Man serving as own lawyer in ‘disturbing’ case convicted of murdering girlfriend and daughter
Ronnie Oneal III cross examined his son during proceedings, who survived the attack
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A man serving as the lawyer in his own murder trial has been convicted of killing his girlfriend and daughter in an end to a “gruseome” and “distrubing” case.
A jury found Ronnie Oneal III guilty of two counts of first-degree murder on Monday evening alongside attempted first-degree murder and arson.
Oneal, 32, admitted during closing arguments to jurors that he had killed his then-girlfriend Kenyatta Barron, but denied he had killed his disabled daughter and tried to kill his son.
“I want you to know the actual facts,” Oneal told jurors on Monday. “I did kill Kenyatta Brown. But I want you to tell it like it is, if you are going to tell it.”
He acted as his own lawyer throughout the “emotional” trial and was allowed to question his son, who testified last week by remote video after surviving the attack in March 2018.
Prosecutors said that Oneal wounded Ms Barron with a shotgun and then beat her to death before using a hatchet to kill his nine-year-old daughter, who had cerebral palsy and could not speak.
They also claimed he wounded his son, then eight, with a knife. During cross-examination by Oneal, the young boy told his father: “You stabbed me.”
At different points during the trial, Oneal had shouted as he put his defence to jurors with Hillsborough Circuit Judge Michelle Sisco warning him to stop using profanities during his closing arguments.
He said that investigators fabricated evidence to implicate him and that his son was coached on what to say and was prejudiced against him by a sheriff’s detective who adopted him.
“You are ready to believe my son, whose statements are conflicting all of a sudden, because he has been adopted by a detective who worked in this case,” he said to the jury.
Oneal added: “He had no business being around him in an open and pending case.”
The detective testified during the proceedings that he was working the night of the attack but was not involved in the investigation.
During the trial, jurors heard a 911 call from Ms Barron during which she pleaded for help as Oneal yelled in the background. Screams from Ms Barron could also be heard.
The defendant accused the state of manipulating call logs and recordings on Monday. Fox13 reported that he sat quietly and did not react when the jury gave their verdict.
“This has been a very emotional case, and the evidence and testimony has been by turns gruesome and disturbing and just heartbreaking,” prosecutor Ronald Gale said before the jury deliberations.
Mr Gale asked them to put such emotions to one side and consider only the facts while making their decision.
Jurors deliberated for four and a half hours before announcing their verdict. They will reconvene later this week to decide the sentence.
Oneal will face either life in prison or the death penalty. Under Florida law, the decision for execution must be unanimous.
Reporting by the Associated Press