BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Marquis Michael Watkins will spend the rest of his life in prison for the 2022 killing of Jani Bostic in Bethlehem.
Watkins was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in a 2022 robbery and shooting death in Bethlehem, according to a press release from the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office.
In December of 2022, Bethlehem Police Department charged Watkins with Criminal Homicide and related lesser offenses in connection with the shooting death of Jani Bostic on Dec. 10, 2022, in the 1200 block of Butztown Road in Bethlehem.
Officials say at sentencing on Nov. 25, 2025, the judge imposed the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
After the shooting in 2022, Jani Bostic died of the gunshot wounds four days later in Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg.
Following the shooting, Watkins denied any involvement. Investigation by Bethlehem Police detectives uncovered evidence linking Watkins directly to the shooting, including the recovery of the murder weapon in the Butztown Road townhome occupied by Watkins, according to the release.
Police say that Watkins arranged a marijuana drug deal to take place at the Butztown Road location. Jani Bostic and another man were at that Butztown Road location in a vehicle. Watkins left his nearby townhome and went to the vehicle occupied by Jani Bostic and the other man.
Once at the vehicle, Watkins took marijuana and then fatally shot Jani Bostic as she sat in the driver’s seat of the vehicle.
After Watkins shot Jani Bostic, the man with Bostic returned shots in the direction of Watkins.
Following a jury trial before Judge Anthony S. Beltrami, Watkins was convicted of Second-Degree Murder, Robbery, and firearms offenses.