Opening statements kicked off Wednesday in the trial for the remaining individuals charged in the murder of Jacksonville rapper Foolio.
Foolio, whose real name is Charles Jones, was shot and killed at a Holiday Inn in Tampa on June 23, 2024 while celebrating his birthday. He was a well-known, prominent member of a Jacksonville gang.
Isaiah Chance, Sean Gathright, Davion Murphy and Rashad Murphy each face a premeditated first-degree murder charge, among other charges, in connection to Jones’ death.
A fifth suspect, Alicia Andrews, has not yet been sentenced after being convicted of manslaughter in a separate trial in October 2025. Prosecutors said she acted as a lookout, helping her boyfriend, Chance, track Jones’ movements the night he was murdered.
State’s opening statement
State attorney Scott Harmon presented the state’s opening statements Wednesday. He started by showing hotel surveillance video of the murder, followed by several music videos, including one by Jones and others by rival gang members that mock the deaths of members from opposing sides.
Before trial, police and prosecutors said Jones’ murder was the result of an “ongoing gang war.”
Harmon doubled down on that point during his presentation, saying that was the motive for the crime. He touched on the murders of gang members and associates that were both closely associated with Jones, as well as rivals, and explained how they gave fuel to the ongoing feud.
Additionally, Harmon highlighted multiple locations tied to the incident, outlining the route the state claims the defendants took to Tampa, as well as their locations before and after the shooting.
Harmon pointed to one location prior to the shooting – Gathright’s home – where he showed home surveillance video of Gathright and Chance loading several bags into a black Chevrolet Impala, which was one car described as one of two suspect vehicles.
Harmon said the defendants traveled from Jacksonville to Tampa the day before the murder in two separate vehicles, with Rashad Murphy booking an Airbnb for their stay.
Once in Tampa, Harmon said Chance and Andrews tracked Foolio and his friends in one vehicle, while Gathright, Rashad and Davion Murphy followed close behind, receiving texts from Chance off Andrews’ phone of Jones’ whereabouts.
Harmon also showed cellphone records of communication between defendants, and maps of cellphone towers pinging Chance’s and Davion Murphy’s phones at several locations in Tampa in the hours leading up to the murder.
At the end of his presentation, Harmon made the jury aware of a moment between Chance and Jones weeks before Jones was murdered.
With a video, Harmon explained that on June 6, 2024, Chance and Jones were engaged with each other on “X Spaces,” when Chance asked Jones, “Hey Foolio, your foot OK, cuz?”
Harmon said this was notable because it referenced another shooting Jones was a victim of nine months prior to his murder and alarmed co-defendant Rashad Murphy.
On June 7 at 3:18 a.m., cellphone records show that Rashad texted Gathright saying, “make sure bra in ah good head space before he go wit his move we got bigger s*** to tend to they aint worth ah n**** energy rn.”
Harmon said this text was Rashad’s effort in trying to prevent Chance from “letting the cat out of the bag.”
Chance’s attorney’s opening statement
Justin Petredis, Chance’s attorney, began his opening statement saying Chance had no knowledge of the alleged plan for the murder, that he was seen on surveillance camera only once the night of the murder, and that after he was seen on a surveillance camera, he was not seen on another camera again throughout the night.
He said Chance’s presence in Tampa “doesn’t make him guilty and his association to the other defendants doesn’t link him to the plot.”
Petredis further pushed the jury to not assume Chance took part in the murder based on him using Andrews’ phone, which he was caught on surveillance camera using at a club Jones was at hours before, and also for them to not assume he was the one driving one of the suspect vehicles.