Florida Seeks Death Penalty for Three Suspects in Julio Foolio’s Killing

The state of Florida filed a notice to seek the death penalty on Monday for three suspects accused of killing rapper Julio Foolio.
Foolio, whose real name was Charles Jones, was fatally shot in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Tampa North on June 23 while celebrating his 26th birthday. Officials announced the arrests of Isaiah Chance, Sean Gathright and Alicia Andrews on July 29. Rashad Murphy was arrested less than 24 hours after the first arrests were announced.
On Monday, the prosecution announced its intention to seek the death penalty for Chance, Gathright and Murphy if they are convicted. Andrews was not named in the notice filed by the state.
Andrews and Chance are charged with pre-meditated first-degree murder with a firearm and conspiracy to commit pre-meditated first-degree murder with a firearm.
Murphy and Gathright face those same charges, in addition to three counts of attempted pre-meditated first-degree murder. Chance is also facing an evidence tampering charge.
All four suspects are expected to appear in court for a closed-door status review on Thursday.
One additional suspect, Davion Murphy, remains at-large.
Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said the shooters were Gathright, Rashad Murphy and Davion Murphy.
Hillsborough County State Attorney Suzy Lopez explained why all five suspects face murder charges at a press conference in July.
“In Florida, if you participate in the planning of a murder, you can be held accountable for the person’s death, and that is what we intend to do here,” Lopez said.
Officials said all of the suspects were members of or associated with two gangs, the ATK and the 1200. Both groups are rival gangs of the Six Block gang, which Jones was a part of.
The trial for Chance, Gathright and Murphy is scheduled to begin in December of next year. Andrews’ trial is expected to start in January of next year.
Foolio was known for popular songs such as Voo Doo, Dead Opps. Pt. 2, I Hate You I Love You and Play With Me. He had more than 950,000 monthly listeners.
Foolio’s mother, Sandrikas Mays, previously spoke with Newsweek about her son’s career, which she said resulted in various attacks on her son and herself.
“We have to understand that Charles wasn’t getting shot at because he killed somebody, because he robbed somebody, because anything like that,” Mays said. “That’s not what happened. All this happened because of rapping.”
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