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Julio Foolio’s Killers Get Life Sentences After Jury Rejects Death Penalty
Four men convicted in Julio Foolio's 2024 killing were sentenced to life without parole after a jury declined to impose the death penalty.
Violence that began in Jacksonville and spilled into a Tampa hotel parking lot in the summer of 2024 reached a legal full stop this week: four men convicted in the ambush killing of rapper Foolio were given life behind bars with no possibility of parole.
Julio Foolio/YouTube/Law&Crime Trials/YouTubeFoolio. Isaiah Chance, Sean Gathright, Davion Murphy and Rashad Murphy
On Monday (June 22), Isaiah Chance, Sean Gathright, Davion Murphy and Rashad Murphy appeared in Hillsborough County, Fla., Court for the sentencing phase. Judge Michelle Sisco imposed life sentences without the possibility of parole on each defendant for first-degree murder. Additional counts were added as concurrent time, keeping the punishment uniform across the convictions.
The outcome closes one chapter of a case that carried the weight of a potential death sentence. Prosecutors had sought the harshest penalty, but the jury voted against capital punishment during the penalty phase following the trial in May.
Voices from the dock
Before Judge Sisco read the sentences, three of the defendants addressed the court, and their remarks landed somewhere between apology and admonition. Isaiah Chance and Davion Murphy urged listeners — especially younger people — to avoid the path that led them here.
“It ain’t worth it. The dissing, the beefing, the shooting. Like, for what? When you’re sitting in your cell alone, cold, lonely … Everybody leaves you. Nobody is here for you,” Chance said, speaking directly from the dock.
“My only interaction with law enforcement [before this] was traffic tickets,” he continued. “Wake up the next morning, I’m facing the death penalty. That’s how quick life can change.”
Rashad Murphy declined to address the court.
How the case unfolded
In May, a jury found Chance, Gathright, Davion Murphy and Rashad Murphy guilty on all counts related to the murder of Julio Foolio, who prosecutors say was ambushed and shot dead in a Tampa hotel parking lot. Authorities have tied the killing to an ongoing gang feud in Jacksonville, Fla.
The broader case included a fifth defendant, Alicia Andrews, who was convicted of manslaughter in 2025 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison last month.
Monday’s life terms bring formal closure to a trial that tracked through a summer killing, a months-long investigation and a verdict in May that left prosecutors, jurors and the families involved grappling with whether the ultimate punishment was warranted. With the jury rejecting the death penalty, the court delivered the maximum non-capital punishment available under Florida law.
For the victims and their communities, the sentences will not undo the violence. But in the eyes of the state and the presiding judge, the court has rendered its final judgment.
