A Tucson man convicted in a deadly road-rage shooting last year in Tucson will spend no time behind bars.
Jason Jameson claimed self-defense in the fatal shooting of 47-year-old Jeffrey Honer. He was initially charged with second-degree murder, but it was later reduced to manslaughter.
“We were very dismayed and upset,” Jeremiah Honer said of the sentencing in the criminal case for his brother’s killing.
“Given the actions Mr. Jameson has made, making false claims of self-defense and making accusations that are different from what the evidence would indicate, it’s very upsetting for us,” he said.
Jameson was initially arrested on suspicion of murder after a heated argument in traffic on Tucson’s far northeast side resulted in Honer being shot and killed.
Fellow sibling Kenneth Honer, who was also at the hearing, said it was emotionally draining to have to sit through the five-hour court proceeding and have Jameson’s sentence reduced at the end of it.
“It’s the biggest fear at the moment,” Kenneth Honer said. “I wake up afraid that he will escape justice. Literally every morning I wake up to that.”
Now, his family said after sentencing, that appears to have happened as Jameson has been released from custody and into the supervision of probation officers.
The Pima County Attorney’s office said in a statement that it was the judge’s decision to move forward with the lesser charge against Jameson.
Jameson, a Navy veteran, is accused of firing a shot into Horner’s back as Horner was walking away following an altercation.
Honer, a doctor who was on his way to administer treatment in a patient’s home, died at the scene despite life-saving efforts by Jameson and the two nurses he was traveling with.
“Jameson shot my husband in the back as he was walking away from him (and) evidence clearly suggests that he was far away from him,” Alyssa Honer said about her husband’s encounter after a previous hearing. “He’s angry enough to kill a person at 11 o’clock in the morning. It is scary to think that Mr. Jameson is out there thinking that he did nothing wrong, that he had no other choice.
In addition to four years of probation, Jameson must complete 200 hours of community service.
