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Davion Murphy appeared in a 5-hour long bond hearing Thursday, focused largely on the suspects’ ties to Jacksonville gangs and Jacksonville rapper Yungeen Ace.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The most recently arrested suspect in the murder of Jacksonville rapper Charles Jones, known as “Foolio,” is now facing the death penalty, state attorneys announced in a Hillsborough County courtroom Thursday. In a hearing lasting five hours, the courtroom heard testimony that detailed gang ties involved in the case and how all suspects may be involved.
Davion Murphy, 27, was arrested at an apartment complex on Jacksonville’s Westside Jan. 6. He was extradited and had his bond hearing Thursday, where Hillsborough County Judge Michelle Sisco agreed with the State’s request to grant him no bond.
Murphy was the final suspect arrested in the murder, which happened on June 23 at a hotel in Tampa. A warrant for his arrest was issued July 27, but the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office did not locate him until Jan. 6, when he was arrested with the assistance of a SWAT team.
Investigators on the stand at Murphy’s bond hearing said that Murphy has been identified as one of three shooters, along with Sean Gathright, 18, and Rashad Murphy, 30, who they say is Davion Murphy’s cousin. Isaiah Chance, 21 and Alicia Andrews, 21, were also arrested and accused of helping to track Foolio and orchestrate the murder.
The State says that with Davion Murphy’s arrest, all the suspects in Foolio’s murder have now been apprehended.
The State is seeking the death penalty for all of the except Andrews, who revealed in court in September that she was pregnant.
At the end of a five-hour hearing Thursday, the State announced they are also filing to seek the death penalty against Murphy.
Testimony on gang ties
Part of the State’s argument for denying Murphy bond was their opinion that he is a flight risk and has gang ties.
During Thursday’s hearing, two Jacksonville detectives and the lead Tampa Police Department detective on the case testified for hours on their belief that Murphy is related to criminal gangs in Jacksonville.
They discussed his ties to Yungeen Ace (real name Keyanta Bullard), a Jacksonville rapper who is believed to be at the helm of Jacksonville gang ATK, which an officer testified is believed, but not proven, to stand for “Ace’s Top Killers.”
JSO Gang Unit detectives Richard Peter and Chris Drabek, as well as the TPD’s Detective Juan Ramos, testified that Murphy is an “associate” of 1200, a gang that is affiliated with ATK.
The gang war between these gangs and 6block, the gang Foolio was associated with, has been deadly on both sides for years. Detectives referenced killings that took place from 2018 to 2024.
Police believe Foolio was a high-profile target in this war; Peter testified that while there is no official structure in the gang, he was one of the highest-level leaders, similar to Yungeen Ace on the opposing side.
Murphy’s family had been caught up in this gang war previously when his cousin Joerod Adams was killed at a Raines High School football game in Jacksonville on Aug. 24, 2018, police testified. Drabek testified Adams had been mentioned in Foolio’s songs and Murphy told police he did “not appreciate” him being “disrespected.”
Throughout the hearing, testimony detailed murder after murder in the city that they believe resulted from this conflict. The State presented songs by both Yungeen Ace and Foolio where police say lyrics depict killings they were involved in, as evidence that each was involved in gang killings.
The testimony demonstrated just how intricate the story leading up to Foolio’s death is — and just how much carnage the State intends to tie to the case.
