Man sentenced to 25 years for stabbing bus driver to death

Jamil Thomas, 21, pleaded guilty to 2nd degree murder

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A jury on Friday sentenced a man to 25 years in prison for the stabbing death of a JTA bus driver.

Investigators said Jamil Thomas, 21, who was 18-years-old at the time of the crime, stabbed Kenneth Hawkins, 61, during an argument at Hawkins' home on the Northside back in 2016. 

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Thomas pleaded guilty in March of 2018 to second degree murder. Hawkins, 61, was found lying in his Biscayne Lake Drive driveway by a postal worker. It appeared he had been mowing his lawn not long before he was killed, police said.

Thomas told police that on the day of the murder, he went to Hawkins' house. Hawkins came inside after doing yard work, and the two had an argument that escalated to a fight with pushing and shoving, investigators said.

The motive for the attack remains unclear.