A Springfield, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, which resulted in the murder of a Mexican national, Oscar Adan Martinez-Gaxiola.
Anthony Edward Donovan, 20, of Springfield, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to the charges contained in a July 20, 2016, federal indictment.
By pleading guilty today, Donovan admitted that he participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Greene County, Dallas County, Webster County and Christian County, Mo., which ran from April 28, 2015, to April 26, 2016.
Donovan is the fourth defendant to plead guilty in this case. Brooke Danielle Beckley, 20, and Jourdan Ashley McGinnis, 28, both of Nixa, Mo., and Nathaniel Austin Lee, 19, of Seymour, Mo., have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy.
McGinnis admitted that, on April 8, 2016, he and Beckley possessed at least 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in a hotel room, which they intended to distribute to another person.
In addition to the drug-trafficking conspiracy, Donovan, Beckley and Lee each pleaded guilty to using a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, resulting in murder. They admitted that the murder of Martinez-Gaxiola on April 25, 2016, in Webster County was willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated. Aiding and abetting each other, the conspirators used several handguns to ambush Martinez-Gaxiola in rural Webster County as he was attempting to collect a drug debt owed by Beckley.
Under federal statutes, Donovan, Beckley, Lee and McGinnis are each subject to sentences of up to life in federal prison without parole for these crimes. The maximum statutory sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Garrison. It was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Christian County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Lawrence County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Webster County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Seymour, Mo., Police Department, the Rogersville, Mo., Police Department, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department and the Combined Ozarks Multijurisdictional Enforcement Team (COMET).
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