A Christian County Circuit Court jury needed just over two hours to return a guilty verdict of murder against Cortez Hairston Jr. on Friday.
The jury followed with a recommended 30-year prison sentence for the Hopkinsville man accused of shooting Adrian Acree multiple times in the middle of Sharp Street in October of 2021.
The weeklong trial began on Monday and was the second to begin in the past three months. An August trial ended in a mistrial on the second day after an outburst from the gallery and caused the defense to feel it might have tainted the jury.
Testimony on Thursday centered on Jaila Sherrod, who along with Dekorian Daniel, was charged with helping plan the murder.
Defense attorney Rob Eggert argued that it was Sherrod and Daniel who were the primary players in Acree’s death.
Previously, Sherrod entered the guilty plea to facilitation of murder and tampering with physical evidence, with special prosecutor Zac Greenwell recommending five years in prison on each charge for a total of 10 years.
However, Eggert said Sherrod would ask for probation and would walk away with no jail time for agreeing to testify against Hairston, giving her a reason to lie to investigators and to the jury about her involvement.
Sherrod also testified that Daniel owed Acree $3,400 from a drug deal, with Eggert telling the jury that gave Daniel a motive to commit the murder and not his client.
In his closing argument, Eggert said the police had no phone evidence and no DNA evidence linking Hairston to the murder.
However, Greenwell argued that Acree blamed Hairston for providing information about him to the police and recruited Sherrod and Daniel to help with the murder. Police evidence showed Sherrod friended Acree on social media and listed him in her contacts as ‘Fat Rat.’
Greenwell said it was Sherrod who drove Acree to the location where he would be shot multiple times. Police testified they recovered 21 shell casings from a 9mm pistol at the scene, with Greenwell calling it a ‘statement crime’ and not a robbery since Acree had cash on him at the time of his death.
Sherrod has yet to be sentenced on her charges, while Daniel is charged with complicity to murder and has his case still pending in circuit court.
Hairston is scheduled to be formally sentenced on January 2.
