JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The man police say masterminded the shooting death of a longtime University of North Florida employee from jail made his first appearance in court Saturday.
Jecorian McCray, 23, was charged with the murder of 48-year-old Jonathan Brenton and is being held without bond.
Police arrested McCray and three others in the shooting death Wednesday morning of Brenton, saying the death was connected with a burglary at the home in January.
Brenton was found dead inside his home on VC Johnson Road just before 3 a.m.
According to court records, Brenton and his wife were due to testify later that day at the trial of McCray, who is accused of burglarizing the home, which is on a dead-end road north of Dunn Avenue.
Detectives investigating the homicide listened to jail recordings of McCray, 23, talking on the phone with his 17-year-old brother, Dakarai Maxwell, and heard them talking about getting McCray's 21-year-old girlfriend, Teirany Shelton, to visit the Brentons and ask him to take back his statements about the burglary because McCray was "looking at 30 years."
"When he learned the bribery didn't work (Tuesday night), he told Dakarai that he needed to kill him," Lt. Steve Gallaher said. "He walked Dakarai step-by-step through the process of how to kill him. In the morning, the murder occurred, just like he was instructed to do."
Acting on information in those recordings, police obtained arrest warrants charging McCray and Maxwell with murder, 19-year-old Demetris Ford with criminal conspiracy and Shelton with tampering with a witness.
"He convinced them that they needed to convince the Brentons to either change their story or not testify," Gallaher said.
Prosecutors said home surveillance video showed McCray and Maxwell, who were acquaintances of Brenton's daughter, inside in the home on Jan. 29. According to the police report, jewelry, checks and prescription painkillers were taken in the burglary.
A jury for McCray's trial was seated Monday, but after Brenton's slaying, the trial was postponed until next week.
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith explained why the phone conversations made from the jail weren't flagged.
"Several phone calls are made every day from the jail. Those guys are constantly on the phone. They can't monitor every phone call that comes out of the jail. They have no reason to suspect anything," Smith said.
Neighbors suspected from the beginning that Brenton's killing was not a random crime because all the people who come down the road either live there, or know someone who does.
“For me, I thought, well, it has to be more than a burglary," Greg Causseaux said.
Other residents, including Ron Pringle, said they have increased security after Brenton's killing. Pringle said he was disturbed to learn of the arrests.
"That's an uneasy feeling. I would think that if he's on a jail phone, that should have been caught right away," Pringle said. "I have a little bit of experience from working in the jail facility as a barber. And it's just, the facility has really changed. It's more of a comfort zone versus a prison."