Florida Man Convicted of Manslaughter in Parking Lot Dispute Gets 20-Year Sentence
A Florida man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after he shot and killed a man in a parking lot in 2018.
On Thursday, Michael Drejka, who was found guilty in August of shooting and killing 28-year-old Markeis McGlockton in July of last year, learned his fate: two decades behind bars. The maximum sentence was 30 years.
The shooting took place outside of the Clearwater Circle A Food Store in Clearwater, Florida after Drejka and McGlockton’s girlfriend, Britany Jacobs, got into an argument about Jacobs’ parking in a handicapped spot, CNN reported.
McGlockton was in the store with his then-five-year-old son — their other children had stayed in the car with Jacobs — but when he came outside to see Drejka arguing with Jacobs, McGlockton shoved Drejka.
Drejka then pulled out a gun and shot McGlockton, who was unarmed and, according to security footage, reportedly turned away from Drejka when he was shot. Drejka had a concealed weapons license.
According to NBC News, Drejka was described in court as a “wannabe law enforcement officer” who routinely patrolled this specific parking spot and eventually began bringing a gun with him to watch the space, even after the store’s owner asked him to stop.
“The jury found that the defendant did not act reasonably or responsibly,” Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone said at the sentencing, per NBC News. Bulone added that when Drejka approached Jacobs about parking illegally, he, too, was parked illegally, calling it the “most ironic thing about this case.”
Drejka’s lawyer, John Trevena, tells PEOPLE that he is planning a “vigorous appeal,” but that the process could take up to two years.
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Trevena says that Drejka’s legal team does “not believe our client committed any crime” and called the 20-year sentence “absurdly excessive.”
McGlockton’s family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, but told reporters after the sentencing that the case “showed that equal justice under the law is possible in America for black and brown people, too,” CNN reported.
McGlockton’s family addressed Drejka in court on Thursday, and both his parents, Monica Moore-Robinson and Michael McGlockton, and his girlfriend Jacobs, gave emotional statements about their lost loved one.
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In video obtained by NBC News, Moore-Robinson said that her “world will never be whole again.”
“I don’t hate you, but I will never forgive you,” she told her son’s killer.
Jacobs said that their four children ask her questions about their dad and said she will “try to answer as best as I can, but I know I won’t have all the answers either.”
“How could one man’s anger about a parking spot turn into the man I love dying, and his four children being left without their dad?” she asked.
McGlockton’s father told Drejka, “You show absolutely no remorse. None.”
“You deserve to die in prison,” he said. “In the Bible, it says in order to get into heaven, we must forgive those who trespass against us. At this point in my life, I am not there yet. And if it just so happened that the Lord chooses to take me before I come to terms with this, then I will see you in Hell, where you and I will finish this. Mark my words.”
After the sentencing, Jacobs told reporters that justice had been served.
“Now I can go home and tell my children that the killer didn’t get away with murder of their daddy,” she said, according to CNN. “I know Markeis is up there in heaven smiling, because we did get justice for him.”