Jury recommends life sentence without parole for man accused of killing Louisville father, 3-year-old

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A jury is recommending that a man convicted of killing a young father and his 3-year-old daughter in August 2020 spend the rest of this life in prison without the possibility of parole.

By making the recommendation, the jury in Jefferson Circuit Court implicitly declined to recommend the death penalty for Kevon Lawless, despite a prosecutor's plea late Thursday afternoon.

Final sentencing is scheduled for early November.

Lawless was found guilty of double murder and burglary just before 9:40 p.m. Wednesday. Those charges are in connection with the killings of Brandon Waddles and his 3-year-old daughter, Trinity Randolph. The shootings took place shortly after 1 p.m. that day in the 3700 block of Kahlert Avenue, near Strader Avenue.

The jury had to deliberate twice after one juror was dismissed and an alternate was brought in before they reached that conviction.

Late Thursday afternoon, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Ryane Conroy asked the jury to recommend the death penalty for Lawless.

"I also am going to ask you to impose the death penalty here and I take that seriously," Conroy said, tearfully. "I think that's a big deal to even make that ask."

After the jury declined to levy the death penalty against Lawless, Conroy said expressed some satisfaction with their decision, although it wasn't what she asked for.

Lawless faced penalties ranging from 20 years in prison to the death penalty.

"Ultimately what the Commonwealth wants is that Kevon Lawless can never hurt anybody else again," she said. "What he received from the jury is that he will never be eligible to be released again."

After the jury left the courtroom, Lawless ate Skittles as he pleaded guilty to committing a crime as a persistent felony offender, referring to the burglary charge.

That's a 20-year sentence. That ultimately may not matter because if the judge decides to uphold the recommended sentence, Lawless will not see the outside of a prison again.

Lawless' sentencing hearing was briefly delayed earlier in the day after the judge smelled marijuana in the courtroom.

Judge McKay Chauvin admonished the people in the courtroom as the hearing was about to start, saying the smell of marijuana was overpowering.

"I'm just going to say it out loud: The whole room stinks of marijuana," Chauvin said. "It just stinks."

He then had a group of about a dozen people removed. The hearing re-convened less than an hour later.

Judge removes people from the courtroom saying the smell of marijuana overpowered the room. He said, “you wouldn’t show up drunk, would you? Or maybe you would.” Then asked them all to leave. @WDRBNews pic.twitter.com/YiOsLmFl3t
— Christie Battista WDRB (@CBattistaTV) September 22, 2022

Chauvin said the smell of marijuana showed disrespect for the court and he wondered out loud if violence would follow the court's decision.

"Here's what we're afraid of: As soon as this is over, you guys are just going to start shooting each other," he said. "I'll just say it out loud. That's what we're afraid of. That's how we got here. Has anybody learned anything from the time we spent together? Has there been any awareness of just how stupid this whole thing is?"

Several family members testified on behalf of Lawless during Thursday's proceedings. Prosecutors wanted to show body camera footage of Trinity being rushed to the hospital by LMPD officers, but Chauvin ruled the only videos that could be played were those already submitted into evidence.

Prosecutors tried to prove that Lawless was responsible for killing Waddles and Trinity. Earlier this week, they presented text messages, video surveillance from a neighbor and an Instagram Live video that shows Waddles and Lawless arguing.

Defense attorneys questioned the evidence from the beginning, calling it circumstantial and not enough to convict Lawless.

Lawless' bond was set at $1 million in August 2020, but a judge lowered it to $300,000 full cash days after his arraignment and ordered him to be on home incarceration if the bond was paid. New York record producer Nigel Talley posted the $300,000 on July 10, 2021.

Family said they were left blindsided at the time. Just weeks later, on July 21, 2021, Lawless was back behind bars on a parole violation.

This story will be updated.

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