Fort Myers man, 25, sentenced to 45 years in murder-for-hire of alleged gang member

Tomas Rodriguez, Fort Myers News-Press
·3 min read
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U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell on Monday sentenced Marvin Harris, Jr., "Mesh," 25, of Fort Myers, to 45 years in federal prison for murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.
U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell on Monday sentenced Marvin Harris, Jr., "Mesh," 25, of Fort Myers, to 45 years in federal prison for murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.

A Fort Myers man who in September pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and interstate murder-for- hire resulting in death will serve more than four decades in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell on Monday sentenced Marvin "Mesh," Harris, Jr., 25, of Fort Myers, to 45 years in federal prison for murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.

Harris' co-defendant, Latrel Jackson "Kobe," 26, of Chicago, Illinois, faces sentencing on June 24, and faces a mandatory term of life imprisonment.

According to court documents, in November 2019, Harris hired two individuals, Jackson and unindicted co-conspirator who has since died, to travel from the Chicago-area to Fort Myers to commit murder in exchange for $10,000.

Harris, according to authorities, said his motive was to retaliate against individuals he believed had robbed a Fort Myers residence from which he and others associated with him sold drugs. The individuals Harris, suspected of committing the robbery belonged to a Fort Myers gang known to law enforcement as "Bucktown."

With the agreement to retaliate against Bucktown, Jackson and the deceased co-conspirator traveled to Fort Myers from Chicago aboard a commercial airline on Oct. 28, 2019.

When they arrived, Harris picked Jackson and the deceased up from the Southwest Florida International Airport and provided them with partial payment for the planned murder, as well as firearms to accomplish the task.

Initially, authorities said, Jackson and the deceased stayed at Harris' "trap house" — a residence used primarily to distribute drugs from — in Fort Myers but later moved to a local motel on Palm Beach Boulevard. During that time, Jackson, the deceased and others attempted to find members of Bucktown to murder in the retaliatory scheme, authorities said.

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On Nov. 2, 2019, Harris obtained a vehicle for Jackson and the deceased to use during the commission of a murder. Jackson and the deceased proceeded to a known Bucktown hangout in Fort Myers and observed the victim, K.U., standing in front of the residence near the curb of the street. Jackson and D.S. quickly circled the block and, at close range, opened fire on the victim, killing him in front of the residence from a gunshot to the head.

After the shooting, authorities said, Harris paid Jackson and the deceased the remaining sum of money owed for completing the murder-for-hire scheme.

Jackson and the deceased were also left in possession of the firearms used to commit the murder. The pair then returned to the Chicago area by commercial bus on Nov. 3, 2019.

During a search of Jackson's Chicago-area home on Nov. 21, 2019, authorities said they recovered two firearms from an attic space in his room. Expert testing and examination of the firearms by ATF confirmed that both matched shell casings recovered from the murder scene and the murder vehicle, and that one of the firearms had fired the bullet which had been recovered from the victim's head during his autopsy.

Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Fort Myers man sentenced to 45 years in murder-for-hire