Florida Man Discovered Responsible of Murdering Ex-Roommate Over Stolen PlayStation

A jury discovered 26-year-old Jake Bilotta responsible of the first-degree homicide of Joshua Barnes final week in court docket. He was sentenced to life in jail with out the potential for parole.

Barnes was killed again in November 2018 and each Bilotta and roommate Ian Reilly McClurg had been arrested in connection to his loss of life. McClurg ultimately pleaded responsible to accent after the very fact and tampering with proof and went on to testify for the state. He was given 10 years behind bars, adopted by 10 years of supervised probation.

After their arrests, McClurg instructed police that the sufferer used to stay with them however was “kicked out” as a result of he wasn’t paying lease and left the door unlocked. He mentioned a “smoking system” and PlayStation 4, each belonging to Bilotta, had been additionally lacking — and Barnes allegedly admitted to stealing the gadgets in a textual content dialog with one other particular person.

Per the arrest report (through Legislation&Crime), McClurg instructed cops Bilotta “grew to become very upset and punched a gap within the wall” after studying his belongings had been lacking. He then allegedly started texting Barnes, “baiting” him to return again to the house with the promise of a celebration. McClurg mentioned that half-hour earlier than Barnes arrived, “Jake mentioned a plan with Ian to kill Josh.”

McClurg claimed he sat on a sofa with the intention to “forestall Josh from leaving” as soon as he arrived. When he did present up, he additionally mentioned Bilotta “answered the door with a big knife in his hand” and began “stabbing Josh repeatedly” — as he heard the previous roommate yell, “You are killing me.”

As they started to place Barnes’ useless physique into kitchen luggage and deliberate to bury him one other roommate, Walter Johnson, got here dwelling and reportedly discovered the place coated in blood and Bilotta subsequent to Barnes’ physique. Per Johnson, Bilotta allegedly mentioned of Barnes that he needed to “give the f—er credit score, he put up a superb combat.”

Johnson is the one who referred to as police, with Bilotta fleeing the scene earlier than police arrived. Physique digital camera footage of his arrest confirmed him claiming “[Barnes] tried to stab me with a knife.”

On the stand final week, Bilotta reportedly claimed he was chopping up marijuana with a knife when Barnes arrived and he opened the door holding the weapon. He mentioned that after seeing the knife, Barnes attacked him, issues went “0 to 100” and Bilotta stabbed him in self protection.

“Prosecutors efficiently argued the motive was revenge for theft of a PlayStation, not self protection as Bilotta claimed,” the State Attorney’s Office tweeted out after the verdict.