After guilty verdict, 50-year sentence

After little more than one hour deliberation, an Oconee jury found Kenneth Strother Collins guilty of all three charges, and the defendant was ordered by Judge Sprouse to serve 50 years in prison.  Collins is 26 years old.  Deputy Solicitor Lindsey Simmons requested life in prison, saying Collins is an “extreme danger to the community.”  She listed a criminal background that included a recent assault case in which the weapon was a box cutter.  In the death of Jeremy Lee Little, the weapon was described as a dagger-type double-edged knife with a seven-inch blade.  Simmons called Little’s death at Collins’ Walhalla home in 2015″a horrible, horrible death.”  In two days of testimony and photographic evidence, the jury was told that methamphetamine played a role in what happened at 505 N. Laurel Street.  A tearful Reba Moore, mother of Little’s daughter, said she, too, felt a life sentence appropriate.  But the defendant’s mother, Tamatha Collins, said while her family is deeply sorry for Little’s death, her son was trying to protect himself from Little.  The defense had mounted a case for self-defense.