MARIETTA, Ga. -- A 37-year-old Thomaston man was convicted on Friday in the May 2017 shooting death of a 39-year-old Smyrna father after a week-long trial.
A Cobb County jury deliberated for 31 minutes before rendering their guilty verdict on all charges against Joseph Priester, Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds said.
Priester had been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Priester had been previously convicted of aggravated assault in 2013 in Upson County.
► RELATED | Police: Man fatally shot at gas pump
At about 11 p.m. on May 15, 2017, the victim, Genaro Rojas-Martinez, pulled up to the gas pump at a Texaco station on South Cobb Drive and went inside to pay for his gas. While he was inside, Priester pulled up on the opposite side of the pump. When Rojas-Martinez came back to his car, Priester walked up behind him and shot him in the back of the head before getting into his car and driving off.
Rojas-Martinez was survived by his wife and three daughters.
Smyrna Police distributed surveillance photos of the car Priester was driving. Investigators learned that Priester was a convicted felon who was already wanted on a parole violation.
US Marshals tracked him to New Jersey, where he was arrested days later.
PHOTOS: Smyrna gas station shooting
Investigators found that while the two did not know each other, Priester had followed Rojas-Martinez to the gas station from the restaurant where he worked.
“This was a cold-blooded execution committed after Priester waited for the victim for hours at his place of business prior to following him to the gas station,” said ADA Jennifer Stevenson.
After the jury rendered its verdict, Judge Henry Thompson sentenced Priester to life in prison without parole plus five years to serve.
