A Sacramento County jury has convicted 33-year-old Joshua Zell Brisbane of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Jason Simmons, who was found executed inside a Citrus Heights apartment with a single gunshot to the forehead. The jury also found true an allegation that Brisbane used a firearm in the killing, exposing him to a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in prison.
The conviction came Thursday and was announced Friday, closing out a case built on cellphone records, surveillance footage, a bullet fragment and DNA evidence, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office. Simmons had been living in a rear room of the apartment, where Brisbane's estranged wife also lived and where Brisbane himself no longer resided, according to the Sacramento Bee.
A Warning Text, Then a Fatal Shot
Prosecutors say Brisbane returned to the apartment the day before the shooting, and that his presence there prompted Simmons to text a girlfriend expressing concern for his safety, since Brisbane did not know Simmons was living in the back room. The District Attorney's Office has said Brisbane was unaware Simmons lived there at all. The next day, prosecutors say, Simmons was shot once in the forehead inside his bedroom in what the office described as an execution.
The Sacramento Bee's report on the conviction places the killing in July 2023, while an earlier Sacramento Bee account of the investigation said officers found Simmons, then 33, shot in the head inside his apartment on March 20, 2023. The dossier evidence provided does not reconcile that discrepancy between the two dates.
Physical Evidence Tied Brisbane to the Scene
Cellphone records and video surveillance placed Brisbane at the apartment during the time of the murder, prosecutors said. Investigators also recovered a bullet projectile near Simmons that was determined to have been fired from a handgun found in Brisbane's vehicle, and they say Brisbane's DNA turned up on that same firearm, with gunshot residue found on his hands.
Those details build on the earlier phase of the investigation. CBS News Sacramento reported that officers first responded to a report of a deceased adult male inside an apartment building on the 7800 block of Sayonara Drive. A separate Sacramento Bee report from that period said Brisbane was later arrested in Roseville with help from the Roseville Police Department SWAT team and Sacramento County Probation officers.
Sentencing Set for Late January
Brisbane is scheduled to be sentenced on January 28, 2027, at 1:30 p.m. in Department 12D before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Kenneth Brody. He faces up to 50 years to life in state prison. Court records cited by the Sacramento Bee indicate Brisbane has remained in custody at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove.
