Kenneth Jacob Adkins pleads guilty to second-degree murder
Apr. 28—PRINCETON — A man who was charged with first-degree murder after the March 2020 shooting deaths of two Mercer County men faces up to 80 years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder.
Kenneth Jacob Adkins, 21, was brought before Circuit Court Judge William Sadler for a plea hearing. Members of the U.S. Marshals Service apprehended Adkins on March 13, 2020 in Ohio. Adkins was later charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the March 11, 2020 deaths of Dalton Ramsey and Josh Williams, both of the Lashmeet area.
After conferring for about half an hour with attorneys Ruperto Y. Dumapit and Caitlin Flanagan Morgan, Adkins listened as Sadler reminded him of his rights including the right to a jury trial, the right not to incriminate himself and to appeal a conviction to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Sadler told Adkins that pleading guilty would be the same as a conviction.
Second-degree murder carries a determinate term of up to 40 years in prison. Sadler told Adkins that if the sentences are set to run consecutively, he could face up to 80 years in prison.
Adkins then, one at a time, pleaded guilty to both counts of second-degree murder.
"Are you pleading guilty because in fact you are guilty?" Sadler asked.
"Yes, sir," Adkins replied.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Lauren Lynch, who represented the state along with Prosecuting Attorney Brian Cochran, told the court about what investigators with the Mercer County Sheriff's Department found when they arrived at the scene on Reese Harmon Ridge Road.
"When detectives arrived, they were able to determine that the shooting actually happened in the truck that they were in," Lynch said. "Josh Williams would have been in the driver's side, and Dalton Ramsey would have been in the passenger's side."
Investigators recovered two casings from a .380-caliber handgun near the truck, Lynch said. Additional evidence was soon discovered.
"They did notice that a duffle bag that did belong to one of the deceased was on the porch of the defendant's residence," she stated. "They obviously inquired about that and then upon searching that residence, in the defendant's room they found the holster that the .380 belonged to, ammunition for the .380, but the .380 was never recovered."
A security video from a nearby home was found.
"The video did not show the actual shooting, but you could hear the gunshots in the video that occurred around 10:46 (p.m.) the night before, and then after that you see a figure which cannot be positively identified as Mr. Adkins; but circumstantially he comes from the crime scene to his residence and then his bedroom light turns on and turns off," Lynch stated.
"They later obtained statement's later from the defendant's parents and they did state that he came in late that night and exclaimed that he had shot somebody," Lynch said. "After that, he then took off to Ohio and he arrested by the Marshals Service in Ohio."
Lynch said messages the victims had exchanged were found as well.
"There were some text messages between Dalton and Josh earlier that day because Dalton and Josh were really good friends, and they had known each other for a while; and Dalton was hanging out with the defendant that day and asked Josh to come pick him up at the basketball courts. Those were the last text messages that we had obtained and Dalton asked Josh to come pick him up. He asked if he was at Kenneth's and he said yes."
Lynch declined Wednesday to discuss the motive behind the shooting.
"Assistant Prosecutor Lauren Lynch did an outstanding job on this case along with (Detective-Sergeant S.A.) Sommers with the Mercer County Sheriff's Department," Cochran said after the hearing.
Sentencing was scheduled for July after a presentencing report is completed.
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
