Denvil Dotson, originally from West Virginia, one of nine children stood trial in Mineola, Long Island, for killing Nassau county patrolman John E. West. West had stopped Dotson in Muttontown for speeding in a stolen Buick with stolen license plates. His passengers included Mrs. Marguerita Baldomar of 235 Dekalb Avenue in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, her four kids, including Dotson's girlfriend Gloria, his pal, nineteen-year old Armand Bartolillo of 877 Bedford Street, Brooklyn, and Jean Chamento of 635 Dekalb Avenue. Eight people on a joy ride in a stolen Buick.
"I was on parole from Elmira," Dotson told the court, "and I knew I would get a long term if I was arrested so I tried to get away." There was a struggle in the patrol car. Somehow the arresting officer lost his gun. Dotson pulled a gun and shot the cop. In his version of the story, the cop grabbed the gun and it went off. After the murder, Bartolillo drove the brood to the Syosset railroad station where they boarded a train back to Brooklyn. He ditched the car after changing the license plates. He later pled guilty to receiving and concealing stolen property and faced a 10-to-20 year sentence.
The cops caught up with Dotson at the Baldomar residence. Mrs, Baldomar had tipped off police after Dotson called to say he was going to pay a visit. Police conjectured he might have wanted to liquidate the witnesses. He previously had been accused of trying to kill three law enforcement officers while attempting to escape from a correctional institution in West Virginia.
Dotson cried as he testified about the brutal beating he had received from the police after his arrest. They had forced a confession out of him, he ssid, that he now recanted. The state ballistic expert testified that Dotson's version of the incident did not match the evidence since there was no evidence of powder burns on the cop's hands. The cop, was no more than six inches from the gun when it was fired. After deliberating through much of the night, the jury gave Dotson the benefit of the doubt. When they returned with a verdict of second degree murder, which carried a 20-year sentence, Dotson smiled at his father who had come up from West Virginia to be at the trial.