Bristol Twp. Man Sentenced To Life Behind Bars For 2021 Homicide

A Bristol Township man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for a 2021 homicide.

David Joseph Jenner, 40, of Bristol Township, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2021 homicide of his cousin, Charlie Thomas Jr., 43, also of Bristol Township. Additionally, Jenner received a concurrent sentence of 20 to 40 years for assaulting the victim’s mother.

The sentencing was handed down on Wednesday by Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Finley at the Justice Center in Doylestown Borough.

“Prior to being sentenced, Jenner had several outbursts in the courtroom,” the district attorney’s office said.

Jenner was found guilty in August of first-degree murder, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, and possession of an instrument of crime by Finley for the death of his cousin.

“The Defendant, after committing this horrific killing and leaving a mother without her son, compounded his crimes by creating a completely false narrative when he testified at trial,” said Deputy District Attorney Marc Furber said. Furber, who prosecuted the case alongside Deputy District Attorney Sarah Heimbach. “Even at sentencing, he continues to try to sully the reputation of the man he killed in cold blood. But the evidence was clear. The Defendant was solely responsible for this killing and his attempts to place the blame elsewhere have failed.”

During his trial, Jenner had testified in his defense.

The prosecution presented evidence that included the murder weapon, crime scene photographs, and body camera footage from Bristol Township officers who arrived at the scene on December 19, 2021, at 605 Veterans Highway (Route 413).

In the footage, Jenner can be heard admitting, “I stabbed him. The evidence is right there.”

Witness testimony and cellphone footage also presented Jenner holding a knife and arguing before the fatal stabbing took place.

Although Jenner’s defense argued the killing was in self-defense or a staged suicide, forensic pathologist Zhongxue Hua detailed that Thomas sustained eight stab wounds, with one fatally puncturing his lung.

Months prior to the tragic event, Thomas and his mother had generously given Jenner, their distant cousin, a place to stay. This act of goodwill led to Thomas’s untimely death and his mother being injured as she tried shielding her son during Jenner’s attack.

Jenner’s arrest took place at gunpoint on the night of the stabbing, following a 9-1-1 call about the incident.

Jenner’s criminal history, starting from the age of 18, encompasses a range of offenses from drug-related charges to deliberately flooding a police holding cell.

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