Man gets 44 years to life for Franklinton murder

A man whose claim of selfdefense in a fatal shooting was rejected by a Franklin County jury last week was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison with no chance of parole for 44 years.

Kalawn Lammkin, 26, followed the advice of defense attorney Robert Krapenc in declining to comment during the hearing.

But the mother of victim Jamie Garrett announced that she would speak loudly when it was her opportunity to address the court.

Her son, 26 at the time of his death, had been employed for 12 years, had earned a culinary degree and had become a talented chef, Diane Garrett said. As for Lammkin, “I have yet to see anything he has accomplished except for violence,” she said. “Violence upon violence upon violence. That’s not an accomplishment. That’s a tragedy.”

Common Pleas Judge Jenifer French imposed Lammkin’s sentence, which included eight years for violating probation in a felonious assault case. Two months before he killed Garrett, he Lammkin was placed on probation for two years after pleading guilty to a 2015 attack in which he cut a man’s ear with a knife at a South Side apartment.

The victim in that case had been reluctant to testify because he feared Lammkin, a problem that also emerged with witnesses to Garrett’s murder, Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Murnane told the judge. Murnane said the minimum sentence for Lammkin’s convictions was 26 years to life, and he asked the judge for a “significantly higher” sentence.

Lammkin shot Garrett on Aug. 2, 2016, in a house on North Yale Avenue in Franklinton, where Lammkin had gone to confront the mother of his then-1-year-old son. He testified that he fired because Garrett, a guest in the house, had swung at him and pulled what he thought was a weapon. The jury convicted Lammkin of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary and possessing a weapon despite a felony conviction. French could have sentenced him to life without parole for aggravated murder, but she chose life without parole for 30 years, the next most-serious penalty, plus six years for gun specifications and the eight for the probation violation.