The Justice Department issued the following statement.
A Biloxi man was sentenced to three life sentences for discharging a firearm during the commission of a robbery that killed three people, announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Joshua Michael Garcia, 42, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Jackson. Garcia was further ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $35,070.40.
According to court documents, Garcia and co-defendant Jamison Layne Townsend went to Bill’s Coin & Jewelry on December 17, 2016, to rob the business by firearm. During the robbery, Garcia shot and killed the owner and two co-workers. He and Townsend emptied the display cases of watches, rings, necklaces, bracelets, coins, and other items. Later that day, Garcia and Townsend entered a pawn shop in Mobile, Alabama, and pawned five items that were stolen from Bill’s earlier that day.
On December 19, 2016, a trooper with the Tennessee Highway Patrol attempted to stop Garcia and Townsend who were traveling in a red Dodge Charger on Interstate 24. A chase ensued and Garcia and Townsend escaped at a high rate of speed. Two days later, Garcia and Townsend were arrested in Geary County, Kansas. Officers searched the Charger and found numerous items that were stolen from Bill’s, including coins, watches, trays of jewelry, and many items that still contained the sales tags from Bill’s. Additionally, four firearms, including a Les Baer. 45 caliber handgun (determined to be the murder weapon by the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory), ammunition, a cell phone, and numerous items of clothing were also recovered from the Charger.
Garcia pleaded guilty on December 15, 2021, to discharging a firearm that resulted in the murder of three persons during the commission of a robbery.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Jackson Police Department with assistance from Geary County, Kansas, Sherriff’s Department, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory, the United States Marshal’s Service, the Gulfport Police Department, and the Biloxi Police Department.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy Chief Erin Chalk.
25 comments:
Is there a federal death penalty? If so, I surely wish they'd used it.
I wonder which bleeding-heart, liberal organization will belly up and raise the 35 thousand.
I won't even ask how a perp in a Charger can outrun a cop in a Charger.
https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-69-federal-death-penalty-act-1994
Our judicial system is soooo broke. Why did it take so long to reach a conclusion? Why not the death penalty?
there are a lot of moving parts here. multiple jurisdictions and charges in all of them.
Unfreaking believable! Dude can kill my brother, father and uncle and live out his life with 3 squares a day forever????!!!! We're now in the wrong world!
Covid slowed down the federal case. The Biden Administration placed a moratorium on the death penalty in federal cases.
Biden: "Thug lives matter more than victim lives."
KF - I really didn't need to know that.
It's just another reason to get that Democrat out of office.
The guys at Bill's were kind men.
If any of their family members read this, please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
What's the advantage of a guilty plea when there's no possibility of the death penalty if pleading not-guilty?
If you plead guilty and get three life sentences, what might you get for a not-guilty plea?
5:35 - Did you have a purpose in mind when you posted that?
Rest in peace, Bob, Ted, and Bill.
@9:34 & 9:39
Killing the bad guy won’t bring the victims back.
Why do you republicans insist on remaining ignorant and mediocre cavemen forever?
Another Uncle Joe gaff. This guy should already be dead.
Kill people what do you get? Free food, lodging, medical care, computers, education etc.... This world is so fucked up
8:34...Someone who does get executed can never, ever again kill somebody, especially someone who is actually a worthwhile member of civilized society. This guy has already done enough damage, review the trial record, if everybody is satisfied he's 100% guilty, just get it over with.
March 22, 2022 at 8:34 AM; not even mediocre republican cavemen believe killing the bad guys will bring the victims back. maybe some people would like to see justice served. some pieces of shit don't deserve to continue walking amongst civilized humans, and some pieces of shit don't deserve to continue breathing.
I don't disagree with 8:34 and am quite conflicted on the Death Penalty.
But what do you feel is proper punishment?
I have asked myself as well and while I don't yet know my full answer, I do know that it does not involve my hard earned tax dollars feeding them while they lay around a prison.
Not to imply that prison is a cake-walk in general, but for many...they simply join former pals and live similar to the way they did on the outside.
If they are going to be locked up they should be working and contributing to society. At least enough to offset the cost to house and feed them.
Surely you and Lib pals agree on that much.
8:34 : Many millions of us feel that feeding and clothing this kind of evil is basically stupid. Loading up our prison systems with all this evil could also be a massive mistake if the grid goes down and THEY GET OUT. Lol, you can have them over for bolony sammiches right before they well you know.....
8:34 - This is not the time nor place for you to dance in and proclaim your stance on the death penalty, but since you did, I'll state an alternate. Democrats ran this state for over a hundred years. The death penalty when properly and timely applied, most believe, has several positive effects. Two, among them...it serves to bring closure and it serves as a deterrent. See Texas while you're doing your research. If ever there was a case for it, this is it.
Meanwhile, folks such as yourself can spend part of every waking day trying to open cell doors and free convicts. 'Without possibility of parole' becomes meaningless when folks of your mindset gain control.
I knew these nice men and cried when I heard about it. Neither elephant or donkey. they need to get the same justice that they gave these three men. They do not deserve to live off the state. Kill their arse. I was in church that Sunday and cried all the way through the service. The killers deserve no mercy. If we prosecuted people like this to the full extent of the law maybe crime might change.
What about the accomplice, the female? Rumor is she will get off for time served because HE pulled the trigger an she only robbed them!!!
When you kill three people, that goes beyond 'I acted in haste', 'I made a mistake', 'I really made a stupid decision' and 'If I could take it back'.
When you kill three people you don't even qualify to be called an animal.
when you kill three people, you have no soul. You have no conscience. Without soul and conscience, you're just a shell. A person who's nothing but a shell will live out his life doing nothing more than eating, sleeping, taking a crap and grunting.
And the Department of Confinement sweeps up behind you.
@ 5:16
Yeah, there's a federal death penalty, and they kill 'em. The difference is they actually get a fair trial in federal court and that costs money, lots of money. For starters, the guy gets two lawyers and a budget for investigators, mitigation specialists, etc. Oh, and they have to get permission from the DOJ in Washington to go forward.
In state court anything goes, easy to get a death verdict. It's politically popular, prosecutors tend to the dumb, defense side not much smarter. Unfortunately the Founding Fathers included a guarantee of habeas corpus in the Constitution. Means the case eventually finds its way into federal court with those burdensome rules and the pesky 4th,5th, 6th, 8th and 14th Amendments.
I know, I know, the old ways were better . . . just get a rope.
Here's a link to recent federal executions:
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2021/09/07/dealth-penalty-united-states-federal-executions-trump-administration/8032041002/
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