A jury took only 17 minutes June 4 to convict a Daytona Beach man of fatally shooting his wife two years ago in front of her parents, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Shantell Adkins, 37, was also convicted of two counts of aggravated assault.
Adkins shot his wife, Shawntai Adkins, 34, in the neck as she was walking out of her home with her parents, according to a release from State Attorney’s Office Public Information Officer Haley Harrison.
The wife had called her parents to help de-escalate an intensifying argument.
The first-degree murder count carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Circuit Judge A. Kathleen McNeilly set sentencing for June 23.
The shooting took place Oct. 19, 2023. Police were called about 6:37 p.m. to 530 Fulton St.
Shawntai Adkins was found near the front door and pronounced dead at the scene, a report stated. The couple had been arguing that day, the report stated.
Her father broke his leg while running from the shooter but has since recovered, Harrison wrote.
After shooting his wife, Shantell Adkins shot himself in the left shoulder. Police found him in the front yard and he was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center for treatment.
The case was proscuted by Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak.
“It is every parent’s worst nightmare to lose a child,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza stated in the press release. “Adkins executed our victim in front of her parents and then threatened to do the same to them. Another domestic murder and another devastated family.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach man will be sentenced to life in wife’s death