Resentencing was handed down Monday to a Detroiter who fatally shot an intoxicated firefighter from Rochester Hills following a road rage incident four years ago..
Terell Josey, 31, who’s spent more than three years incarcerated for the 2021 death of Francis “Frank” Dombrowski, was granted a new trial due to a trial court error — as determined by the Michigan Court of Appeals. In October, he opted out of going before another jury and pleaded no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge; in exchange for the plea, two firearms-related charges were dismissed.
Terell Josey 2025 booking photo (Oakland County Jail)
Josey had initially been sentenced to 7-17 years in prison after an Oakland County jury convicted him in 2022. At Monday’s hearing, Oakland County Circuit Judge Daniel O’Brien resentenced him to 42 months-15 years incarceration; jail credit of 1,286 days was acknowledged.
The appeals court overturned Josey’s convictions last April, ruling that the trial court erred by denying Josey’s request to have the jury instructed on self-defense as a defense to voluntary manslaughter, and said he was entitled to a new trial “with a properly instructed jury.”
Jurors had been instructed on self-defense as a defense for murder, but not for the lesser offense.
Frank-Dombrowski
As previously reported, Josey killed Dombrowski outside a Troy gas station on July 5, 2021 where they both ended up after a near-collision on Rochester Road. Moments earlier, Josey and Dombrowski had exchanged a barrage of profanities as the two vehicles continued along the roadway. At the gas station, surveillance video presented to the jury showed Dombrowski quickly approached Josey, the two struggled and Dombrowski was shot. He was pronounced dead at an area hospital a short time later.
Terell Josey and defense attorney Marc Lakin watch a surveillance video of the shooting, presented to jurors during the 2022 trial in Oakland County Circuit Court (Aileen Wingblad/MediaNews Group)
At tthe 2022 trial, Josey’s attorney Marc Lakin had built a self-defense claim, with Dombrowski as the aggressor who had reached for Josey’s gun. Dombrowski had a blood alcohol content of .22 percent and Methadone in his system when he approached Josey, who fired his 9mm handgun at him three times. Josey’s 2-year-old son and his then-fiancee were in the Jeep at the time of the shooting.
Josey and his then-fiancee went to the Troy Police Department several hours after the shooting to report the incident, not knowing at the time that Dombrowski was dead.
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