KEY WEST, June 13, 2019 – A Key West man facing several battery counts has been ordered to state prison, closing the book on the charges against him.
Joseph Silva, 25, pleaded no contest on June 6 to all counts. Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Mark Jones accepted the pleas and handed down an 18-month sentence. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.
In one case from July 2017, a 66-year-old man told police he went to the pool area of an apartment complex he worked at on Seaside Drive to secure the gates. Silva was there with a group of people and charged at the victim, punching him in the face unprovoked. When police arrived, he battled with officers before being arrested. In December 2017, Silva pleaded no contest to battery on a law enforcement officer and battery on a person older than 65 and received 36 months of probation but violated terms of it by, among other things, getting arrested in March 2018. He pleaded no contest to violating probation.
In the March 2018 case, Silva was arrested after a man walking down Duval Street told police Silva had punched him for no reason and another man told police three men, including Silva, struck him after he was knocked to the ground near Old City Hall. Silva pleaded to two counts of felony battery with priors.
Then in November 2018, while in the Monroe County Detention Center, Silva punched another inmate in the face while the other inmate was moving his belongings. Silva pleaded no contest to battery upon someone in a detention center.