A Northampton County jury on Thursday found a Bethlehem man guilty of second-degree murder and related charges in a woman’s 2022 shooting death.
Marquis Michael Watkins was convicted of second-degree murder, robbery, and firearms offenses in the killing that claimed Jani Bostic, a 21-year-old woman from East Stroudsburg, District Attorney Stephen Baratta announced.
The murder charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison; Watkins’ sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled, Baratta said.
Bostic was shot as she sat in the driver’s seat of her blue Kia Forte on December 10, 2022, in the 1200 block of Butztown Road in Bethlehem. She died of the gunshot wounds four days later in Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg.
Police said Watkins arranged a marijuana drug deal at the Butztown Road location, which was near his home, and Bostic and another man arrived at the spot in her vehicle.
Once at the vehicle, Watkins took marijuana and then fatally shot Bostic as she sat in the driver’s seat, police said. The other man returned fire at Watkins, investigators said.
Watkins was seen getting out of the back seat of the Kia after gunfire was heard, prosecutors previously said.
Witnesses reported hearing two shots before Watkins, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and a plaid shirt, got out of the vehicle and put what appeared to be a semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine into the front pocket of his sweatshirt, prosecutors said.
Watkins walked to a nearby home, according to police, and officers found a weapon that matched the description in a toilet tank in the home.
A gunshot residue test indicated Watkins had recently fired a weapon, prosecutors said. Two spent shell casings were found in the Kia and one of them matched the caliber, color and brand of ammunition recovered with the weapon.
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