Lorain man sentenced to life plus 3 years for murder

Elliott Kirkland was convicted of killing Lorain man in 2016

The Lorain man who shot and killed Jimmie Holland Jr. in cold blood while robbing his Lexington Avenue apartment was sentenced Feb. 22 to life in prison without parole, plus three years. A Lorain County Common Pleas Court jury previously found Elliott Kirkland, 29, guilty of aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary for the death of the 38-year-old Holland on Aug. 29, 2016. The same jury later saved Kirkland from the death penalty by finding a life sentence without parole was appropriate for the crime after a brief mitigation proceeding. During that hearing, the defense attempted to paint Kirkland as a product of his environment as the son of a 16-year-old drug-addicted prostitute who was raised in Cleveland’s King Kennedy Projects. The prosecution said Kirkland was a dangerous criminal with psychopathic tendencies and a parasitic lifestyle. The Feb. 22 hearing was more of a rubber stamp than an actual sentencing, as Common Pleas Judge James L. Miraldi simply had to state the sentence for the record. The additional three years are the result of a firearm specification which legally must be served consecutively to his regular sentence. Because Kirkland received life without parole, Miraldi did not impose a sentence for the additional repeat violent offender specification Kirkland was found guilty of. Defense attorney David Doughten briefly addressed the court to say that his client was planning to appeal the sentence. Kirkland declined to address the court directly. Kevin Jackson, a victim advocate with the court, read a letter from Holland’s brother, William Holland, who could not attend the hearing as he lives out of state. The letter, which also was read at the sentencing hearings of Kirkland’s three co-defendants in the murder, detailed the pain Holland’s murder caused his family and of William Holland’s frantic search to find his brother in the days following his death. Mark Sanchez, 26, of Lorain, was in Holland’s apartment with Kirkland when he shot Holland three times. A crack addict, Sanchez said he was just there to steal Holland’s belongings and had no idea Kirkland would kill him. He received a 14-year sentence after testifying against Kirkland. Jasmine A. Schafer, 29, of Lorain, identified Holland as a target to Kirkland and was waiting outside of the apartment in a car as Kirkland and Sanchez committed the robbery. Schafer received an 11year sentence after testifying against Kirkland. Latrice Thomas, 38, of Lorain, also was in the car with Schafer during the robbery. Thomas did not testify against Kirkland and received three years of community control on a single count of obstructing justice. All of the co-defendants are required to pay $2,000 in restitution for Holland’s funeral. Kirkland also has to pay an additional $5,000 in restitution for the cash he stole from Holland’s apartment.

KEITH REYNOLDS — THE MORNING JOURNAL Attorneys David Doughten and Ken Lieux sit beside their client Elliott Kirkland, 29, of Lorain, Feb. 22 as Kevin Jackson, a victim advocate with the court, reads a letter from the family of Kirkland’s victim, Jimmie Holland Jr.