A Port Arthur man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison following his conviction in a 2011 shooting death. The sentence was handed down Thursday.
It took the jury a little more than an hour to convict Joshua Gerrod Thomas, 26, of shooting and killing Michael Walker, 48, of Georgia, at a home on 12th Street in Port Arthur. The guilty verdict came Wednesday after three days of testimony.
According to information presented in court, a woman called Port Arthur police to report a shooting at her home in the 1000 block of 12th Street. When officers arrived they determined the victim, Michael Walker, 48, of Georgia, had been shot inside the house. Walker was taken to Christus Hospital St. Mary where he was pronounced dead.
According to 12News file stories, Walker was a contract worker in town for a job at Motiva.Witnesses told police that Joshua Thomas had showed up at the house armed with a gun seeking retaliation against Walker because he believed Walker had assaulted Thomas' aunt. A Jefferson County Grand Jury handed up a murder indictment against Thomas on August 18, 2011.
Thomas could have received from five to 99 years in prison.
