Jury selection was slated to begin in Hillsborough County Monday in the trial of Alicia Andrews.
In HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla — The trial for one of the five individuals charged with the murder of Jacksonville rapper Charles Jones, who performed under the name Foolio, has been postponed until October.
Jury selection was initially set to start on Monday for Alicia Andrews’ trial in Hillsborough County. However, due to the lead prosecutor’s “medical emergency,” the state submitted a motion for a continuance.
The trial has been rescheduled for Monday, Oct. 20, with jury selection.
Andrews is accused of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in Jones’s death.
Jones was fatally shot in an ambush at a Tampa Holiday Inn in June 2024. He was a significant figure in the Jacksonville gang known as 6Block. Several defendants are alleged members or “associates” of opposing gangs frequently connected to each other, ATK and 1200.
State attorneys have called the ambush a premeditated murder stemming from an “ongoing gang war.”
Andrews is the only accused individual who has not been identified by the state as a gang member, so she does not face the risk of additional penalties related to gang activity.
According to the Tampa Police Department, Andrews aided Isaiah Chance Jr. by tracking and following Jones along with his group to two different places on the night of the shooting. The police documents and previous reports did not indicate that she discharged any firearms.
Chance and Andrews are accused of participating in the surveillance and pursuit of Jones, while the three other suspects are charged with the actual shooting.
Andrews was arrested in Jacksonville along with Chance when police served a search warrant at a residence on Captiva Bluff Road North.
Andrews’ attorneys had planned to argue that she was suffering from domestic abuse at the hands of Chance. However, a judge ruled that Andrews’ attorneys cannot introduce this evidence; in capital murder cases in Florida, defendants cannot argue they committed the crime under duress.
A judge had also previously ruled that the state may introduce evidence related to past gang murders to make its case against the Foolio suspects.
