Sentence hearing begins for Jacksonville man guilty of murder-for-hire of his wife

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The two-day penalty phase in the sentencing of convicted Jacksonville murderer Jerry Burns started on Monday.

Burns was found guilty of first-degree murder on Friday after hiring a hitman to kill his wife in Jacksonville back in 2019. The jury determined Jerry Burns and his mistress hired the hitman to make the murder look like a burglary.

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Now the jury is deciding if Burns should serve life in prison or get the death penalty.

Several people testified in that courtroom: Jerry Burns’s family, friends, neighbors, and even his mental health advisors. His daughter Kaylee Burns said her life is forever altered now that she really has lost both of her parents, not just her mother.

“I will always try to live in a way to honor her lessons and her memories in every chapter in my life. She wasn’t just the heart of our family but the heart of everything I knew,” said Kaylee Burns.

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Several of Jerry Burns’ friends and family members gave touching testimonies, saying Jerry is not the monster many think he is.

The state attorney said Burns’s former mistress Amanda Love has already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder two months after the crime was committed. The hitman hired to kill her, Stephen Hand, was sentenced to life in prison without parole back in Aug. 2022.

Velvet Burns was repeatedly stabbed at her west side home in May 2019.

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Velvet’s niece Kendall Gill remembers her aunt as kind and the embodiment of the perfect mother.

“She was a gem in our world. Her laugh and smile was infectious,” said Gill.

Judge Charbula told the jury that Tuesday will include a working lunch session and that jurors should expect to be making deliberation at that time.

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