A Jacksonville man who admitted to shooting and killing his 69-year-old father in November 2024 has been sentenced to 45 years in state prison, according to court records. Garry Charles Bartlett Jr., 29, pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder with a weapon and received credit for nearly two years already spent in custody. Duval County Circuit Judge Jeb Branham handed down the sentence.
As reported by Shore News Network, the prison term lands near the lower end of a partially negotiated plea agreement that set a 40-year minimum and allowed for a maximum of life in prison. Court filings indicate Bartlett entered his plea in early May, and the judge later imposed the 45-year sentence while granting credit for his pretrial detention.
How investigators say the shooting unfolded
The shooting occurred on Nov. 20, 2024, at the family home on Fawn Lake Drive in the Deer Cove/Deercreek area. Investigators found the elder Bartlett on the living room floor with multiple gunshot wounds and documented a dozen spent 9mm shell casings scattered nearby. Officers recovered a Springfield Armory 9mm handgun from a back bedroom and reported that the weapon had double-fed live rounds in the chamber while two more rounds remained in the magazine. Police say they found Bartlett Jr. waiting in the front yard and later recovered a spent casing and a live round on his person, according to Law&Crime.
What Bartlett told detectives
According to Shore News Network, Bartlett told detectives he had been sexually assaulted by his father as a child and said a comment the night before the shooting left him "stewing" for hours. The arrest report states that he initially fired several rounds at his father and later shot him again when the victim was still breathing. Investigators say Bartlett then went back to the bedroom, placed the firearm on the bed and waited several hours before calling 911. Police told investigators that the alleged abuse had not been previously documented.
Court, plea and sentence
Duval County court records show Bartlett pleaded guilty in early May to one count of second-degree murder with a weapon as part of a partially negotiated deal that required at least 40 years in prison. At sentencing, Judge Jeb Branham imposed a 45-year term and gave Bartlett credit for nearly two years of pretrial detention, according to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime.
Neighbors and official response
Neighbors in the Deercreek area told local broadcasters the family largely kept to themselves and expressed shock at the killing, with one resident calling them "nice people." The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said it was called to the 7000 block of Fawn Lake Drive South and that detectives and the crime-scene unit took the lead on the investigation, as first reported by News4JAX.
The case lays bare the kind of private violence that can erupt inside family homes and leaves unresolved the allegations Bartlett raised about his past. For now, he is set to serve the 45-year term unless his plea or sentence is later challenged in court.
