Clemency ends three jail terms 37 years early

(The Center Square) – Three men, each with 37 more years left in jail as punishment for robbery at a church, have been given clemency by North Carolina’s governor.

Another convicted robber, age 45 and confined for nearly 30 years, had a sentence running to 2030 commuted. The decisions made by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper come with less than six months to go in his second term.

Cooper established the Juvenile Sentence Review Board for the purpose of reviewing petitions of people sentenced to prison for crimes committed while under the age of 18, his office said in a release. One of the four, for 45-year-old Kareem Phifer, qualified. The governor said all “are deserving of clemency.”

Brothers Josiah Deyton, 34, and Andrew Deyton, 35, and Jonathan Koniak, 36, were caught about 25 minutes after their April 13, 2008, heist at Ridgeview Presbyterian Church in Bakersville. According to published reports, about 16 members there had finished the Sunday school lesson, and the trio rushed in asking for cellphones, purses, wallets and that morning’s offering of about $370. One person was tied up with duct tape, and one of the robbers fired a gun into the floor standing beside a 16-year-old girl.

The Deytons and Koniak were projected for a prison release date of 2061.

In the case of Phifer, he was 15 when involved in two armed robberies. He was projected for release in September 2030.

In addition to the commutations, Cooper also extended pardons to Walter Bryson III, 51; Shavona Corbin, 51; Paul Cree, 63; and Artimus Quick, 38.

Bryson had two counts of misdemeanor larceny in 1991 and common law robbery in 1997, all in Henderson County. Corbin had convictions for cocaine in Cumberland County. Cree was 16 when convicted of common law robbery in Surry County in 1979. Quick had a driving while impaired conviction in Buncombe County.

In the release, Cooper said, “Ensuring thorough review of cases while taking executive clemency action is a responsibility I take seriously. We carefully consider recommendations made by the Juvenile Sentence Review Board to commute sentences for crimes committed by minors. All of these individuals are deserving of clemency, and we will continue to work to protect our communities and improve the fairness of our criminal justice system.”