BEAUMONT, Texas — A Jefferson County judge sentenced a Port Arthur man to 30 years in prison for the 2020 murder of a 35-year-old father.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The video above is from a November 17, 2022 newscast.)
On Wednesday morning, Jeremy Jamall Roy appeared via Zoom before the honorable Judge Raquel West in the 252nd District Court and pleaded guilty to murder in the 2020 shooting death of Jose Ray Riojas
Judge West sentenced Roy to 30 years in prison according to a plea agreement reached with the prosecution.
Roy will get credit for the time he's been in jail since his arrest in 2020.
Larnell Mosley was also found guilty in the death of Riojas on November 17, 2022. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
Mosley was credited for any time he already spent in jail and does have the right to appeal his conviction.
He had faced from five to 99 in years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. Mosley won't be eligible for parole until he has served at least 30 years or half his sentence.
The jury in Mosely's 2021 trial took a little over an hour to reach a guilty verdict.
Prosecutor Phillip Smith told jurors during his closing arguments that the only thing he had to do was prove that Mosley had fatally shot Riojas.
"It's almost too easy," Smith said. "I wish I had this much evidence in every trial."
He urged the jury not to go to "Hollywood thinking" and look for a "twist."
"We know who did it, and you know who did it," he told the jury.
In the defense's closing arguments, attorney James Makin, said jurors must decide if the state had proved beyond any reasonable doubt that Mosley had committed the murder.
"I think one of the first things you need to decide... Was Mr. Mosely even there," Makin said. "Did they prove that beyond a reasonable doubt? And if he was there, did he shoot Mr. Riojas?"
Makin went on to suggest that detectives had lied to Mosley during hours of questioning to get him to confess.
"How many hours do you need to be held in a small room with people who have guns and who lied to you before you caved in?" he asked the jury.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information