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PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland killer, Jessie Garza III, 31, who vowed that he would rather make police kill him than go to jail, has been found guilty and handed a life sentence on Thursday for the killing of Richard Newman inside his own home and firing shots at two Portland Police Officers as her attempted to flee.
Killer Gets Life Sentence For Portland Murder
On December 14, 2023, at about 1:30 a.m., Garza, known on the streets as “Buddy,” went hunting for a man called “Moro” and broke into a Southeast Portland apartment at 16520 S.E. Bush St. to find him.
As “Moro” wasn’t there, Garza instead fatally shot Richard Newman, who was known to be a father figure to Moro. Newman asked Garza to leave the chair he was sitting in, and in return, Garza fired three shots, striking Newman in the arm, chest, and stomach. Newman died at a local hospital a short time later.
Portland police officers surrounded the Demar Downs housing project on Southeast 148th Avenue on December 28, 2023, where Garza was known to be hanging out.
After exchanging gunfire with police and barricading himself in an apartment, Garza fired on the officers, including Officers Corey Budworth and Justin Rafael, prompting a standoff, but surrendered after 4 hours.
Garza pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder for firing at Officers Corey Budworth and Justin Rafael, as well as eight counts stemming from a six-month crime spree starting with car theft in June 2023 and culminating in Newman’s murder and the standoff with police two weeks later.
After posting a few thousand dollars in one case, Garza was out on bail.
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Andrew Lavin sentenced Garza to life in prison with the chance of parole after 32 years under the terms of a plea deal.
Newman’s brother, a retired firefighter and paramedic Todd Newman, said at the hearing that he could imagine his brother clinging to life during that final journey in the ambulance and said, “This haunts me.”
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