The Garry Bartlett Jr sentencing concluded on Wednesday when a Florida judge ordered the 29-year-old to serve 45 years in state prison for shooting and killing his 69-year-old father at their Jacksonville home in November 2024.
Duval County Circuit Court Judge Jeb Branham, who has sat on the Florida 4th Circuit Court since February 2021, handed down the sentence after Garry Charles Bartlett Jr pleaded guilty in early May to one count of second-degree murder with a weapon.
Under the terms of a partially negotiated plea, Bartlett Jr had agreed to a 40-year minimum with a possible maximum of life. The court sentenced him near the lower end of that range. He was also credited with nearly two years served in pretrial detention.
The Shooting on Jacksonville’s Southside
The killing took place on 20 November 2024 at a residence on Fawn Lake Drive in the Deer Cove neighbourhood, on First Coast News reported the shooting occurred on Jacksonville’s Southside.
Bartlett Jr himself dialled 911 and told dispatchers he had shot his father. He advised that his father was deceased and that CPR was not necessary. He also told dispatchers where he had placed the firearm: in the back bedroom of the residence.
Officers arrived to find Bartlett Jr standing in the front yard. A search of his person recovered one spent 9 mm casing and one live 9 mm round in his pocket.
Inside the house, officers found Garry Charles Bartlett Sr dead on the living room floor, suffering from several gunshot wounds and covered in blood. Investigators recovered 12 spent 9 mm casings in the living room. A Springfield Armory 9 mm handgun was found on the bed in the back bedroom. The weapon appeared to have misfired: two live rounds had double-fed into the chamber, while two additional rounds remained in the 20-round magazine.
Garry Bartlett Jr Sentencing: What the Defendant Told Police
After being advised of his Miranda rights at the police station, Bartlett Jr agreed to speak with detectives at length. He told investigators his father had sexually assaulted him between the ages of 5 and 9. Police noted those allegations had never previously been documented.
The night before the shooting, Bartlett Sr allegedly made a comment about raping his son. Rather than act immediately, Bartlett Jr returned to his room, listened to music, and called a friend. He told police he spent six to eight hours in that state before retrieving his gun and going to the living room, where he found his father asleep on the couch.
According to the arrest report, obtained by Law&Crime and reviewed for this article, Bartlett Jr admitted firing several rounds at his father. Finding his father still breathing, he said he was ‘tired of hearing his father’s agonal breathing,’ which caused him to ‘put one in the back of his f (ing head,’ after which the victim ‘shut the f) up after that.’ When asked how many times he fired, he replied: ‘a lot.’
After the shooting, Bartlett Jr went to the back bedroom, placed the firearm on the bed, and lay there for a further six to eight hours before making the 911 call.
WOKV had reported Bartlett Jr’s age as 27 at the time of his arrest, consistent with the passage of approximately two years in pretrial detention before he entered his guilty plea aged 29.
A neighbour told local broadcasters the family had kept to themselves. ‘Nice people from what all I knew, kept to themselves,’ the neighbour said. ‘I’m just totally surprised by the whole situation, for this neighbourhood for sure.’
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office led the original investigation. The case was prosecuted through the Florida Courts system’s 4th Judicial Circuit, which covers Duval County. Judge Branham’s current term on that court runs until 2 January 2029.
Subject to any challenge to the plea or sentence, Bartlett Jr will serve his 45-year term with credit for time already spent in custody.
