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A state appellate court refused to lessen the prison sentence of a Plymouth man who admitted to taking part in carjacking the wife of a former Wilkes-Barre police chief.

In a seven page opinion by the state Superior Court, Dametrius Cefus Laws, 26, was denied his appeal to have about 16 months shaved off his state prison sentence imposed by Luzerne County Judge Joseph Sklarosky Jr. on Jan. 9, 2020.

Sklarosky sentenced Laws to three-to-six years in prison and two years probation after he pleaded guilty to robbery of a vehicle and theft.

Laws believed he was entitled to time served when he and Corey Thomas Patrick, 23, of Larksville, were charged by city police on allegations they forcibly stole a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox from Jean Dessoye, the wife of former city police chief Gerard Dessoye, in April 2016.

Jean Dessoye was parked on Diebel Street, Wilkes-Barre, waiting for a family member when she was pulled from her vehicle, according to court records.

Laws and Patrick were charged by city police in August 2018. At the time, Laws was serving a five-to-10-year state prison sentence imposed in March 2017 for a home invasion and assault in Plymouth.

Laws believed, according to his appeal, he was entitled to 474 days time served on the carjacking case. He claimed the approximate 16 months included the time he was officially charged to when he was sentenced for the carjacking.

Laws appealed to the state appellate court after Sklarosky did not give him credit for time served.

“(Sklarosky) determined that (Laws) was not entitled to any credit for time served in the (carjacking) case because he was serving the sentence in the (Plymouth) case, which arose out of a distinct and separate criminal incident … (Laws) is not entitled to any credit for time served,” the appellate court ruled.

Laws’ sentence for the carjacking will begin once he fulfills the sentence imposed for the Plymouth home invasion and assault.

Patrick, who is facing multiple felony offenses for his alleged role in stealing the Chevrolet, is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing March 8 before Sklarosky.

Appellate court refuses to lessen carjacker’s prison sentence