TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Ronnie Oneal, the man acting as his own attorney as he faces the death penalty and stands accused of killing his girlfriend and 9-year-old daughter, admitted to killing his girlfriend while delivering closing arguments on Monday.
“I did kill Kenyatta Barron,” Oneal shouted to prosecutors. “But I want you to tell it like it is if you’re gonna tell it.”
During his closing argument, the presiding judge had to reel Oneal in multiple times for foul language and his manner of addressing prosecutors.
Shortly after Oneal made his statement, jurors began deliberating in the double-murder trial against him.
Both the state and Oneal, acting as his own defense attorney, rested their cases on Friday after a week of shocking and emotional testimony.
Oneal is facing two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder for crimes that happened in Riverview in March of 2018. He’s accused of killing his girlfriend, 33-year-old Kenyatta Barron, and 9-year-old daughter Ron’Niveya Oneal. Prosecutors say he then stabbed his 11-year-old son and set their home on fire.
The son testified in court last week and was questioned by his father.
Oneal has maintained in his trial that he killed Barron in self-defense. He demanded that he be allowed to act as his own attorney after his public defenders refused to use a “stand your ground” defense in his trial.
He also claimed that evidence had been fabricated and manipulated to make him guilty of the crime.
