- Ja’Cobey James was found guilty of second-degree murder with a firearm for killing Joseph Liebe as he was on his way home to his fiancée in 2023
- James, along with his uncle and friend, believed Liebe had money and followed him from a Molino gas station rather than going back home to Atmore, Alabama
- James faces up to life in a Florida prison at his sentencing hearing scheduled Jan. 20
Ja’Cobey James was the shooter who opened fire on Pace man Joseph Liebe from the side of the road, killing him, a Santa Rosa County jury found Thursday.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty of second-degree murder with a firearm after James fatally shot Liebe off Wallace Lake Road after he, and allegedly two others, followed Liebe home from work on June 19, 2023.
Assistant State Attorney Mark Alderman said during the trial that the totality of the evidence proves “that Ja’Cobey James was the man who stepped out of that vehicle, fired on Joey and killed him.”
James was on the way home with his friend Ty’Jerrious Malone and his uncle-through-marriage Marcus Dickinson when they encountered Liebe by chance at a Molino gas station.
Dickinson found himself standing behind Liebe at the checkout line.
When he made it back to the car, he allegedly told the other two that Liebe “had money,” so instead of driving back to their Atmore, Alabama, home, they followed Liebe on his way to Pace.
Dickinson began flashing his lights at Liebe who in turn pulled off the road, likely expecting the car to pass, Alderman said. Instead, their maroon SUV pulled up next to Liebe as he was on the phone with his fiancée.
That’s when James opened the passenger door and grabbed the gun. Alderman said Liebe must have seen the firearm, because he began to speed away from the area, but not before James opened fire.
Out of the 10 shots fired, only one struck Liebe, but that single shot proved fatal as it traveled into his chest cavity and pierced both of his lungs as well as his aortic arch, the curved portion of the artery that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body.
Geoffrey Pittman, James’ attorney, argued his client was wholesale innocent of the charge, offering a theory that Malone was the man who shot Liebe and pinned it on James.
“All of this evidence presents a reasonable theory that Mr. James is innocent,” Pittman said. “It doesn’t’ present an abiding conviction of guilt. It’s just not there.”
Pittman told the jury that his client “needs a better choice of friends and his aunt needs to marry better,” but that doesn’t equate to him being guilty.
The jury seemingly disagreed with Pittman’s theory as they decided James was guilty of murdering Liebe.
Presiding judge Clifton Drake scheduled James’ sentencing hearing for Jan. 20.
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