Jacobs guilty of murder, rape – Admits to killing Ruby Thurman, 89
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?My mother suffered in her last hours,? Smith said in addressing Josh Jacobs, 21.
Jacobs was given life in prison without chance of parole, plus 25 years, after pleading guilty Wednesday to charges of felony murder, aggravated rape and aggravated burglary.
?A painless death through a needle in your sleep is too good for you,? said Smith. ?You need to sit the rest of your life in a cage like an animal. And when the other inmates find out what you did, well, they won?t be kind to you. I hope you enjoy it.?
Jacobs sat stoically, slumped in his chair at the defense table, during the verbal assault, not making eye contact with the victim?s daughter as she made her statement. Members of his family wept in the courtroom as Smith pointed out the two families had been friends and neighbors for generations.
?We?ve been neighbors for generations and it is inconceivable that such evil could come out of such a good family,? said Smith, noting the killer?s family and the prospect of endless appeals should he have gotten the death penalty were factors in approving a plea agreement.
Jacobs confessed to breaking into the home of the 76-pound, 89-year-old woman who used a walker. Jacobs maintained he went there to steal the keys to her car but was surprised by the woman after he smashed his way into her home. While at first claiming another man was with him, Jacobs later admitted it was he alone who killed and raped the woman.
?He brutally beat and raped Ms. Thurman,? said Lisa Zavogiannis during sentencing, spelling out a laundry list of evidence they had in addition to his admission of guilt.
The evidence included blood he left on the door window he broke, as well as a trail of his own blood through the house along with fingerprints and footprints. He was caught by lawmen while he was in Murfreesboro seeking treatment for the cut on his hand that he sustained when he broke the front window.
Jacobs admitted he smothered Ms. Thurman with a pillow after beating her and then put her in a filled bathtub in hopes lawmen would believe she drowned in the tub.
After the plea agreement, Zavogiannis said Jacobs is off the street for good.
?He?s not going to get parole,? said Zavogiannis, indicating life without chance of parole plus 25 years should keep him from ever being considered despite his young age. ?He will never hurt anyone else again.?
After hearing of the plea, former district attorney Dale Potter, who sought the death penalty, said that while the choice was for Zavogiannis to make, the case was the strongest murder case he has seen here.
?You couldn?t have asked for a stronger case. It was worked well by the officers. I think it was a jury question as to the death penalty,? Potter said. ?If the Ruby Thurman case wasn?t a case for the death penalty, then there will never be a case that warrants the death penalty.?
Zavogiannis said she relied heavily on the wishes of the Thurman family in making a decision to offer the plea, noting taxpayers will likely save the hundreds of thousands it would have cost had there been a death penalty trial and subsequent appeals.
?I think it was a good resolution,? Zavogiannis said. ?The family thought that he should spend the rest of his life thinking about what he did. The family?s wishes were huge in making this decision, as they should be.?