In the video player: Previous team coverage
TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The man connected to the deadly shooting of Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Michael Garbo in October of 2021 now faces 10 years in prison.
United States District Judge Rosemary Márquez sentenced Devonte Okeith Mathis, 24, as part of his plea agreement Thursday. Mathis received a 10-year sentence for his involvement, the maximum amount of time allowed under the plea deal. Mathis will also face 60 months of supervised probation following his prison sentence.
“Today we honor resilience,” said United States Attorney Gary Restaino. “We commemorate the strength of a fallen hero’s family; the courage and recovery of a TPD officer and a DEA agent injured in the line of duty...Most of all, we honor DEA Group Supervisor Michael G. Garbo for being an agent who made everyone around him better.”
In October of 2021 Garbo was working a drug enforcement operation on an Amtrak train in downtown Tucson when he was shot multiple times by an acquaintance of Mathis, alleged co-conspirator Darrion Taylor.
Mathis pled guilty to charges for: Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Marijuana, Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to a Drug Trafficking Crime, and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime.
His 10-year prison sentence reflects the maximum time allowed under his plea agreement. Mathis will serve 60 months on Count 2, consecutive to 60 months on Count 1.
“That day is seared in our collective memory as an agency and as a law enforcement community,” said Tucson Chief of Police Chad Kasmar. “We will never forget our fallen colleague, DEA Group Supervisor Mike Garbo, and we are thankful that more lives were not lost that day - due to the heroic actions of many of our TPD members.
Mathis's attorney Stephanie J. Meade asked the court to consider a sentence that reflects Mathis's character and cooperation with the police on the day of the shooting, noting in their motion for sentencing that Mathis "was described by officers as being unarmed and compliant with their commands" during the initial search that led to the shooting.
In the defendant's motion for sentencing, Meade wrote:
"This is case is one of heart wrenching tragedy. Law enforcement officers, who were just doing their jobs, were killed and/ or seriously injured, because a man named Darrion Taylor decided to inflict death and destruction upon them rather than face the consequences of his own actions. Darrion Taylor’s violent choices also cost him his own life.
Darrion Taylor’s awful choices also drastically affected Devonte Mathis, who was left holding the bag for the violence in this tragedy. But for Darrion Taylor’s actions, Devonte Mathis most likely would have only been facing a relatively short sentence for Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Marijuana.
Instead, he is facing up to ten years in prison for not making other decisions in relation to Darrion Taylor’s choice to carry guns and use his guns to harm others in the course of committing the marijuana crime....
...To be sure, the fact that Mr. Mathis would not involve himself with guns did not absolve him from responsibility for the 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A) count. He now understands that reality and has accepted responsibility for that role by pleading guilty to Count 2.
Although he is being legally held accountable for that offense, Mr. Mathis would like the Court, and the victims, to know that he did not intend any of the harm that resulted. In fact, in his mind, he took steps to distance himself from involvement with Mr. Taylor’s guns. Nevertheless, his beliefs were misplaced, and he is paying a high price as a result."
Meade also wrote that Mathis asked for his sentence to be carried out at a facility in Oklahoma, near his family. The facility has a residential drug abuse program, to which Mathis is requesting the court recommend him.
According to the court documentation, Mathis was diagnosed with conduct disorder and disruptive impulse control as a minor, but says never received counseling nor treatment. Mathis says in the documents that he did not receive disclosure at the time of these diagnoses.
Garbo was a 16-year veteran of the DEA. Taylor was also killed during the 2021 Amtrak station shooting.
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
