JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two men accused of killing 13-year-old Prince Holland as he left football practice in December of 2022 appeared in court Friday.
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Marcel Johnson and Kentrevious Garard are both charged with 1st-degree murder, but Garad has asked the court to allow him to be tried separately from Johnson.
Garad’s attorney, Nicole Jamieson, argued it wouldn’t be fair to try the two men together, as the state plans to introduce statements made by Johnson to homicide detectives, in which he allegedly made false statements to investigators.
Jamieson said she’s worried a jury could be tainted against Garard due to evidence specific to Johnson.
“Again, it’s not just one statement. It’s multiple different versions, and so our fear is that logistically there is a very real risk of Mr. Garard’s jury somehow being contaminated from opening to closing to cross-examination contents forward the state certainly couldn’t give one opening if they had any intention of talking about these statements or this evidence of guilt against Mr. Garard,” said Jamieson.
But the state argued the two men’s cases are so intertwined they cannot be fully separated.
Instead, the state offered a compromise, where the two men would stand trial together, but each had their own jury.
“If there’s anything that wouldn’t be relevant, it could easily be kept out if Mr. Garad’s jury could be excused. For right now, I think the only clear cut is Mr. Johnson’s statements to detectives,” said William Grauel with the State Attorney’s Office.
The judge didn’t rule from the bench.
He indicated he would issue his decision on the motion by March 13th.
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