A 20-year-old Ocoee man who stabbed a homeless man to death one year ago, was today sentenced to 38 years in the Orange County Court.
John Hill Hawthorne was convicted last month of second degree murder, after a jury found him guilty of killing Joel Boner, 30, on July 22nd 2009, at the victim’s camp site in Ocoee.
The jury learned that Hawthorne and a friend drove up to Boner’s campsite where he squatted on land owned by Hawthorne’s family, when an altercation broke out between the two men. Hawthorne stabbed Boner several times before killing him.
Hawthorne addressed the court apologizing to his own, as well as Boner’s family, reports cfnews 13.
But, Judge Belvin Perry was unmoved and sentenced Hawthorne to 38 years in jail and five years of supervised probation.
“You took a life and for that you will spend your youth in prison,” said Chief Judge Belvin Perry, reports cfnews 13.
