Man who killed Anchorage apartment building manager sentenced to 77 years in prison

Yahoo

18 hours ago

Jul. 15—An Anchorage man convicted of killing an apartment building manager in 2023 has been sentenced to 77 years in prison.
Jesse Lee Jones, now 28, was convicted at trial in February on first degree murder charges, as well as assault and tampering with evidence in the death of Josiah Goecker, who was the leasing manager at the Midtown Anchorage apartment complex where Jones had been living.
Goecker, a 34-year-old Eagle River father who returned to Alaska in 2017 after growing up in a military family with nine siblings, was mourned as a hero for protecting his coworker during the incident.
Goecker's brother, Jared Goeker, was elected to the Anchorage Assembly representing Chugiak, Eagle River and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in April. Jared Goecker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Josiah Goecker was killed on Oct. 23, 2023 when Jones walked to the leasing office of the complex and confronted Goecker, the leasing manager, with a handgun, shooting him "at least seven times" in front of his coworker, according to court documents from the case. He was arrested several days later at the end of a methamphetamine binge, court filings contend.
Jones was upset, prosecutors said, after a notice that the lease for the apartment he was living in wouldn't be renewed, court filings said.
Jones shot Goecker "for no reason other than his own misplaced anger and complete inability to control his emotions," prosecutor Brittany Dunlop wrote in a pre-sentencing court filing.
Jones' defense attorney argued in presentencing filings that his client was desperate on the day he committed the crime: "Not to say his situation or plight was not due to his own doing, but Jones was unemployed, had no other plans for shelter for the winter, and he was having a child too with his fiancée."
He didn't have the "tools, knowledge or experience to cope with highly stressful situations" such as facing the loss of housing. He could still have a shot at becoming a "productive citizen" with the right treatment and direction, his lawyer Chong Yim wrote.
Jones admitted guilt when apprehended, Yim wrote. "He knew he had ruined the lives of two families and that he could be facing the rest of his life in jail but still wanted to take responsibility," he wrote.
At the Friday sentencing before Anchorage Superior Court Judge Andrew Peterson, nine of Goecker's family members testified about their loss, describing Josiah Goecker as a "kind and compassionate husband, father, son, brother, and community member," according to a statement from the Alaska Department of Law.