Brooksville resident Joshua Langley pleaded guilty this week to second-degree murder with a firearm, robbery with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Langley has been in and out of Florida prisons on other charges over the years and was most recently was released in November 2005. Just over a year later, Langley’s friend Jac’Quez Jones was shot in the head in the backyard of a local home.

Langley was ultimately charged with the first-degree murder of Jones. Prosecutors intended to seek the death penalty. Langley’s attorneys argued that he was mentally ill and he was eventually ruled incompetent to stand trial.

After about a year in a state mental health facility, Langley was found competent to stand trial earlier this fall.

His defense attorney argued that Langley didn’t mean to shoot Jones. She claimed that Langley accidentally shot Jones while trying to slap him. The two were arguing over a drug deal.

The prosecutors were apparently eager to avoid rehashing Langley’s mental health and the drug-related circumstances of the killing. Defense attorneys were pleased to assist Langley in avoiding the death penalty.

Felonies, Violent Crimes

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 27th, 2009 at 2:41 am and is filed under Florida Criminal Law News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.