A San Joaquin County couple was sentenced Monday in the stabbing and shooting death of Justin Peoples at a Tracy gas station in 2022.
Christina Lyn Garner, 45, was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. Probation was denied because she personally used a firearm during the crime, Judge Charlotte Orcutt said. Garner’s co-defendant and boyfriend, Jeremy Wayne Jones, 53, was sentenced to 27 years to life in state prison. The judge also found him unsuitable for probation.
The last defendant in the case, Christopher Dimenco, who is charged in a separate case with being an accessory after the fact, entered a guilty plea Monday morning. Dimenco assisted the defendants – Garner is his niece – in fleeing and knew about the murder, Orcutt said.
The court accepted his guilty plea, which was a felony. He will not serve additional time and will be on formal probation for two years.
Tracy Police Department Chief Sekou Millington was present in the front row during the sentencing hearing. He shook hands with Peoples’ father as he entered the courtroom.
Gas station altercation turns deadly
Peoples was killed March 15, 2022, while at a Chevron gas station in Tracy. Prosecutors said he had entered the gas station to get change for his laundry.
In surveillance footage shown during the trial, Peoples and Garner were seen briefly brushing past each other at the store’s front door. Neither stopped to talk.
Garner testified during the trial that the interaction between them was “no big deal.” After she returned to her truck, she told Jones about the encounter.
Garner said Jones entered the store to demand an apology from Peoples.
Jones was seen in surveillance video getting out of the truck and walking into the gas station. He approached Peoples at the counter, spoke briefly, and shortly afterward, a physical altercation ensued.
At one point, Garner, who was not allowed to carry a firearm due to a prior conviction, reentered the store with a gun in her waistband.
She shot Peoples in the head.
Garner and Jones then fled the store, leaving Peoples on the ground at the gas station.
He was taken to a hospital where he later died from his injuries.
Michael Hunter, the county’s chief medical examiner, testified that Peoples had 18 sharp-force knife injuries from the fight.
Judge labels shooting ‘execution-style killing’
Garner received 25 years to life on count one of first-degree murder and an additional 25 years to life for personally and intentionally discharging a firearm that caused death.
Orcutt said that although she had the authority to strike the enhancement or impose a lesser one, she declined to exercise that discretion based on the manner of the killing.
“In this case, we had the opportunity to see the murder in real time and we all watched the video of the gas station,” Orcutt said. “This was what the court would deem an execution-style killing.”
Orcutt said that from surveillance videos of the Tracy Chevron gas station shown throughout trial, the court saw defendant Garner pointing the gun at Peoples’ head.
She said viewers could see a conversation occur between the two co-defendants. Then Garner stepped back, slid the slide on the gun, the co-defendant pulled down Peoples’ head, and Garner approached him as the co-defendant held him by the hair. She racked the gun and shot him in the head.
“This action shows that she is a danger to society,” Orcutt said. “I do find she was a danger to society because she was a convicted felon. She was not supposed to have a gun, and yet she chose to violate the court’s orders and carry that gun, which led to the death of Justin.”
Jones received 25 years to life in state prison for count one of first-degree murder, one year for personally using a deadly weapon – a knife – and another year for being armed.
The judge said she would not use her discretion on Jones for the enhancements because of the number of times he stabbed Peoples.
When Orcutt addressed Jones regarding his sentencing, she said she took into consideration his age at the time of the offense – 50.
He had been out on parole for only about two months before the death of Peoples.
Orcutt told Jones the encounter was merely a brush of the shoulders with his girlfriend, Garner.
“Your action was just over the top and uncalled for under any circumstance, and does not comply with any societal norms,” she said.
Orcutt said although Jones said he returned back into the gas station to seek an apology from Peoples, it was just an excuse for him to violently attack the victim.
“You went in there angry and aggressive. We all saw that on the video tape,” Orcutt said. “We can see when Justin turned his back on you, he was choosing to deescalate and ignore your outbursts, but you violently attacked him with a knife … and you stabbed him multiple times.”
She added, “You caused this situation. Justin was just in there to get some change. How does he end up dead?” Orcutt said. “There’s no excuse, no explanation, and your conduct was completely outrageous and unreasonable.”
Family speaks after sentencing
Prior to the defendants’ sentences, many family members and loved ones delivered victim impact statements.
Some pleaded with the judge to impose the maximum sentence for those responsible for Peoples’ killing.
Following the hearing, Maurice Peoples, Justin Peoples’ father, said he felt a little relief being able to address all three defendants.
“It don’t quite relieve you totally,” Maurice said. “You still have that feeling of pain deep down inside your heart, a void that probably a lot of people don’t know about unless they’ve lost a child.”
Peoples’ mother, Gineene Everson, said it felt really good to finally, after three years, express all of the pain the family has been through.
“Today I am at peace with what the decision was, and I’m really happy that we don’t have to go through the holidays, another holiday, not knowing,” Everson said. “Now we know, and it’s not over. It won’t bring Justin back, but he can rest in peace, and we can have a level of comfort in knowing that they’re going to be gone for a very long time.”
She said Peoples was her baby and thanked everyone involved in helping the family seek justice.
Record reporter Victoria Franco covers public safety in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at vfranco@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: ‘He can rest in peace.’ Defendants sentenced for stabbing, shooting Justin Peoples in 2022
Reporting by Victoria Franco, The Stockton Record / The Record
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