@meghannmcuniff: A Florida judge who sentenced four men for murdering a rival gang member and rapper said the violence she heard about in trial was "shocking" and demands community action. Judge Michelle Sisco said the evidence showed a "trail of dead bodies, just one young man after the next, just cut down in the prime of their lives." "It is shocking, and I just can't believe that any community, if they're made aware of it, will stand by and put up with that. I mean, it's just tragic," said Sisco, who presides in Florida's 13th Judicial District in Tampa. The victim was Charles Jones Jr., a prominent rapper in Jacksonville nicknamed Julio Foolio. He was in Tampa celebrating his 26th birthday when he was gunned down inside his Dodge Charger in a hotel parking lot next to the University of South Florida early on June 23, 2024. A jury in May convicted gunmen Sean Gathright, Rashad Murphy and Davion Murphy and conspirator Isaiah Chance of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and recommended they be sentenced to life in prison without parole instead of death. Judge Sisco followed the recommendation today (Monday, June 22). Before she did, she praised the police investigation and said Detective Juan Ramos of the Tampa Police Department deserves a raise, and she spoke about the "shocking" gang violence in Jacksonville. Jones' music videos featured him pouring champagne on the graves of murder victims, including a rival who was related to the Murphy cousins. Judge Sisco said Jones "did not deserve to die for what he did, or ... the drill rap videos he made, but goodness gracious, going and desecrating the grave site of a murdered relative is, you don't deserve to be killed for that, but you just increased your odds that it was going to happen, and that's the truth." "So I'm not at all again stating that he deserved it, but it really, it's just shocking. It's shocking to me, and I do have great sympathy for the defendants. You all, for the most part, are young men, and some of you have children, and now for what? For what now you're looking at life in prison, and what was it for?" Sisco said. She said the Murphys "had a difficult childhood." "There is no question that the hand that you were dealt from Jump Street was not the best. ... It's not an excuse, but I do acknowledge it," the judge said. But Chance and Gathright were different. "The cards that you were dealt were pretty good. They were pretty darn good, better than the average person. So it's particularly hard. I am heartbroken for you. I'm heartbroken for your family members. I'm heartbroken for your children. I am. So I do have great sympathy. But you have been convicted, and it was a horrible crime that was committed, and there is a price to be paid, and there's just no way around that," the judge said. You can watch the entire sentencing on my YouTube channel. #law #court #crime

Meghann Cuniff

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Monday 22 June 2026 22:37:47 GMT