A judge in St. Tammany Parish today sentenced a man for the killing of his wife and her boyfriend.
"Jason Matthew Magee, 39, of Pearl River, was sentenced Monday (April 8) to spend the rest of his life in prison for shooting his estranged wife and her boyfriend to death," Spokeswoman Lisa Frazier Page said in a news release from District Attorney Warren Montgomery's office.
Judge August Hand sentenced Magee to two consecutive life sentences.
"A St. Tammany Parish jury unanimously found Magee guilty of two counts of first degree murder."
It comes after a weeklong trial in February where prosecutors told the jury that Magee became enraged after one of his children asked on the phone to speak to the mother's boyfriend.
The release explains, "Magee and his former wife, Jennifer Wallace Magee, a 32-year-old nurse, had been separated for more than a year and were going through a divorce when the crime occurred on June 19, 2017. Jason Magee had spent that afternoon out with their two children, ages 6 and 8, and they were saying goodnight to their mother over the telephone in Magee’s truck when one of them asked to speak to her boyfriend. Magee grew enraged, drove the children to his parents’ home in Pearl River, and then drove a short distance away to Jennifer’s home. Magee kicked his way into the home and, as prosecutors described, executed both victims with 'military precision' in one minute and 34 seconds."
The male victim was Donald R. Gros, a 34-year-old EKG technician.
Police learned of the double murder after Magee called his stepfather and allegedly confessed over the phone.
"With assistance from the U.S. Marshals Task Force and the Pearl River Police Department, he was later arrested after emerging from the woods."
The D.A.'s office says that jurors did not believe Magee's claim that the murders were in self-defense after Gros pulled out a gun.
In an unusual twist, Jason Magee’s brother was convicted of a similar crime several years earlier.
"James C. Magee, is currently on death row for killing his estranged wife and young son back in 2007."
