Duval County Jury Finds Lewis Guilty of First-Degree Murder

State Attorney Melissa Nelson announces that a Duval County jury found Rashaurd Lewis guilty of First-Degree Murder. The State is seeking the death penalty in this case. The penalty phase of this trial began Oct. 24, 2023. The Honorable Anthony Salem will sentence Lewis accordingly after the verdict for the penalty phase.

On Dec. 14, 2019, Lewis and two other men drove around Jacksonville with the intent of locating and killing the victim. According to the cooperating co-defendant’s testimony at trial, the victim had a hit out on him for $75,000, and the three men were planning on killing the victim to collect on the contract. The three men followed the victim for over an hour through the Northside of Jacksonville and into a subdivision. The victim parked his car, took his son from the backseat of the truck he was driving, and went into the house they were visiting. Moments later, when the victim came out of the house and got back into his truck without his son, Lewis and the co-defendant ran up to the vehicle and fired 66 rifle and handgun rounds into the victim’s vehicle. Lewis and the other shooter hopped back into the car driven by the third individual, and the three men proceeded to a home in Jacksonville where they were paid for the murder. The victim died at the scene.

The case was investigated by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and was prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Tom Mangan and Jay Plotkin.