MESA, AZ — Mark Jacobo keeps memories of his son, Stephen, close to his heart.
He wears a necklace laced with both Stephen’s photo and a silver ring embossed with his son’s fingerprints.
“I’m hanging in there,” he told ABC15 just days after learning the suspect in his son’s death had agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Stephen Jacobo had just turned 18 on November 5, 2022. Hours later, he celebrated his birthday with friends at a Mesa apartment complex near Southern Avenue and Dobson Road. Police reports allege he was shot in the neck during an argument and killed.
The suspected shooter, Joe Jetha Rim, was eventually indicted on second-degree murder. Now 23, Rim faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted. But a plea agreement he recently signed will significantly reduce that time to between 10 and 15 years in prison.
Mark Jacobo had been pushing for a trial. And at Rim’s December sentencing, he said he will ask the judge to give the maximum allowed under the plea deal.
“He needs to do the 15,” Jacobo said.
Rim also signed another plea agreement, in a separate criminal case, agreeing to plead guilty to three counts of exploitation of a minor. He faces up to 15 years in that case as well. Jacobo believes that is also not enough time behind bars.
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“The system is very broken,” he said.
Mark Jacobo has shared his son’s story at city council meetings in the East Valley and through a foundation named after his son.
“My therapy is telling my son's story and helping other families,” he said.
After the sentencing in December, Mark Jacobo said he will focus on urging lawmakers to pass tougher laws for violent crimes. His advocacy is a way to keep his son’s memory alive.
“I have to continue with his legacy and show everybody who my son is. And if my son has to live through me, then that's something that I have to fight every day to do,” he said.
ABC15 reached out to Rim’s attorney but has not yet heard back. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office told ABC15 in a statement that it does not comment on plea agreements.
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.
