FRESNO, Calif. — A man was sentenced to 16 years to life on May 2 for the brutal June 2022 stabbing death of a Southern California truck driver.
According to court documents, Isaiah Harley killed 51-year-old Joey Madeira in a random knife attack at a truck stop.
Harley first pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and robbery but then entered a no contest plea in April.
A no contest plea is when a defendant agrees to be sentenced for a crime but doesn’t admit guilt.
Information about why Harley attacked Madeira never materialized, official said.
At the time of Madeira’s murder, investigators said Harley might have been involved in an Oakland carjacking and a Kern County robbery that happened days before Madeira died.
Madeira’s family told KFSN that he loved trucking and was a kind person.
“Sometimes he would take us into the truck and teach us songs and what life on the road was about,” Madeira’s son Taylor said outside the courthouse after the sentencing.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
