NEW PORT RICHEY - The defendant's trial date had arrived. State guidelines called for at least nine years in prison. An assistant public defender stood Monday in Circuit Judge Daniel Diskey's courtroom and asked a standard question:
If the defendant pleads guilty, attorney Loretta Silvestri asked, what kind of sentence should he expect? He's only 17, she said.
The judge opened a thick file and started reading the police reports.
"These scare me," Diskey said, and read on.
Moments later, he looked up, glared at Silvestri. "I haven't seen anything that makes me think he doesn't deserve life in prison," the normally soft-spoken judge bellowed. "I'm no longer scared. I'm angry."
Diskey closed the file and slammed it down on the bench.
"I'll cap it at life."
The judge made it clear he was not angry with Silvestri. She was just doing her job. He was angry at Silvestri's client, James Anthony Jacobs. Angry at what Jacobs is alleged to have done in January 2002.
Authorities say Jacobs and his friend, Jonathan "Woody" Ainsworth, were behind four brazen attacks targeting young, sleeping girls in established, well-manicured Beacon Woods neighborhoods. In each case, the girls were attacked in their beds as their parents and siblings slept in nearby rooms.
In one case, a 10-year-old girl suffered a fractured skull and spent eight days unconscious in a hospital, prosecutors say. In another case, a 14-year-old girl awoke to the sensation of a knife pressed against her throat.
Jacobs and Ainsworth, who were both 16 and students at Hudson High School at the time of the attacks, have been charged as adults with burglary/battery, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Silvestri, in seeking an offer from Diskey on Monday, argued that Jacobs needs help, not a long prison term. He is "severely bipolar," depressed and suicidal, the lawyer said. He also comes from a mixed race family, and "he suffered some consequences because of that," Silvestri said.
Judge Diskey was not sympathetic.
"This guy goes in (the girls') homes and he beats them up in their sleep," he said.
Other than his courtroom comments, it was unclear why the low-key judge reacted so passionately to the allegations against Jacobs. Judicial canons prevent Diskey from discussing his feelings on a pending case outside the courtroom.
Diskey, who was appointed to the circuit bench in 2000, began his first tour presiding over criminal cases in January. He is known around the courthouse as a family man whose idea of a perfect vacation is a fishing trip with his son.
Prosecutors have offered Jacobs no deals.
After learning the judge would agree to nothing short of a life sentence, Jacobs nonetheless indicated he was prepared to plead guilty and take his chances. Then he conferred with three public defenders and thought better of it.
Diskey set a September trial date for both Jacobs and Ainsworth. The teens will be tried separately.
- Cary Davis covers courts in west Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6236, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6236. His e-mail address is cbdavis@sptimes.com
