The family of 3-year-old rape and murder victim Josefina Cunningham is calling for the death penalty after her accused assailant entered a guilty plea. 

Robert Fisher, the boyfriend of Josefina’s mother, pleaded guilty on July 9 after confessing to the crime that occurred in 2023. The toddler’s older brother, Jy’Quan Stewart, 23, pushed back against the guilty verdict and claimed Fisher only did it because the pressure of facing Josefina’s family was too much for him to handle. “Everything happened so fast. I think he couldn’t stand being in a courtroom,” Stewart said. 

“To me, it’s not over. I still plan on pursuing that death penalty.”

Stewart said the shock of the guilty plea was unbearable for him and his mother because that means Fisher did it. “I was really shocked, two weeks before the trial. So, that means he admitted that he did it,” he said. “She told me she was very shocked, just very surprised he pleaded guilty because at first [during his initial arrest], cops had him pinned to the ground, and he said, ‘I didn’t do it.’

“Now, two weeks before he pleaded guilty.”

According to Atlanta Black Star, Josefina, who was known by her family as “Josie,” died on July 7, 2023, after her mother found her unresponsive at their home in Rensselaer, New York. Fisher was staying with Josie and her mother and initially faced charges of obstruction after law enforcement claimed he tried to re-enter the house during their investigation. Enough evidence later came back to charge him with aggravated sexual abuse, assault, and endangering the welfare of a child.

After being ​​indicted for murder and rape in late July 2023, Fisher admitted to the crime while he was babysitting the child and laid out graphic details on how it happened. “He told us that he administered drugs to the child,” Rensselaer County Assistant District Attorney Antonia Edwards said. 

“They were prescription drugs the mother was prescribed. He then raped the child. The child then died, and he did try to clean her up with Clorox wipes.”

While Fisher’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 6 and he faces 20 years to life in prison, his family doesn’t think that’s enough. “I want him to pay for what he did. People that commit these crimes, they need to pay, they need to get the death penalty,” Stewart said. 

However, since the death penalty is outlawed in the state of New York, that’s not an option.

Rensselaer County District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly said she understands the family’s pain and is doing the max for what they feel he deserves. “He’s getting the harshest punishment possible. He’s got life on the back end and a significant sentence in the front. The death penalty is not an option in New York,” Donnelly pointed out.

“I think all of us, digging deep in our souls, would like to see something like that happen to someone like that but that’s not the law.”

Stewart remembers first meeting Fisher and said his gut told him something was wrong. His mother never dated white men before so he attributed his thoughts to that. “Something felt a little off inside when I first met him. It was a little off. I just felt something in my gut,” Stewart said, who added that his mother was only dating Fisher for a week.

“I never saw my mother with a white guy before. Maybe that’s why, but I never spoke to her about their relationship — it was like she was hypnotized. She was too deep in love with him. It was actually kind of strange.”

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