In 2010, he was involved in one of the most dramatic shootouts the city has ever seen. Jose Cocom - who was only 17 at the time - caught in an exchange of fire with police at 10:45 in the morning on a weekday in the heart of the city near the Swing Bridge. At the end of it - he was sprawled on the pavement with gunshot injuries and two passersby also recieved minor injury.
Police were pursuing the teenager because of a robbery at Accents Gift Shop on North Front Street.
Well, 8 years later, the now 25 year old Cocom charged with 3 counts of aggravated assault, walked out of the Supreme court a free man. That's after he pleaded guilty to the offences and Justice Colin Williams whittled his sentence of 1 year imprisonment down to time served.
In his plea for mitigation, Cocom said he was a minor at the time and he had followed friends. He said that what he did was a mistake and he asked for leniency. In breaking down his sentence, Justice Williams said that the maximum sentence for the offences was 2 years but the court never starts at the maximum and the notional sentence he was imposing was 1 year. He told Cocom that because he pleaded guilty at the first opportunity he was entitled to a deduction of a third of 1 year, which would leave the sentence at 8 months. He then concluded that the sentence would be time served because Cocom had spent 11 months on remand. Cocom had no attorney. Th Crown was represented by Riis Cattouse.
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