Jurors appeal to judge to grant leniency to man they convicted

Four members of a six-person jury appealed to a Broward criminal judge Friday afternoon to show mercy to a man they had recently convicted for gunning down his cousin at a family birthday party.

Kenyon Key, 29, was convicted of manslaughter on May 31, a lesser charge than the first-degree murder sought by prosecutors.

Still, he could have been sentenced to 30 years in prison on Friday, but four of the six jurors who had convicted him came to the courthouse to show support and ask the judge for leniency.

Only two of them spoke, a third explaining she was too afraid of the victim’s family to be identified publicly in court.

One juror who spoke, Gabriel Simpson, told the judge the jurors had made the best of the “available options of the ones we were given.”

A second juror told the judge that 30 years would be injustice. She asked the Sun Sentinel not to publish her name because the victim’s family swore at the group of jurors after the hearing, threatened to slap them, and made comments such as “I hope you get killed in front of your kids.”

“From the very beginning I have maintained that Kenyon did not ask for that incident; he was not the primary aggressor. He simply acted in self-defense,” she told the judge. She said she hoped “that my statement can make a difference in the outcome of a man’s life, simply because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Said Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra of the jurors who had either come to speak or just show up for the defendant: “It’s unique.”

Kollra agreed that a 30-year sentence was not appropriate, but was still grappling with evidence that showed seven shots had been fired, four of them hitting Key’s cousin, Corey Lane, in the back.

On Friday Key was sentenced to 124.6 months in prison, or 10.3 years, with credit for the nearly three years he has already served awaiting the sentencing. His defense attorney, Gabe Ermine, estimates Key will serve about 5½ years in prison after good behavior is factored.

The former jurors who huddled in the hallway after the hearing felt the sentence was still too harsh but hoped their presence had made a difference.

“We did something,” one of them said. The former jurors were escorted out of the courthouse by law enforcement.

But the victim’s family, including Corionna Lane, 22, was also unhappy with the sentence, saying it wasn’t strong enough. Lane told the judge she was at an arm’s length from her father when he was shot to death.

“I’m just so angry,” she told the judge. “My dad was a good person. He’s been the support system for his whole family. To pull out a gun and shoot my dad, it’s crazy to me.”

In 2021, Key, of Fort Lauderdale, was arrested for the shooting that occurred in the 5200 block of Southwest 21st Street near Southwest 52nd Avenue, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

According to records filed in court, the family event was Key’s grandmother’s 81st birthday party and Key had an argument with his uncle about a bicycle. Lane got involved, according to defense arguments filed in court. “In fact, he was the initiator of the fight” by telling Key to fight, records show.

Key’s mother told authorities that after Key shot Lane, he walked over to him and shot him two more times as he lay on the ground, according to the arrest report. Records show Lane was shot in his back.

“Mr. Key did not plan to argue or fight. His only intentions were to celebrate a family milestone with other family members,” according to defense filings in court. The fired shots “were out of fear and adrenaline while Mr. Key was shaking and fumbling.”

Key will still have to come back to court at a later date; Lane’s family is asking for $15,000 in restitution to pay for his funeral, an impossible number because Key is already indigent, Ermine said.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash

Originally Published: July 12, 2024 at 5:59 p.m.