordham followed two individuals out of a deli in Detroit and tried to rob them at gunpoint in the parking lot. Surveillance video captured him following the victims to the car, patting one man down as he tried to take his wallet, while also pointing a gun at the victim's head.

The victim, who had a concealed license permit, was armed and shot Fordham. He returned fire as the victims ran away, though his bullets did not strike them.

When police arrived, they found Fordham lying on the ground, shot in the chest. He also had one of the victims' wallets.

"The facts establish, at least by a preponderance of the evidence, that Fordham was the initial aggressor and shot at (the victim) while robbing (him)," prosecutors wrote in court documents, maintaining Fordham had the "intent to kill" that night.

Fordham was indicted on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and pleaded guilty to the charge.

“This defendant’s actions put everyone in that public parking lot in serious danger that day, andwe are fortunate that no one was killed,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in a statement Thursday, stressing Fordham's 121-month sentence "appropriately reflects the seriousness" of his conduct.

'I take full responsibility ... I feel like an embarassment'

"I want to make it clear that I take full responsibility for my actions," Fordham wrote the judge. "This, however, does not define who I am. I am very disappointed in myself and I feel like an embarrassment."

He blamed much of this on alcohol.

"l can honestly say I only get into trouble when I'm intoxicated," he writes, adding he has used his time in prison to "better myself."

"I know my life is worth more than being in prison."

'Writing this kind of letter saddens me ... I'm angry'

His relatives stressed the same to the judge, hoping to spare Fordham a stiff sentence.

"He is not a bad person. He's just been caught up in society, making some bad decisions. I believe he needs some guidance and counseling," his aunt wrote in a letter to the judge, citing Fordham's childhood. "He never had any positive role models to help him along his teenage years and felt like being 'the guy' was his only option out here to survive. ... Joshua just ran with the wrong crowd."

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Joshua Fordham gets 10 years prison for Detroit deli robbery