A pharmacist who shot and killed his female roommate\u2019s boyfriend at the door of his Ocean Beach condominium was sentenced Thursday to 16 years in state prison.
\nThomas Francis Burke IV, 33, was sentenced for killing Jess Matthew Robles, 34, of Pacific Beach, on June 22, 2016, outside his door at 4177 Voltaire St.
\nEvery seat was filled with friends and family of both men during the three-hour sentencing. San Diego Superior Court Judge Melinda Lasater set a restitution hearing for July 10 to see if he should pay for funeral expenses.
\nSince the jury convicted Burke of voluntary manslaughter on April 13, he could have been sentenced to a maximum 21-year term. The jury acquitted Burke of first and second-degree murder.
\nLasater ordered a six-year term for manslaughter plus a 10-year term for using a gun in a homicide. She rejected defense requests for probation and or at most a six-year term.
\nBurke will have to serve 85 percent of the 16-year term, or an actual time of 12.75 years, said his attorney, Gary Gibson, who noted that Burke received credits for 371 days in jail awaiting trial and sentencing.
\nBurke, who went by the nickname T.J., was dressed in blue jail clothing and was handcuffed as Lasater heard from nine witnesses who were friends and family of Robles and two of Burke\u2019s co-workers, his mother, and stepfather.
\nDeputy District Attorney Kyle Sutterley said Burke lied during the trial when he said he shot Robles in self-defense. He described Burke as having a “Dr. Jekyl side of his life.”
\nSutterley said the two bullet casings were found outside the door, and not inside the condo. Robles\u2019 family assailed the jury\u2019s verdict, saying he should have been convicted of either first or second-degree murder which would have likely produced a life sentence in prison.
\n“I\u2019m sick with grief. I\u2019ve lost my joy,” said the victim\u2019s father, Michael Robles, 62. “The court case is all I talk about.
\n“He could have called the police. T.J. knew what he was doing,” said Michael Robles. “He used unnecessary force \u2026 He\u2019s changed everything forever.”
\n“Jess was a light wherever he went, and you extinguished it,” said the victim\u2019s sister, Michelle Scalzi, to Burke. “He decided Jess should die just for sending a text message.”
\nBurke sent unflattering text messages about Robles to his girlfriend, Larae Clark, while she and Robles were eating dinner at the OB Noodle House. He referred to Robles as “a douche bag” and Robles read the message on Clark\u2019s phone, according to trial testimony.
\nLasater read Robles\u2019 text message to the audience Thursday which said in part “let\u2019s meet up bro” in which he used a vulgar word. Burke\u2019s lawyer said Burke took that as a threat and that is why he came to the door with a gun.
\n“It is not right in sending a threatening text,” said Lasater. “Sadly, alcohol played a huge part in this.”
\nRobles\u2019 had a blood-alcohol level at death of .15 while Burke drank two beers beforehand. Robles and Clark took a Lyft ride to the condo, where Clark was going to pack some things to move out.
\nBurke told Clark to move out, but the judge noted he should have presented an eviction notice to her. Clark noticed a bullet on the floor at the door and threw it in the trash as she came home, which was something “she didn\u2019t recognize the significance of,” said Lasater.
\nLasater said anyone, including the Lyft driver, could have been shot at the door after knocking, considering the mood of Burke.
\n“Jess didn\u2019t deserve to die like that. You cheated me, T.J. and I\u2019m ashamed to ever call (myself) your friend,” said Clark, who told her former roommate he had turned into “a monster.”
\nRobles was shot in the chest and in the throat and died outside the condo door. No words were exchanged.
\nTwo of Burke\u2019s co-workers at a San Diego hospital pharmacy praised his work history, including Nancy Lee who said Burke was “always calm.”
\nLasater asked both pharmacists if they were aware Burke was taking Prozac for depression. They said they did not know that.
\n“What happened was totally out of T.J.\u2019s character. He had to be terrified,” said Burke\u2019s mother, Mia Campos. “I love my son and hope this court will show mercy.”
\nGibson said Burke was in fear because of the text message from Robles and he changed his garage door opener code just minutes before Robles knocked on the door. Burke was on the phone three minutes before the shooting, said Gibson.
\nThe last person to speak was Burke, who said this: “If I could erase the pain, I would. I\u2019m sorry. That one second doesn\u2019t define me.”
\nLasater noted Burke had no prior record. He was fined $5,024.
\nRobles\u2019 friend, Scotty Couloun, told the judge Robles moved to Pacific Beach in 2008 and loved surfing up to 3-4 hours at a time. Edith Robles, his mother, said “Jess found tranquility in the ocean.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A pharmacist who shot and killed his female roommate\u2019s boyfriend at the door of his Ocean Beach condominium was sentenced Thursday to 16 years in state prison. Thomas Francis Burke IV, 33, was sentenced for killing Jess Matthew Robles, 34, of Pacific Beach, on June 22, 2016, outside his door at 4177 Voltaire St. Every […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":268601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Burke receives 16 year sentence for manslaughter","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}