Fort Myers Man Sentenced To 45 Years’ Imprisonment In Murder-For-Hire Scheme

Fort Myers, Florida - United States District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell today sentenced Marvin Harris, Jr., aka "Mesh," (25, Fort Myers) to 45 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire. Harris, Jr.'s co-defendant, Latrel Jackson, aka "Kobe," (26, Chicago, Illinois), is scheduled to be sentenced on June 24, 2024, and faces a mandatory term of life imprisonment.

According to court documents, in November 2019, Harris, Jr. hired two individuals, Latrel Jackson and unindicted co-conspirator D.S. (deceased), to travel from the Chicago-area to Fort Myers to commit murder in exchange for $10,000. Harris, Jr.'s motive was to retaliate against individuals he believed had robbed a Fort Myers residence from which he and others associated with him sold drugs. The individuals Harris, Jr. suspected of committing the robbery belonged to a Fort Myers gang known to law enforcement as "Bucktown."

With the agreement to retaliate against Bucktown in place, Jackson and D.S. traveled to Fort Myers from Chicago aboard a commercial airline on October 28, 2019. Upon their arrival, Harris, Jr. picked Jackson and D.S. up from the Southwest Florida International Airport and provided them with partial payment for the planned murder, as well as firearms to accomplish their task. Initially, Jackson and D.S. stayed at Harris, Jr.'s "trap house" (a residence used primarily to distribute drugs from) in Fort Myers but later moved to a local motel on Palm Beach Boulevard. During that time, Jackson, D.S., and others attempted to find members of Bucktown to murder in the retaliatory scheme.

On November 2, 2019, Harris, Jr. obtained a vehicle for Jackson and D.S. to use during the commission of a murder. Jackson and D.S. proceeded to a known Bucktown hangout in Fort Myers and observed the victim, K.U., standing in front of the residence near the curb of the street. Jackson and D.S. quickly circled the block and, at close range, opened fire on K.U., killing him in front of the residence via a gunshot wound of the head.

After the shooting, Harris, Jr. paid Jackson and D.S. the remaining sum of money owed for completing the murder-for-hire scheme. Jackson and D.S. were also left in possession of the firearms used to commit the murder. Jackson and D.S. then returned to the Chicago area via commercial bus on November 3, 2019.

During a search of Jackson's Chicago-area home on November 21, 2019, law enforcement recovered two firearms from an attic space in Jackson's room. Expert testing and examination of the firearms by ATF confirmed that both matched shell casings recovered from the murder scene and the murder vehicle, and that one of the firearms had fired the bullet which had been recovered from K.U.'s head during his autopsy.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fort Myers Police Department, with the assistance of the Joliet (Illinois) Police Department, the Lee County Sheriff's Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael V. Leeman.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.