OXFORD — The mothers of two slain police officers say they did not hear an in-court apology from a woman convicted for helping the alleged killer of their sons.
Hattiesburg officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate were killed May 9, 2015.
Their mothers were in court last week to watch the trial of 24-year-old Joanie Calloway, The Hattiesburg American reported.
Calloway’s trial was moved to Oxford, about 250 miles away. She was convicted of attempted accessory after the fact to capital murder and hindering prosecution, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
After sentencing, Circuit Judge Bob Helfrich asked Calloway if she wanted to say anything. She paused for several seconds, then her voice was barely audible as she faced the judge and said, “I want to apologize to all parties.”
Tate’s mother, Youlander Ross, later said she believes Calloway showed no remorse.
“If she would have faced us, I might have had second thoughts about how she really felt or what feelings she actually had,” Ross said. “It’s hard to say whether or not she had rehearsed to say it or she felt obligated to say it. It was just hard to read.”
Mary Ellen Deen didn’t know Calloway had apologized.
“I could not hear what she was saying,” Deen said. “She did not face us and she was mumbling, so I had no idea what she said. We knew coming up here, there’s never going to be justice because we won’t have our sons back. But we do have the satisfaction of Joanie being led out in cuffs.”
Calloway was charged with helping Marvin Banks flee after the officers were shot and with misleading police about Banks’ identity. Banks died of heart disease in 2015 while jailed. He was 29.
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