On January 13, 2013, he called 911 and said that the mother of his young child wasn't answering her door, but he could hear the 9-month-old girl inside.
On Friday, a judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole after he was convicted of killing the woman.
After a two-week trial, a jury deliberated for about 45 minutes before finding Joshua Maurice Gibson guilty in the murder of 23-year-old Danielle Marshall.
Marshall was found crumpled in the fetal position on the kitchen floor in a pool of her own blood, prosecutors said.
“This gruesome murder involved a level of premeditation that I’ve rarely seen before in all my years as a prosecutor,” said Chief ADA Jesse Evans, who prosecuted the case.
The case had grown cold despite Powder Springs police detectives identifying Marshall as the prime suspect right after the killing.
The Cold Case Unite in the Cobb County District Attorney's Office took a look at the case and the history of domestic violence reports between Gibson and Marshall.
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About two weeks before Marshall's death, Gibson had told police that someone shot at his car as he was driving to his parents house. He insisted that Marshall had something to do with it. A bullet retrieved from that car was matched through ballistics testing as coming from the same weapon used to kill Marshall, the district attorney's office said.
Nick O'Conor of the district attorney's office began comparing phone records and found that Gibson had dialed a phone number on both the night he said his vehicle was shot at and the night Marshall was killed. The person Gibson talked to on the phone told investigators that Gibson had gone to Marshall's house the night of her death before leaving and then returning later that night.
Gibson was taken into custody in September 2015.
“It is a relief to me that it appears solved,” then-Powder Springs Police Chief John Robison said shortly after the arrest. “Nothing will ever bring back that child’s mother, but we look forward to justice being served.”
Prosecutors said that Gibson created drama through the trial. At one point as the state's final witness was testifying, Gibson said he wanted to plead guilty. As the judge discussed the required questions with Gibson in court, Gibson backhanded one of his attorneys, he said. The trial resumed, but Gibson was removed from the courtroom after allegedly shouting over a witness.
Gibson was convicted of malice murder; felony murder; aggravated assault, including pistol-whipping the victim before shooting her; false report of a crime and false statements; cruelty to child; perjury and solicitation to commit murder of the key witness in the case.
Shortly after the verdict , Judge Ingram sentenced Gibson to life in prison without parole, plus five years to serve.
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