Kenneth Jerome Kirkland, II, was convicted late Wednesday (May 25) by a jury of three men and three women on charges of carjacking with a firearm, grand theft, and principal to robbery with a firearm. He faces a life sentence at a sentencing hearing to be set at a later date. The jury deliberated two hours.
At midnight on August 17, 2015, Kirkland carjacked 21-year-old Brittney Johnson at gunpoint, stealing her Mazda sedan from her home mon Oak Tree Circle in Daytona Beach as she unloaded her belongings. “Give me everything you have,” he told her. Kirkland along with codefendant Keandre Ponder, whose case is still pending, left the scene of that carjacking after also stealing an Xbox, barber equipment and a cell phone and committed an armed robbery less than an hour later at a location a few blocks from the original scene.
Kirkland and Ponder robbed Roosevelt Cochran at gunpoint, stealing his wallet. Both victims told police their assailants were driving a maroon Buick sedan.
Kirkland’s prior criminal history includes six prior felony convictions, including possessing a firearm by a felon, two grand thefts, burglary, and robbery – his most recent conviction for which he had been on probation. Kirkland was sentenced to 15 years in state prison for violating his robbery probation by committing these new-law offenses.
Assistant State Attorney Michael Willard, of the Career Criminal Unit prosecuted the case. Circuit Judge Leah R. Case presided over the case and imposed sentence in the violation of probation case and will impose the sentence on these offenses at a date to be set.
