A 27-year-old Kent man received a prison sentence of 10 years and three months for the 2023 fatal shooting of a 26-year-old man in a Kent apartment complex parking lot after the man approached his car with a baseball bat as part of an ongoing feud.
King County Superior Court Judge Josephine Wiggs sentenced Johnston J Fernandez-Edwin on June 6 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, according to court documents. Fernandez-Edwin pleaded guilty May 8 to second-degree murder in the death of Jimmy R. Joe, of Kent, on April 27, 2023 at the Dockside Apartments, 23222 61st Ave. S.
King County prosecutors requested a sentence of 11 years. Wiggs denied a motion by the defense for an exception sentence down of eight years and six months. The state’s standard sentencing range (set by the Legislature) was 10 years and three months to 18 years and four months.
Wiggs also sentenced Fernandez-Edwin to three years of community custody after his release. He received credit for two years served in the King County jail after his May 2, 2023 arrest by Kent Police.
Prosecutors initially charged Fernandez-Edwin with second-degree murder with a firearm allegation, but the firearm allegation was dropped with the guilty plea.
“I committed the crime of assault in the second degree, a felony by shooting Jimmy Ronelson Joe with a handgun, which is a firearm,” Fernandez-Edwin wrote in his guilty plea, according to court documents. “In the course of and in furtherance of such crime, I caused the death of Mr. Joe, a human being, by shooting him.”
The case
The two men reportedly had an ongoing feud, according to charging papers. Fernandez-Edwin accused Joe in May 2022 of burglarizing his apartment, where the two were previously roommates.
Kent Police responded at about 6:34 p.m. April 27, 2023 to the Dockside Apartments after a report of someone being shot in the parking lot of the complex. Joe died at the scene. He died of a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Detectives used video surveillance and an interview with the brother of Fernandez-Edwin to determine what happened.
With his brother as a passenger, Fernandez-Edwin was driving a 1991 Buick Park Avenue west on West Meeker Street from a Circle K gas station when about a block later they recognized Joe driving a gray Dodge Durango SUV the opposite way, according to court documents.
Joe reportedly made his hand into the shape of a gun and pointed it at them, according to the brother. That upset Fernandez-Edwin so he turned around and followed Joe to Joe’s apartment.
Joe reportedly got out of his car and walked over to Fernandez-Edwin’s car with a baseball bat on his shoulder. They argued through the open driver’s door window. Fernandez-Edwin told detectives he grabbed his Glock 22 pistol from under the seat and shot Joe one time before fleeing in his vehicle.
Detectives found video surveillance that showed Fernandez-Edwin in his Park Avenue following Joe in his Durango from the area of James Street and Russell Road until arriving at the Dockside Apartments. Police camera footage captured an image of the Park Avenue driving away from the murder scene eastbound on South 212th Street from 64th Avenue South, according to charging papers.
Fernandez-Edwin told detectives after his arrest that he knew Joe and had prior conflicts with him for about 18 months over thefts and both men dating the same woman.
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