Duval County Jury Finds Cotton Guilty of Second-Degree Murder

State Attorney Melissa Nelson announces that a Duval County jury found Henry Cotton III guilty of Second-Degree Murder and Grand Theft Auto. With the verdict, Cotton faces up to life in Florida State Prison. The Honorable Jeb Branham will sentence Cotton at a later date.

On June 30, 2023, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to an apartment complex on 103rd Street for a shooting and found the victim shot in the head in a bedroom. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. A .40 caliber spent casing and bullet were recovered from inside the bedroom. Three witnesses were inside the apartment at the time of the shooting. The three — a mother and her two children — lived at the apartment and were moving out that day. Cotton and the victim were hired to help them move out. The witnesses said the two argued during the day. The victim had just moved a dresser to the moving truck and walked back into the apartment to talk with them when there was a gunshot. Three witnesses saw Cotton with a gun in hand and the victim on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head. The witnesses immediately left the apartment and got into their car for safety and flagged down a police officer; Cotton stole the moving truck and drove off. Several hours later, the Orlando Police Department found the moving truck in Orlando. Cotton was ultimately apprehended in Tampa the following day.

The case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Brittany Johnson and Alan Mizrahi.