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Press Release

Three Nixa Residents Plead Guilty to Drug Trafficking Resulting in Murder

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Missouri

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that three Nixa, Mo., residents have pleaded guilty in federal court to their roles in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, which resulted in the murder of a Mexican national, Oscar Adan Martinez-Gaxiola.

Brooke Danielle Beckley, 20, and Jourdan Ashley McGinnis, 28, both of Nixa, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush. Co-defendant Nathaniel Austin Lee, 19, of Nixa, pleaded guilty on Monday, June 19, 2017, to his role in the conspiracy.

By pleading guilty, Beckley, McGinnis and Lee admitted they participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Greene County, Dallas County, Webster County and Christian County, Mo., from April 28, 2015, to April 26, 2016.

McGinnis admitted that, on April 8, 2016, he and Beckley possessed at least 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in a hotel room, which they intended to distribute to another person.

In addition to the drug-trafficking conspiracy, Beckley and Lee each pleaded guilty to using a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, resulting in murder. They admitted that the murder of Martinez-Gaxiola on April 25, 2016, in Webster County was willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated. Conspirators carried a Stoeger .40-caliber pistol and discharged a Glock .40-caliber handgun, a Taurus 9mm handgun and an unknown make and model .380-caliber handgun in the act of aiding and abetting each other and others to commit the murder.

Under federal statutes, Beckley, Lee and McGinnis are each subject to sentences of life in federal prison without parole for these crimes. The maximum statutory sentences are prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Garrison. It was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Christian County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Lawrence County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Webster County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Seymour, Mo., Police Department, the Rogersville, Mo., Police Department, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department and the Combined Ozarks Multijurisdictional Enforcement Team (COMET).

Updated June 20, 2017

Topics
Drug Trafficking
Firearms Offenses