Source: Kendall Ramsey, Kayla Holder, and Kainoa Ramsey. Credit: Honolulu Police Department and GoFundMe.
A former U.S. Army soldier has been found guilty in the 2020 stabbing deaths of his girlfriend and their infant son by a Hawaii jury.
On Friday, Kendall Ramsey, 28, was convicted of first-degree murder in the killings of Kayla Holder, 23, and their 6-month-old son, Kainoa Ramsey, according to Hawaii News Now, KHON2 and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Jurors also convicted Ramsey of an assault charge stemming from a car crash with another driver after, prosecutors said, he drove in the opposite direction of Kunia Road and collided with an oncoming vehicle hours after the murders, according to Hawaii News Now and KHON2.
Ramsey admitted during trial that he killed Holder and their son but argued he was acting under extreme mental or emotional disturbance, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. However, he asked that he instead be convicted of the lesser offense of manslaughter.
The Star-Advertiser reported that defense attorneys presented expert testimony that Ramsey endured severe childhood abuse and suffered from complex post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and “psychic numbing” caused by abandonment by his mother and years of physical abuse by his father.
Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell told jurors Ramsey stabbed Holder 38 times and his son 17 times inside their Ewa Beach apartment, which prosecutors argued supported a murder conviction, per the Star-Advertiser.
“Kayla Holder and her infant son should still be alive. This was an extraordinarily brutal act of domestic violence that took two innocent lives and forever devastated those who loved them,” Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm said in a statement, according to the outlets.
“We hope these verdicts provide some measure of justice for Kayla, her son, and their family. Our office will continue to seek the strongest possible consequences for those who commit acts of domestic violence and endanger the lives of others in our community,” Alm added, according to the outlets.
Ramsey remains in custody without bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 18. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder conviction.
Holder and Kainoa were found stabbed to death inside their home in March 2020 after a friend called 911. Ramsey was arrested later that day after authorities said he fled the scene and was involved in the previously mentioned car crash.
