Man who has spent his life as an armed criminal gets five years for armed robbery of a Jamaica Plain phone store

A federal judge last week sentenced Royal Benjamin, 64, to five years in prison for robbing a phone store at gunpoint in Jamaica Plain last year - after the clerk refused to buy the two pairs of new Puma sneakers Benjamin carried in, which he'd acquired by robbing somebody at the Downtown Crossing T station.

Benjamin has been getting into trouble with the law since he was 15 - his lawyer suggested he started in part because he was a Black teen growing up in Roxbury where he was exposed to both constant drug use and the virulence of White hatred for Black teens during the busing crisis.

His sentences include 10 years in Alabama for armed robbery, although he escaped and never served that time and 18 to 20 years for manslaughter, for a 1982 incident in which he helped his brother murder a cab driver in Dorchester - the two and a third man split the $7 that was all the driver had on him at the time; the brother got life. He's also served time for another armed robbery, simple robbery and possession of cocaine, according to court filings. And although he was never formally charged, he admitted to holding up a credit union not long before the Jamaica Plain robbery that got him arrested most recently.

In a sentencing memorandum, assistant US Attorney David Tobin described what happened inside JP Wireless, 319 Centre St., as the clerk was getting ready to close up for the day on March 20, 2023 and Benjamin walked in, holding a bag with two pairs of new, freshly stolen Pumas:

When the store employee stated he did not want to buy the sneakers, Mr. Benjamin moved toward the store exit but then turned around, removed a firearm from his waistband, and rushed behind the counter, pointing the handgun at the store employee (when the handgun believed to have been used by Mr. Benjamin was seized by police ... it was loaded with approximately seven bullets). Once behind the counter, Mr. Benjamin approached the register, and took $594.00 in U.S. currency that was sitting on top of the register. The money was sitting on top of the register because prior to the robbery, the store employee had been in the process of closing the store.

Mr. Benjamin then opened the cash register drawer and removed the drawer. He dropped the drawer and its contents on the ground and left it there (Mr. Benjamin's fingerprints were located on the cash register drawer). Mr. Benjamin then fled the store, threatening to harm and shoot the store employee, stating, "I'll fuck you up. I'll fucking shoot you."

Tobin urged US District Court Judge Indira Talwani to sentence Benjamin to 7 1/2 years in prison - the top of the sentencing range based on a variety of factors, including his past record and his decision to plead guilty - arguing that Benjamin has proven himself a menace to society over a more than 40-year crime career, and that he has proven to be the exception to the rule that criminals tend to be less likely to return to crime the older they get:

In determining what sentence most accurately reflects the seriousness of Mr. Benjamin's crime, the court should consider his lengthy criminal record and his failure to learn anything from long periods of incarceration. The government's recommendation of a sentence of not less than 87-months accurately reflects the seriousness of Mr. Benjamin's crime.

The court's sentence must promote respect for the law and the federal criminal justice system. A sentence of less than 87-months would fail to promote respect for the law or the federal criminal justice system. The undersigned suspects that the vast majority of Americans would be offended by a sentence of less than 87-months given the facts of this case and Mr. Benjamin's extensive violent criminal record.

Benjamin's attorney, Joshua Hanye, however, called for the five-year sentence Talwani meted out, which he said would recognize the harm Benjamin did but also the difficulties he has faced in life - and his age:

In addition to the busing crisis, Benjamin has suffered from a lifelong drug addiction that started as he grew up on the mean streets of Roxbury, then escalated during the 1980s crack epidemic, Hanye wrote. And Massachusetts state courts and prison system never helped him get into addiction programs even as he kept getting arrested and sentenced, he continued.

But in his early 60s, after his release from yet another sentence in 2019 and on his own, Benjamin managed to get sober for the first time in a long time and actually held some jobs as he stayed sober for three straight years - until he relapsed and began using crack again, leading him to commit more crime, he wrote.

In the federal system, once he is released to three year's probation, he will have access to programs to help him maintain a drug- and crime-free life, Hanye wrote.

Mr. Benjamin will be approximately 70 years old when released. His advanced age, the lessons of his past success, the supervision of probation, and the support of his loved ones will all put him in the best position to finally end the cycle of addiction and offending for good.