Norwich man gets 5 years in drug dealing, gun possession cases
Editor's Note: Merzilas Braboy received a Certificate of Pardon from the State of Connecticut Board of Pardons and Paroles on Sept. 1, 2021. He was pardoned on the two charges stemming from this incident, as well as the charges for that had lead to the previous jail time and probation.
A 21-year-old Norwich man was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison followed by five years of special parole for handgun gun possession and drug dealing charges.
Merzilas Braboy had pleaded guilty to charges of sale of narcotics and criminal possession of a handgun. He also admitted violating his probation.
Braboy’s attorney, Peter Scillieri, said Braboy is intelligent and has great potential but “continues to make some unfortunate choices. And these are the consequences.”
Scillieri acknowledged a courtroom full of Braboy’s family and said he hoped Braboy would put his talents to good use.
“It’s a family of great potential and accomplishments. Merzi needs to catch up,” Scillieri said.
Within three months of his release from prison for his role in a 2008 shooting on Broadway, police said Braboy was selling crack cocaine. He was arrested by Norwich police during a sting operation that targeted city drug dealers who had sold drugs to undercover informants.
In the 2008 shooting, police said Braboy was driving a car with two other men when one of the men opened fire at two women on the sidewalk. No one was hit, but police said the bullets came close to an innocent bystander outside the Wauregan Laundromat.
“Hopefully we don’t see you back there,” Judge Patrick J. Clifford told Braboy.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Norwich man gets 5 years in drug dealing, gun possession cases
