(Anchorage, AK) – Friday in front of a packed courtroom, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Andrew Peterson sentenced Jesse Jones, 28, to a composite sentence of 77 years for the murder of Josiah Goecker, 34, and assault of Rosemarie Ortiz at the Alpine Apartments on Oct. 23, 2023.

Goecker was a leasing manager for the apartment complex. Jones came to the leasing office and confronted Ortiz, then 33, and Goecker after a notice of non-renewal had been placed on his door. Within seconds Jones produced a handgun. After a brief struggle, Goecker retreated with his hands up and was shot at least seven times in front of co-worker Ortiz. Jones fled the scene and was apprehended approximately three days later. While on the run he disposed of the firearm and spent the bulk of his time high on methamphetamine. Jones was convicted at trial of Murder in the First Degree for the death of Goecker, Assault in the Third Degree for threatening Ortiz, and Tampering with Evidence for disposing of the weapon after the homicide.

Before imposing sentence, Peterson heard from nine members of the Goecker family about the impact the crime has had on them. They expressed heartfelt emotion about Goecker’s life and the kind and compassionate husband, father, son, brother, and community member he was. Peterson also heard from members of Jones’ family and from Jones.

Peterson found that Jones had numerous opportunities to “change the course of the day” but instead made repeated choices that ended Goecker’s life, noting that this was not an “honest mistake, or snap decision” and that by contrast Goecker “demonstrated compassion and peacefulness” in how he interacted with Jones on the day of the homicide, noting that Goecker “put his hands up, he backed off and gave the defendant the opportunity to walk away.”

Peterson also considered Jones’ prior criminal history and past offense conduct, which demonstrated frequent “disproportionate” and “unbalanced and violent responses” to “perceived slights” and found that the primary sentencing factor he had to consider was isolation and the need to confine Jones to protect the public and to ensure that Jones does not hurt or kill somebody in the future.

Based on the sentencing statutes and caselaw Jones faced potential sentences of 30 years to 99 years for Murder in the First Degree; 0 to 2 years for Assault in the Third Degree and 0 to 2 years for Tampering with Physical Evidence. The defense attorney recommended a sentence of 30 to 40 years to serve. The prosecution recommended the court impose 78 years for the Murder in the First Degree and two consecutive years for the Assault in the Third Degree, with concurrent time for the Tampering with Evidence charge, for a composite term of 80 years. The court imposed a term of 75 years for the Murder in the First Degree and two years to run consecutive for the Assault in the Third Degree, with an additional two years for the Tampering with Evidence to run concurrent to the other sentences, for a composite term of 77 years.

The case was prosecuted by District Attorney Brittany Dunlop and Assistant District Attorney Dekota Smith of the Anchorage District Attorney’s Office, with the assistance of Paralegal Kimberly Smith. The case was investigated by the Anchorage Police Department Homicide Unit.

  Anchorage, assault, jones, murder, sentencing