After a sentence was handed down for a Navy sailor who strangled a woman to death, the victim's mother expressed anger and disbelief over what she said was a light punishment.
Marquise Tyree Wisher, 28, pleaded guilty earlier this year to causing the May 4, 2020, death of 32-year-old Rosa Jaco at a motel on the 3800 block of Greenwood Street in the Midway District. On Thursday, Judge Trent Acosta sentenced him to state prison.
Wisher was previously charged with murder in the case. He also pleaded guilty to domestic violence and false imprisonment counts for a separate incident involving a second woman, his wife, which occurred less than two months before Jaco died.
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
Reached by phone on Friday, prosecutor Carolyn Matzger told NBC 7 that the involuntary-manslaughter, spousal-abuse and false-imprisonment felony charges were gathered together in one complaint. Acosta sentenced Wisher to four years in state prison for the involuntary-manslaughter conviction, and added a year to his sentence for his guilty plea on the spousal-abuse count, as well as eight months for false imprisonment.
Wisher was sentenced to 181 days on a fourth count, a misdemeanor charge of soliciting a prostitute. Matzger said he served that sentence first, and then was to be imprisoned for five years and eight months on the combined felony counts, which will run consecutively.
Shortly after 11 p.m. on May 4, 2020, paramedics responding to a call for medical aid at a motel in the 3800 block of Greenwood Street found Jaco unconscious and unresponsive.
Local
At Wisher's arraignment, Matzger said the cause of death was strangulation and alleged that Wisher's DNA was found underneath the victim's fingernails.
On Thursday, the victim's mother, Yolanda Jaco, also stated that she had a family member who received more time for drug offenses than Wisher did for killing someone. She and other family members shared their feelings of loss with the court, as well as their struggles caring for Jaco's four children.
Sign up for our Breaking news newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
Wisher originally faced felony counts of assault and domestic violence for allegedly choking his wife on March 10. Matzger said in June 2020 that his wife had alleged she had been choked by Wisher previously and that there were 10 prior, unreported incidents of domestic violence.
"I never intended to cause the victim any harm, but I know I have to take responsibility for my actions," Wisher said in a statement to the court on Thursday. "I don't blame anyone but myself. I pray that one day, I'll be forgiven for my crime."
