Danbury Landlord Joe DaSilva Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison

DaSilva pleaded guilty on Jan. 18 to negligent homicide, second-degree assault and third-degree assault, lesser charges than those originally filed against him following the Nov. 6, 2009 incident at one of his apartments on Town Hill Avenue.

On Wednesday, after hearing from numerous Danbury business people who supported DaSilva, Judge John Blawie sentenced DaSilva to 18 months in prison, with five years of probation, including 250 hours of community service and an anger management class.

DaSilva apologized several times for killing Encalada. No person in this country, no matter how high or powerful, is above the law, Judge Blawie said. He said the same is true for people without money or standing. They're not beneath the law.

When Judge Blawie said the words, 18 months, sheriffs put DaSilva in handcuffs. They stood behind him until court was dismissed. He was then in custody.

DaSilva is a Danbury landlord with nearly 1,000 apartments. He is the son of an immigrant from Portugal, who created the real estate business.

Assistant State's Attorney Sharmese Hodge showed photos of Encalada and photos he carried in a duffel bag of his family in Ecuador. The photos showed 10 children in one family portrait and one of the family's tin shack home with his wife and daughter.

Defense Attorney Eugene Riccio said the story of this incident is more than just a landlord throwing men out of an apartment.

"It's nice to show children and talk about a group of individuals getting together one night to eat, and dance and cook, having fun. The truth is far from that," Riccio said, not making light of the fact someone died. Another man in that apartment that night was treated at Danbury Hospital the next day for public intoxication. "They were drinking to oblivion."

Riccio said DaSilva had the right to defend himself against trespassers. He said they were drinking, cooking and eating, and that could have led to a fire in what was supposed to be a vacant apartment. "A number of those guys went back to that apartment that night."

"The victim here was engaged in criminal activity," Riccio said, not that it is any excuse for him dying. "Those individuals had no business being in that apartment on that day."

The judge said this case was particularly difficult to decide, because DaSilva has done good works in the city, and many people wrote and spoke on his behalf, but the judge said after DaSilva serves his sentence, he will return home to his family.

Mr. Encalada will not be coming back, Judge Blawie said. What sentence would be the least imperfect, the Judge asked. And then he asked rhetorically, "With all you have going for you, how did you manage to get yourself into this situation?"

Prosecutors and police in the arrest warrant application, said DaSilva went to his apartment building at 58 Town Hill Ave. on Nov. 6, 2009, after heairng evidence that someone was squatting in one of his apartments. He then started throwing men out who were cooking, drinking and sleeping in the apartment. He kicked three of them, and one of them, Encalada, was killed by what the office of the State Medical Examiner called "blunt force trauma."

Whether that was the kick or falling down the staircase, the Judge said, Mr. DaSilva lost his temper, and he continued, the term kicked them out is accurate in this case.

Encalada, the father of 11 children in Ecuador, died later that day at Danbury Hospital.