Paulin Cerisier sentenced to 25 years to life in killing of Maresse Dickerson-Stevenson in 2021

A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend's uncle at a backyard Amityville party. 

Paulin Cerisier, 29, was sentenced to prison for the July 18, 2021, murder of 41-year-old Maresse Dickerson-Stevenson in Amityville.

"While today’s sentence does not bring back Maresse Dickerson-Stevenson, it does ensure that there was justice for the victim and his family," Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement after the sentencing. "Far too often, lives are being lost or permanently altered due to violence."

Cerisier drew the ire of those in the courtroom Thursday as he interrupted his attorney’s condolences to the victim’s family to ask the judge if he could avoid paying a $325 mandatory surcharge related to his felony conviction.

"Will you waive my surcharge please?" Cerisier asked State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei.

"Denied," Mazzei said after the sentencing.

Evidence at trial showed that Cerisier drove to a backyard party in Amityville shortly before 3 a.m. on the day of the killing, approaching Dickerson-Stevenson "without provocation" and shot him in the shoulder before fleeing the scene, the district attorney’s office said in a news release.

Cerisier called police to report himself and confessed on video, but later recanted his confession and went to trial, according to testimony at Thursday’s sentencing. Cerisier told Mazzei he was intoxicated when he spoke with investigators and prosecutors relied on a "false confession" to convict him.

The judge told Cerisier, who was convicted by a jury in June of murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, that he wished he would have explained his motive so he could better understand why someone would commit such a crime.

Assistant District Attorney Dena Rizopoulos said at sentencing that Cerisier planned out the killing by learning where he could find Dickerson-Stevenson that morning and approached him under "the cover of darkness," masked and wearing sunglasses.

"His actions were those of a coward," Rizopoulos told the court.

Defense attorney Matthew Tuohy, both before and after being interrupted, said his client wished to express to Dickerson-Stevenson’s family that he was "sorry for their loss."

Cerisier’s request to have the surcharge waived drew Dickerson-Stevenson’s fiancee, Latanya Cannon, out of her seat to ask if she could address the court. Mazzei obliged.

"Maresse was a good man," Cannon said. "He wasn’t a fighter. He didn’t have malice in his heart. ... He did nothing."