Murder At Smyrna Gas Station Results In Life Without Parole

MARIETTA, GA -- A Thomaston, Ga., man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of a gas-station customer. After a week-long trial, a Cobb jury deliberated just 31 minutes Friday afternoon before finding Joseph Priester, 37, guilty of all charges in the May 2017 murder of Genaro Rojas-Martinez, 39, at a Texaco station on South Cobb Drive.

About 11 p.m. on May 15, 2017, the victim parked his vehicle at the station’s gas pumps and went inside to pay for gas and other items. While he was inside, Priester drove up in a green Chevrolet Avalanche and parked on the other side of the same pump. When Rojas-Martinez returned to the driver’s side of his vehicle, Priester walked up behind him and shot him in the back of the head. Priester then sped away in the Avalanche while Rojas-Martinez lay dying.

Smyrna police distributed surveillance photos of the Avalanche, and the vehicle owner recognized it and told police that he had lent his vehicle to his girlfriend’s cousin. Investigators then learned Priester was a convicted felon who was wanted on a parole violation. U.S. Marshals tracked him to New Jersey and arrested him there several days later. The investigation also found that although Priester and Rojas-Martinez did not know each other, Priester followed Rojas-Martinez to the gas station after Rojas-Martinez left the restaurant where he worked. Rojas-Martinez left behind a wife and three daughters.

The jury convicted Priester of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Priester was convicted of aggravated assault in 2013 in Upson County.

Murder victim Genaro Rojas-Martinez. Image Cobb County DA