For killing a convenience store employee for $14K while donning a terrifying mask with white skull teeth, a gambler and local drug dealer from Hazleton, Pennsylvania, was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Jafet De Jesus Rodriguez, 44, will most likely die in prison as a result of the sentence he received on Thursday.
Just one week before to his murder, Ashokkumar Patel had accepted a position at Craig's Food Mart in Hazleton, where Rodriguez frequently played on the gaming machines.
Prosecutors claim that Rodriguez shot and killed Patel, a father of three and legal immigrant who was laboring to support his family in India, after pushing him into a closet.
Rodriguez lost a lot of money gambling at the store, according to earlier trial testimony, but he also took home over $3K in wins just weeks prior to the heist on December 12, 2020.
He knew, according to the prosecution, that a sizable sum of cash was held on the property for quick payouts with minimal protection.
Judge Michael T. Vough of Luzerne County highlighted the crime's severity and senselessness prior to imposing a sentence.
"Needless. Senseless. You can use a number of words to describe what happened to Mr. Patel,” Vough said, as reported by The Citizens’ Voice. “You took someone’s life for money.”
According to The Voice, the judge also explained how Patel managed to crawl to the phone and dial 911 before passing away, "gurgling...because you shot his tongue off."
When police searched Rodriguez's home in January 2021, they discovered many cellphones and about $3K in cash, leading to Rodriguez's arrest.
One of those devices was traced by GPS and cellphone data as it moved between his home and the crime site in the days leading up to the murder.
Along with the skull mask, police also investigated Rodriguez's car wash and discovered clothing that matched the attacker's characteristic outfit from the heist, which included a red and orange sweater and black gloves.
A bloodstain on one article of clothing revealed a DNA combination from the victim and Rodriguez, according to forensic examination.
A Luzerne County jury found Rodriguez guilty in June of first-degree murder, robbery, and theft.
Patel's family sued Sunoco and its affiliates in 2022 for civil wrongful death, as well as two companies that provided and made the gambling machines: Miele Manufacturing of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Pace-O-Matic of Georgia.
The convenience store was transformed into a "unsafe mini-casino" by the defendants, according to the civil case, even though it lacked the security measures required of legitimate gaming establishments.
The plaintiffs also assert that the skill gaming machines are unlawful, a matter that is still being litigated and has not been settled under Pennsylvania law.
Pace-O-Matic and Miele have already reached a settlement with the other defendants, and the civil trial against them is expected to start in Philadelphia on November 3.
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