A jury on Friday found four men guilty in the murder of Jacksonville rapper Charles “Julio Foolio” Jones, ending a closely watched trial that centered on a birthday-night ambush in Tampa. Isaiah Chance, Sean Gathright, Rashad Murphy and Davion Murphy were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy charges.
All four men are set to return to court Monday at 1 p.m. for the penalty phase, when jurors will weigh punishment after hearing weeks of evidence about the shooting and the planning that prosecutors said led up to it. Jones was killed on June 23, 2024, while he was celebrating his birthday.
The state told jurors that text messages recovered in the case showed the defendants’ alleged roles in arranging the shooting. Prosecutors said Gathright and Chance were trying to figure out where Jones was in Tampa, and they also presented messages from Andrews, who booked the Airbnb in the city. The prosecution pointed to social media posts from the early morning hours after Jones was killed, arguing they fit the wider picture of how the attack unfolded.
The case has already produced another conviction. In October 2025, a jury found Alicia Andrews guilty of manslaughter for acting as a lookout and tracking Jones’ location before he was killed. Court records show Judge Kimberly Fernandez was named the new judge on Jan. 29, and prosecutors have filed a motion to reverse that decision. No new sentencing date has been set for Andrews.
In closing arguments, prosecutors described the killing as part of a larger conflict that stretched from Jacksonville to Tampa. One prosecutor told jurors, “There is a real gang war going on in Jacksonville,” and said, “ATK and 1200 are at way with 6Block. It is blatant.” The state also argued that online posts, including photos of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady on Rashad Murphy’s Instagram and laughing emojis, showed what it said was a violent feud playing out in public. “There is nothing fun about the gang war in Jacksonville and on June 23 in 2024, this violence spilled into Tampa,” the prosecutor said.
Court documents said the attack was retaliation in an ongoing Jacksonville gang war involving 6Block, allied gangs Ace’s Top Killers and 1200. Jones was described in the case as a known and documented member of 6Block. Rashad Murphy’s defense attorney argued that he could not be placed in Tampa at 4:40 a.m. on the day of the shooting based on the evidence presented. The verdict leaves the defendants facing the penalty phase Monday, where the focus shifts from guilt to how the court should punish a killing prosecutors say grew out of a street war that had already crossed city lines.
