HOUSTON – A known gang member called "John Gotti" was sentenced to serve life in prison without parole for three Houston slayings committed during a home invasion.
Broderick Bell, 24, aka John Gotti, was convicted for fatally shooting three people in the head during a 2015 home invasion at a north Houston apartment.
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"The jury agreed that this man is too dangerous to be on our streets, or the streets
of any community, ever again,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said.
Prosecutors called the crime extreme and a planned and premeditated brutal attack.
“The brutality was so extreme; they executed everybody there,” said Assistant
District Attorney Keri Fuller, who prosecuted the case. “This was a very well
planned and premeditated attack.”
Among those killed was 22-year-old Kiara Jackson, who lived in the apartment with her boyfriend, DeMarquise Edwards, 23, officials said. Edwards was known in the neighborhood as a seller of codeine syrup and was also killed, officials said.
The third person killed was 20-year-old Terrell Payne, who was a college student home from California on spring break, officials said.
After killing everyone in the apartment, Bell and two other men stole cash, drugs, a cellphone and a wallet before leaving the scene, officials said.
The case was investigated by the Houston Police Department Homicide Division's Gang Murder Squad.
Bell was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Celvin Wayne Brooks, 21, was also convicted in the slayings in 2018 and was also given life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The third suspect awaits trial.