A second man convicted of first-degree murder in the 2016 shooting death of an eastern Iowa gender-fluid teenager was sentenced to life in prison…
A second man convicted of first-degree murder in the 2016 shooting death of an eastern Iowa gender-fluid teenager was sentenced to life in prison Monday.
Jaron Purham, 26, received the mandatory sentence without the possibility of parole during a hearing in Des Moines County. A jury found Purham guilty in October in the March 2,2016, killing of 16-year-old Kedarie Johnson.
Purham’s co-defendant, Jorge Sanders-Galvez, was also convicted of first-degree murder. He is likewise serving a life prison sentence with no chance of parole.
Kedarie’s body was found discarded in a patch of tall grass in a Burlington alley with a plastic bag over his head and another shoved down his throat. His shirt had been pushed up to reveal a white bra with two bullet holes in his chest.
The teenager often presented as female and was dressed in women’s clothing on the night of his death. Prosecutors said Purham and Sanders-Galvez picked up Kedarie and brought him back to a home where they often stayed, intending to have sex.
When they realized Kedarie was not a biological female, the two men suffocated him by forcing the plastic bag down his throat. They then brought him to the alley, where they shot him and doused his body in bleach to conceal evidence, authorities said.
Prosecutors acknowledged they do not know who pulled the trigger. But ultimately, they said, it did not matter; the crime required the active participation of both men.
«They acted in concert,» Iowa Assistant Attorney General Laura Roan said as she gave blistering closing arguments. «And it was deliberate. And it was premeditated. And certainly — certainly — it was with malice.»
At trial, Purham’s defense team argued that Sanders-Galvez alone was responsible for the killing. Purham, his attorneys said, was being presumed guilty by association.
Purham’s sentencing brought an end to the case that drew national attention. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent Christopher Perras, a prominent hate crime lawyer with the Justice Department, to assist with the men’s trials.
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Purham was arrested near St. Louis about two weeks after the killing, driving the same red Chevrolet Impala that the men were in when they picked up Kedarie, with the murder weapon on the floor of the driver’s seat, authorities said. The gun was found to have Purham’s DNA on it.
Prosecutors have said Purham’s story about where he was on the night of the slaying did not match the evidence, which showed he was with Sanders-Galvez at the time Kedarie was killed.
The Register’s Stephen Gruber-Miller contributed to this report.
