Jury Reaches Verdict In Trial Of Foolio Murder Suspect

The first of five suspects who've been charged with Foolio's murder has been convicted.

A jury in Tampa, Fla. found Alicia Andrews guilty of manslaughter after deliberating for several hours on Friday, October 31. According to FOX13, the 22-year-old was originally charged with premeditated first-degree murder with a firearm when she was arrested last year. She was also charged with conspiracy to commit premeditated first-degree murder with a firearm, but the jury found her not guilty. Prosecutors argued that Andrews helped her boyfriend, Isaiah J. Chance, and the other defendants, Sean Gathright, Rashad Murphy and Davion Murphy, track Foolio down before the group allegedly murdered him.

Foolio, born Charles Jones, traveled from Jacksonville to Tampa on the weekend of June 23 to celebrate his 26th birthday. The rapper had moved his birthday celebration from an Airbnb to a Holiday Inn and informed his social media followers about the change. Foolio and three others were in a car outside the hotel when he was ambushed. Surveillance video captured the moment when the gunman fired a semi-automatic rifle at Foolio's. Foolio was pronounced dead on the scene while the other three people were transported to a nearby hospital and treated for their injuries.

Andrews' attorneys argued that she had no idea that Chance and his friends were planning to kill Foolio. In her testimony last Thursday, Andrews said she thought that she was just taking a trip with Chance and his crew. At the time of the murder, she believed Chance, Gathwright, and the Murphy cousins got out of the car to get food before the shooting happened. She told the jury she heard gunshots but didn't know anyone died. She also claimed that she was afraid of her "controlling" boyfriend and alleged that he put his hands on her several times before the incident.

"Perception is not reality," Andrews' attorney Life Malcolm said. "Just because she was there around a group of guys who had bad stuff on their mind, doesn’t mean that she had bad stuff on her mind or was even aware that they did. She was here for a trip with her boyfriend. That’s it and that’s all and found her herself caught up in a mix of stuff that she was unaware about completely."

Andrews is scheduled to be sentenced on December 8. She faces up to 15 years in prison. Isaiah Chance, Sean Gathright, Rashad Murphy and Davion Murphy will go on trial next year.