Judge didn’t buy Bradenton man’s self-defense argument. He sentenced him to 20 years in jail
Before Albert Carleton Knowles was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing 43-year-old Donald Hammond, he again asserted claims that he acted in self-defense when he shot dead the man he called a friend.
“I have replayed the events of Oct. 15 in mind every day in the months of my incarceration looking for another outcome,” Knowles said Wednesday while reading from a statement he prepared ahead of his sentencing hearing.
On that night in 2017, Hammond was partying with Knowles at his home when Knowles claims a conflict escalated and he was forced to make a judgment call.
“I do not regret the call I made and if I was placed in the same situation, all the actions I took would remain the same,” Knowles said.
But before making the sentencing ruling, Circuit Judge Frederick Mercurio stated that there had been no evidence at trial that corroborated Knowles’ claims of a struggle or that the victim had been the aggressor or instigated the shooting.
Instead, the evidence showed that the victim was sitting unarmed, in a defenseless position, and that the shooting had been sophisticated based on his choice of firearm, an AR-15, and his behavior afterward, including that he created a potential argument of self-defense by placing a knife in the victim’s hand.
Last month, a jury found Knowles, 32, guilty of manslaughter for the fatal shooting, though not second-degree murder as he was charged. On Wednesday, Knowles was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by five years of probation.
Although Hammond was homeless at the time of his death and his family was not present in court, Assistant State Attorney Rebecca Freel read a letter written by his mother during the sentencing hearing.
“I loved my son Donald. He had a rough life and did not deserve what happened. You did not need to do what you did,” the letter stated.
The mother went on to say in the letter that she did not forgive Hammond and asked the court not to show him mercy.
Testimony from his former neighbor and several letters written to the court, including one from Knowles’ father, local attorney Timothy Knowles, were taken into account before the sentence was handed down.
But it was his parents’ concern that Knowles may never be able to “achieve a supportable independent living situation” following his release from prison and the fact that he was out on bond on a sex offense charge at the time of the shooting that led Mercurio to find it necessary “for the safety of the community” that he be supervised following his release.
During the five years he will be on probation, Knowles, who has previously been diagnosed with a mental health disorder and struggled with substance abuse, was ordered to undergo mental health and substance abuse evaluations and undergo all treatments recommended on the first attempt.
Assistant Public Defender Anne Hunter had argued that Knowles deserved to be sentenced shorter than what sentencing guidelines called for, asking for a downward departure, based on the defense claims that Knowles had acted in self-defense, that the crime was an isolated incident for which he was showing remorse and that the shooting had been an unsophisticated crime.
Even giving Knowles the benefit of the doubt in the remorse he expressed, Mercurio ruled that the shooting was a sophisticated crime and that a lesser sentence would not be appropriate. Mercurio also disagreed with claims made by Knowles that he had taken responsibility for the shooting from the beginning, pointing out Knowles’ initial conflicting statements, and that there was no evidence of self-defense.
Evidence presented at trial, especially the testimony of the medical examiner, was that the victim had been shot in the hand and that the knife could not have been in his hand prior to the shooting.
“Common sense tells me either there would have been some damage to the knife or the knife would have been knocked out of his hand,” Mercurio said. “To me, the after-shooting behavior and comments demonstrates to the court that this was committed in a sophisticated manner because he was conscious enough to try and create a scene of self-defense.”
As the state sought the maximum permitted 30-year sentence, Freel argued that Knowles had never demonstrated remorse prior to Wednesday’s sentencing hearing and that letter made clear he was doing so because it was what the court wanted to hear.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Knowles also took a plea deal in his pending case for the June 2017 charge that he traveled to meet an undercover detective, who he thought was a 14-year-old girl, for sex.
Knowles pleaded no contest to the charge and was sentenced to 21 months with credit for all the time he has served. Knowles has been in custody at Manatee County jail since his Oct. 15, 2017, arrest for the murder charge.
Following his release from prison, Knowles also will have to register as a sex offender.
