NORMAN, Okla. – Two brothers charged in a double homicide case were sentenced Wednesday morning more than year after two men were shot and killed in a Moore parking lot.
In April 2018, the bodies of 21-year-old Jarron Moreland and 21-year-old Alize Smith were found dismembered in a pond near 51st and Sooner Road. Investigators said Moreland and Smith were shot and killed in a Crest parking lot in Moore during a firearm sale days prior.
Since then, four suspects have been charged in connection including now 17-year-old Brett Boettler and 23-year-old Kevin Garcia-Boettler. At a court hearing Wednesday, both brothers entered a plea of guilty and were sentenced by District Judge Michael Tubber who called the crimes “senseless.”
Under the plea deal recommended by the state, Garcia-Boettler will serve 25 years as an accessory after the fact. This will be served concurrent with the charge of unlawful removal of a dead body, along with an apparent probation violation.
In court, Brett Boettler withdrew his initial plea of not guilty and entered a plea of guilty. There were seven charges against him, including first degree murder and the desecration of a corpse.
Prison time for all the charges will be served concurrently.
“He received a life sentence with the first 30 years to serve in the department of corrections with the remaining 15 years on probation,” said First Assistant District Attorney Travis White. “I would also make the point that this is a 85 percent crime, which means Mr. Boettler would be required to serve an excess or at least 85 percent of the sentence that he’s received.”
Visibly upset after the hearing, several members of Moreland’s and White’s families told News 4 they felt the sentences were too lenient.
“Justice wasn’t served for what they did. I mean, we weren’t able to give a proper burial for Jarron,’ said his cousin Johnetra Moreland.
Smith’s aunt echoed a similar sentiment.
“There’s not enough time those two individuals could have received that could even give our family justice,” said Sheneka Henderson. “But the time they did receive was just not enough time. They don’t deserve to see the world. They don’t deserve to get out. They don’t deserve to do anything based off of two murders. They dismembered Alize and Jarron.”
According to White, his office met with family members several times.
“We talked about some of the challenges we had, some of the issues each case may have but more importantly, we talked about the pain they were going through. The tragedy, quite frankly, that it was,” he said. “In those conversations, we were able to come to an agreement as far as what we thought was appropriate. Obviously, we want as much time as we can get. We wanted more time but through those meetings with those representatives of the victims’ families, we were able to arrive at a number that we felt was appropriate for the resolution of this case.”
Kennetha Moreland told News 4, she didn’t think the sentences handed down Wednesday would ever truly deliver justice to their families. However, she agreed to the punishments because she was trying to find closure as best she could.
“I’m just so glad I don’t ever have to come back to this place [court], because every time I come back to this place, it reopens the wound. When I think it’s halfway healed, it goes pouring back into it,” she said.
She and Moreland’s father, Jerry Anderson, say among the hardest parts of the grieving process was having to explain it to Moreland’s seven-year-old son.
“As far as justice being done, I don’t agree justice was done but at the same time something was done,” Anderson said. “I can only be satisfied and pray for my family, Jarron, Jarron’s son, and do my best to be in his life and make sure he is raised with a bunch of love. I won’t teach him hate.”
After the hearing Wednesday, Kevin Garcia-Boettler’s attorney Bill Smith told News 4 he felt the sentencing was fair but refused to comment beyond that. A request for a comment from Brett Boettler’s attorney Kevin Finlay was not returned.
The Boettlers’ mother Crystal Boettler and her boyfriend Johnny Shane Barker have also been charged in connection to this case. Their cases are pending in Oklahoma County.
