A state appeals court this week granted a request to disqualify a Hillsborough circuit judge from conducting a sentencing hearing for the only defendant so far convicted in the ambush killing of Jacksonville rapper Julio Foolio.
In an order issued Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal barred Judge Michelle Sisco from further proceedings in the case of Alicia Andrews.
Andrews, 23, was found guilty of manslaughter in October for her role in what prosecutors described as an ambush killing. She was the first of five defendants to go to trial in the case; three have trial dates set for this year.
Shortly after the jury’s verdict, Andrews’ defense filed a request asking the judge to be disqualified from the case.
“Throughout the proceedings, Judge Sisco has exhibited overt hostility toward the defense — repeatedly interrupting counsel, refusing sidebars, and visibly prompting the prosecution during witness examinations,” wrote attorney Jeremy McLymont.
Sisco in November denied McLymont’s request to disqualify herself. The issue was then appealed, and the sentencing date was postponed.
Although the appeals court’s order found the defense’s request legally sufficient, it did not address the truthfulness of the allegations the defense made against the judge.
The court directed Chief Judge Christopher Sabella to reassign Andrews’ case to a different judge.
Sisco was appointed to the bench in 2002 by former Gov. Jeb Bush. She previously practiced law as a prosecutor and defense attorney.
As one of three trial division judges on Hillsborough County’s criminal bench, she has presided over numerous high-profile criminal trials, including many death penalty cases.
McLymont’s written request to disqualify herdetailed instances in which he alleged Sisco interrupted defense attorneys, made sarcastic comments, refused sidebar conferences and did other things he claimed showed bias to the prosecution.
He included several excepts from comments made by members of the public during a livestream of the trial.
“This judge is literally a mess and can’t hide her bias,” wrote one person.
“Judge is nasty towards the defense,” wrote another.
Foolio, whose real name was Charles Jones, was alleged to be a high-profile member of a Jacksonville gang known as 6-block. The gang had been in a long-running feud with two allied gangs called 1200 and ATK.
The warring groups had each produced videos and music tracks featuring lyrics disrespecting each other. Foolio had stoked anger with raps in which he named people from the rival gangs who had been killed in shootings. He taunted surviving members with a music video in which he appeared in a cemetery dancing and lying atop the graves of dead gang members.
His words made Foolio a target. The other gangs took notice when he advertised on social media a birthday bash in Tampa in June 2024, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Andrews and her boyfriend, Isaiah Chance, acted as lookouts, following Foolio the night of June 22 as he visited a strip club and a nightclub.
Rashad and Davion Murphy and Sean Gathright are accused of later ambushing and shooting Foolio as he sat in a car outside a Tampa hotel.