JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A teen and other witnesses testified in the trial of two Jacksonville men charged in the drive-by shooting death of 13-year-old Prince Holland in 2022.
Kentrevious Garard, 27, and Marcel Johnson, 25, are both facing first-degree murder charges in connection with the teen’s death.
Jury selection began Monday and was finalized on Wednesday morning. The suspects have separate juries in their combined trial.
NOTE: Because of the sensitive nature of some of the witnesses’ identities, News4JAX will only show limited images from inside the courtroom.
Day 2
A lot unfolded in court, from crime scene photos to investigators describing how evidence was processed. Several witnesses recounted the events of that night.
Chantel Brown, Holland’s mother, said the past two years have been horrible and being back for the trial has brought a flood of emotions as she’s forced to relive that night all over again. Their eyes filled with tears as jurors saw crime scene photos for the first time. She’s hoping this process will bring justice.
“I just heard boom, boom, boom,” one of the witnesses said.
Another woman said she initially thought the sounds were fireworks, only to realize they were gunshots.
“I eased down in my car, slipped down, and then I receded slowly to get back up and then I noticed that the light had changed, so I was a little hesitant. I was just kinds of frozen and scared to move. But I proceeded to go forward,” she said.
She added that when she moved forward, a small blue car passed by her.
“It seemed like to me out of nowhere and it almost hit me,” she said. “My initial belief at that time was that ‘oh my goodness, the white car is chasing the blue car.’”
Another witness said they saw muzzle flashes from a vehicle, though no one could identify the shooter or the car the shots were coming from. A former employee at a nearby business recalled seeing a white Charger shortly after the shots were fired.
According to investigators, in December 2022, Johnson drove a car while Garard fired shots at an SUV at the intersection of Moncrief and New Kings Road, killing Holland.
Another young boy and their football coach, who was driving from football tryouts when the shooting happened, were also hit.
One of the victims in the car, who was 11 at the time, described the moments of the shootings.
“We were sitting at the intersection, and then obviously, about like three seconds later, sounded like a whole bunch of firecrackers, probably not us to the shop and then once I looked up, the windshield was blurry a little bit. After that we had all got the car, we tried to put a coach on the sidewalk, and you we kind of ran back up to keep calling home,” he said. “I was just hot, and it was like spitting, and it was like a thick blood after that, I was just like, very hard breathing, very hard to breathe.”
He was hit in the upper back and spent seven days in the hospital.
One of Johnson’s family members also took the stand explaining what he heard Garard say after the shooting when they met up.
“I sprayed that bit up and I seen that head hit the window,” he said.
Both defense attorneys emphasized that the witnesses could not identify the make or model of the suspect vehicle.
Testimonies will continue on Friday morning at 9 a.m.
Opening Statements
During opening statements, the state argued Johnson drove a blue Kia Rio with Garard inside, waiting for the red SUV, which Holland was riding in with his coach.
The state’s first witness, a JSO investigator, testified about pulling fingerprints from the Kia Rio.
But Garard’s attorney pushed back, saying one fingerprint isn’t enough to prove his client was in the car when shots were fired.
“There’s not any proof he was in the car...just fingerprints,” Garard’s attorney said.
Johnson’s attorney told jurors there’s no physical evidence, no DNA, fingerprints, or eyewitnesses tying his client to the scene.
More witnesses and investigators are expected to take the stand on Thursday.
One key part of pre-trial discussions involved whether or not rap videos can be used as evidence against the men.
Originally, Judge Jeb Branham agreed to allow the prosecutors to use as much video evidence as they needed to show a connection between the two defendants.
Branham also said, “The State may further show any portions of the videos that discuss 320 or proposed violent actions towards ‘ops,’ i.e. rival groups or gangs.”
But Garard’s attorneys continued to push back against the relevance of the videos, saying they are not disputing that the two men know each other and arguing that the videos could be prejudicial to the jury.
In a 2023 news conference, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said that Holland’s shooting was linked to “two rival street groups.”
Garard’s attorneys argue that he is not a documented gang member, the state hasn’t offered any evidence that he is connected to the two groups in question and that the videos have no bearing on the facts of the case.
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Last year, the State Attorney’s Office released evidence, including footage and phone calls related to the investigation. A nearly four-hour-long interrogation of Johnson was also made public.
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During the interrogation, Johnson reportedly told detectives about the tension between him and Garard as they followed the red SUV carrying Holland from football tryouts.
According to Johnson, when they reached an intersection, Garard allegedly instructed him to “let the shots off.”
The police reported that more than 20 bullets were fired during the incident. Johnson has claimed that Garard threatened him to ensure his silence about the events that transpired.