Prosecutors say plea deal in double killing is appropriate despite objection from victims’ families

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis man accused of shooting and killing two brothers at an east side gas station pled guilty Wednesday to two counts of voluntary manslaughter as part of an agreement with the prosecution.

Martice McGee, 22, was facing two murder charges for the killings of 26-year-old Jaquareous Mitchell and 29-year-old Jimmy Thomas Jr.

The fatal shooting took place at the Emerson Food Mart at 3402 N Emerson Avenue on April 22, 2023. Court documents state the shooting stemmed from an argument.

Witnesses and McGee told police Thomas threatened to fight McGee. Surveillance video showed that during the incident inside the store, Thomas gave Mitchell two handguns and Mitchell walked out of the store with the two handguns and a rifle before returning with no guns in his hands, per court documents.

In an interview with police, McGee claimed he told Thomas, “If you touch me or approach me, I will shoot you,” documents state.

“Both of the victims were armed. Both had firearms. There’s evidence that they were the initial aggressors in this case leading to a likely claim of self-defense,” Deputy Prosecutor Dan Cicchini said after court. “Under those circumstances and balancing all that, this was the appropriate outcome.”

Under the agreement, McGee will serve a maximum of 25 years for both killings.

“I feel like it’s a slap in the face,” Sellerstine Ray, the mother of both victims, said through tears.

Ray said she doesn’t feel that her sons are getting the justice they deserve and expressed concern about the message the plea agreement sends.

“You’re letting a criminal out that’s going to re-offend because he’s going to feel like ‘okay I can kill these two people and get away with the crime,'” Ray said.

Ray said despite warnings from prosecutors she was willing to roll the dice with the jury.

However, prosecutors argued that some time is better than none at all.

“I completely understand they lost two family members, two loved ones to senseless gun violence,” Cicchini said. “We always take victim and next of kin opinions into consideration when resolving these types of cases and sometime we have to make really difficult decisions.”

Judge James Osborn took the agreement under advisement and acknowledged the family’s frustration during the court hearing.

“I understand there are members of the victims’ families who are not in acceptance of this plea,” Judge Osborn said. “I just want to make sure that anyone who is involved in this case understands that you will get an opportunity to express your opinions about the plea because I haven’t accepted it yet.”

Plea agreements are used often in the criminal justice system and more than 90 percent of cases are settled that way, according to Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner.

Hamner has no affiliation with this case but said victims have a right by state statute to know when prosecutors are negotiating and the terms of the agreement. However, they do not have veto power.

“Sometimes the case isn’t as strong as we’d like it to be,” Hamner said. “We can say we think we can prove this but we’re not sure. But if he’s willing to take this reduced amount then both sides can be happy with that.”

Often victims’ families are understanding of that, Hamner said. However, he acknowledged there are times when they are not.

“When you have a case where somebody has been murdered there really is nothing that is going to make that okay,” Hamner said.

McGee is scheduled to be sentenced on April 16 at 1 p.m.

Prosecutors said they plan to play the surveillance video of that shooting during the sentencing hearing and hope it will provide some context for their decision.