Kentrevious Garard, 27, was freed after being found not guilty of Prince’s murder. He had been in jail for two and a half years.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In a recent court proceeding, a Duval County judge announced a mistrial for one of two Jacksonville men on trial for the murder of 13-year-old Prince Holland on Thursday. Meanwhile, the other defendant was acquitted.
At approximately 1 p.m., Judge Jeb Branham proclaimed a mistrial for Marcel Johnson, age 25, after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
Then nearly 45 minutes later, the jury for 27-year-old Kentrevious Garard found him not guilty on all counts, including
Johnson and Garard faced trial concurrently, each represented by different legal teams, in front of separate juries. The trial lasted a week leading up to the closing arguments.
Prince was shot and killed on Dec. 3, 2022 while on his way home from football tryouts.
At the time of the shooting, four additional individuals were accompanying Prince in the vehicle: a critically injured 20-year-old man, an 11-year-old who sustained injuries, along with two teenagers, ages 14 and 15, who escaped harm.
Throughout the proceedings, prosecutors asserted that the intended target was the 20-year-old driver. It also came to light that one of the teens injured in the incident has suffered permanent blindness.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said the shooting, a drive-by, was targeted and pre-planned.
“The shooting was the result of rising tensions and violence between two opposing street factions,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters explained during a press conference regarding Johnson’s arrest.
Garard’s attorney argued none of the hard evidence connected him directly to the crime, while Johnson’s attorney argued he did not shoot and kill Holland, but rather was the getaway driver, accusing Garard of firing the shots.
