A Houston man pleaded guilty Wednesday to three felonies, including a 2008 murder and selling drugs in the Harris County Jail, and was sentenced to 50 years in prison for each crime, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.
“We’ve got a message for everyone who thinks they’ve gotten away with murder: We don’t forget,” Ogg said. “And for everyone involved with bringing contraband in the jail, we’re watching.”
Longtime repeat offender Joshua Sinclair Owens, 35, pleaded guilty to murder for the strangulation death of 48-year-old Marsha Lynn Mitchell on June 10, 2008. A DNA match through the FBI database, CODIS, led cold-case investigators with the Houston Police Department to Owens. He was charged with murder in 2023. Investigators believe he sexually assaulted Mitchell before strangling her and dumping her body behind a construction site in south Houston.
While in jail awaiting trial, Owens masterminded a scheme to sell drugs to other inmates there. On Wednesday, he also pleaded guilty to engaging in organized criminal activity for his role and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Owens’s scheme gained widespread media attention because he had amassed almost $30,000 in his jail commissary account from selling drugs. The District Attorney’s Office has confiscated that money.
Owens also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault of a family member for assaulting a girlfriend in 2022. He was sentenced in that case to 50 years as well.
Assistant District Attorney Sepi Zimmer, who is a chief in the Major Offenders Division of the DA’s Office, handled the murder case while ADA Kimberly Smith, who is a chief in the DA’s Public Corruption Division, oversaw the prosecution of the jail smuggling case.
“It was important to get justice for his victims and their families, but it also shows defendants that even if you committed a crime 16 years ago, we will still go after you,” Zimmer said. “And it shows families that we never forget their loved ones or their cases. We continue to work to get justice for victims, even if it’s a cold case.”
Smith noted that inmates in the Harris County Jail need to take notice that smuggling contraband and selling drugs behind bars is a serious crime that can result in a lengthy prison sentence.
“This defendant tried to profit from bringing poison into jail,” Smith said. “He committed crimes when he was out free and continued to commit crimes when he was behind bars, and we were able to hold him accountable for his actions.”
Owens cannot appeal any of the three convictions or the punishments. The three prison sentences will run concurrently.
