AURORA, Colo. — A man who pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder for the fatal shooting of a man over illegal marijuana has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Jahlil Meshesha, 21, received the sentence on Tuesday after taking a plea deal in the case on Jan. 23. Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Sugioka called the killing “senseless” and said that the victim, 24-year-old Jahmar Leckman, was killed over “a couple ounces of weed.”
The shooting happened on Jan. 17, 2016. Prosecutors said Leckman and two acquaintances went to a parking lot near East Mississippi Avenue and South Peoria Street in Aurora to sell marijuana to a buyer who he already knew.
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According to a news release from the district attorney’s office, the buyer showed up in a dark SUV. Leckman got out of his car and walked toward that vehicle when both the passenger and driver fired weapons at him.
An ensuing investigation identified Meshesha and Prince Jalil White as the shooters.
White pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2020, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year.
“The pain will always be there, dormant like a tumor, waiting to rise up without warning. I am angry that my son is gone, but I want to find it in my heart to forgive,” Leckman’s mother said in a statement.
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