NORFOLK, Va. - Kimahni Lankford, the man charged with shooting five people, including a 1-month-old girl, has been found not guilty on all 12 counts Thursday.
Jurors came to their decision after two hours of deliberating.
Lankford, 22, was facing multiple charges, including aggravated malicious wounding, malicious wounding, and gun charges in connection to the shooting outside Lexington Park Apartments in Norfolk on Aug. 25, 2020.
The senseless shooting sparked outrage. Honesty, who was just 30 days old, was shot, as well as her mother and three men.
Honesty is now two years old, but her devastating injuries are lifelong. Her family said the shooting robbed the toddler of ever having children and left her disabled, and disfigured, and she can only walk using one leg.
Only one eyewitness from that night testified during the three-day trial – Honesty’s uncle, Lavan Platte.
On the stand Wednesday, Platte said he saw Lankford fire an assault rifle into a crowd of people.
The defense argued there was no evidence tying Lankford to the shooting that night, or proof that Platte was even there himself.
“This entire case – even though 30+ people were there when it happened, or shortly after – consisted of one individual who came in after the fact and said he saw it, and nobody could corroborate that he was even there to begin with,” said Eric Korslund, Lankford’s lawyer. “Out of all the witnesses that were there, all the body-worn camera that was taken, nobody saw this man there. Nobody.”
Korslund questioned Platte’s credibility on the stand arguing he was convicted for lying to police in the past.
He said Platte played the system, adding he came forward on Jan. 6, 2021, months after the shooting hoping to get out of a probation violation for a drug charge.
“He was already convicted of lying to the police,” Korslund said. “He was a fugitive for two years. Then when he turned himself in, he told the police, ‘I cracked this case.’ And as a reward, he was given a bond, although he was a fugitive for two years. He remained on bond during this case. So, he had a strong incentive to provide false information.”
Korslund said the prosecution did the best job with the evidence they had, adding, however, it was insufficient.
“I’m not saying the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office made any mistakes in this case,” he said. “They can only play the cards they were dealt, and unfortunately those were the cards they were dealt.”
Lankford was stoic as the not-guilty verdict came down, but his mother began to cry and nodded when News 3 Reporter Antoinette DelBel asked her if she was happy.
But despite Thursday's acquittal, Lankford isn't a free man yet. One gun charge, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, did not go to trial this week. It was severed from the rest of the Aug. 2020 shooting charges after Korslund raised concerns about possible bias if jurors were told of Lankford's convicted felon status. That remaining felony count is scheduled for trial on March 29, according to court records.
In addition, Lankford has a separate felony case scheduled for trial on Jan. 26, court records show. In that case, he faces two more counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, as well as one count of assault on a law enforcement officer. Those offenses allegedly occurred in Nov. 2020.
