Most nights, Joshua Smelser’s father replays his son’s murder in his mind. He can’t get it out of his head.
Steven Smelser was the only one with access to the recordings from the home surveillance system that showed his 39-year-old son’s final moments, he said during the Wednesday sentencing hearing for Diabolique Johnson, who was charged with killing his son.
Steven Smelser said he saw and heard everything the cameras picked up: All seven gunshots, the first of which came minutes before the latter six. Joshua Smelser’s final words, asking Johnson to leave. Johnson shooting his son six times.
“His death left me with a constant hole in my heart I feel will never subside,” Steven Smelser said. “He was a good man, and I was proud of him in so many ways.”
Johnson, who is from Indianapolis, was sentenced Wednesday to 27 to 47 years in prison for killing Joshua Smelser in September 2020 in the 16800 block of Woodbine in Detroit and for the armed robbery of a 26-year-old man at a Dearborn hotel in the 24100 block of Michigan Avenue four days prior.
Prosecutors said Johnson targeted members of the LGBTQ community, using online dating applications to lure gay men to Metro Detroit motels and rob them.
Johnson pleaded guilty to the homicide and armed robbery, taking responsibility for his actions, said his attorney Sanford Schulman.
Schulman said while there was no way to justify the homicide, there was evidence that showed drug use may have led to Johnson’s decision-making.
Johnson apologized during the hearing to both the Smelser family and his own family for the harm he caused.
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Kevin Cox said in court the homicide and armed robbery were “a very senseless and unprovoked series of crimes perpetrated by Mr. Johnson against innocent individuals.”
“I hope you had reminded, in one way or another, each and every day for the next 27 years at a minimum … of the damage that you have inflicted on so many innocent people,” Cox told Johnson.
Joshua Smelser’s sister, Sarah Simmons, said nothing will ever be normal for their family again.
“There’s nothing that can make this right,” Simmons said. “There’s no amount of penance that can make any of this right.”
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