The men convicted in Foolio’s murder addressed the court ahead of receiving their respective life sentences.
On Monday (June 22), Isaiah Chance, Sean Gathright, Davion Murphy and Rashad Murphy were each sentenced to life behind bars for their roles in the June 2024 killing. But before their fate was handed down, three of the four men spoke out with messages to the judge and the community.
After both Gathright’s mother and grandmother made a plea for a second chance, Gathright did as well, making the case that his privileged upbringing worked against him and that it’s unfair to be judged for his actions before his brain has fully developed.
“When scholars and historians look back on our times, I believe they will label us as the age of discontentment,” he said. “And those of us who come from privileged upbringings are actually disadvantaged to the fight against it because of the high expectations, many opportunities and options we grow up with. We don’t know what struggle looks like or how hard our parents had to work to provide these opportunities for us. We don’t know what we have until it’s gone. And it often happens after we go through our own eye opening experience.”
Gathright added: “A study done by the National Institute of Mental Health provided evidence showing that the brain doesn’t reach full maturity until 26 to 27 years old for men, [which is] about eight or nine years older than my time during the offense. But society knows this. And that’s why laws set age requirements on certain activities, amenities, and substances as a way to protect adolescent adults. Yet those same laws don’t extend to an adolescent adult when they are charged with crimes and allows them to be prosecuted to the fullest extent regardless of their age.”
Isaiah Chance spoke next, first questioning how his former girlfriend Alicia Andrews received 15 years in prison for her role in helping locate Foolio, yet he was facing life. He then had a message for his community, adding, “It ain’t worth it. The dissing, beefing, shooting for what? When you’re sitting in your cell alone, cold, lonely and everybody leaves you, the only person there is your mother and maybe a friend.”
Davion Murphy closed it out, and after maintaining his innocence, he had a short message for his generation of peers.
“I just want to say to the Gen Z generation, change your life and do something productive with your life because in this predicament, it ain’t worth it,” he said.
Rashad Murphy chose not to speak.
In May, the four men were convicted of the murder of Foolio, who was ambushed and shot and killed in a hotel parking lot in Tampa in the summer of 2024. The fifth person charged in the case, the aforementioned Alicia Andrews, was found guilty of manslaughter in 2025. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison last month. Prosecutors say the killing was part of an ongoing gang feud in Jacksonville, Fla.
Ultimately, Judge Michelle Sisco sentenced all four men to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder conviction. They were also sentenced to additional time for additional charges to run concurrently.
Watch the videos of the men speaking to the court below.
Watch Foolio’s Convicted Killers Address the Court
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