ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A woman who spent almost two years behind bars, accused of second-degree murder in a man’s 2022 shooting death, was found not guilty last week by an Orange County jury.
Kelonshay Watson, who turns 26 on Friday, was arrested along with a 17-year-old girl in fall 2022, both of them accused of pursuing, beating, stabbing, shooting, and robbing a man named Sean Ruben Acosta near downtown Orlando. After spending some 652 days behind bars, Watson on Thursday was found not guilty of second-degree murder in Acosta’s death after a four-day trial, according to a news release written by Andrew Darling of Darling Law.
In the release announcing Watson’s exoneration, Darling wrote to claim the Orlando Police Department “put its thumb on the scale and framed the deceased as the victim in this case,” accusing the agency of “misleading the media with made-up facts to vilify suspects of a crime.”
There was never any evidence that either Ms. Watson or her co-defendant took anything from the deceased in this case. The deceased was the aggressor and accosted the two women at the Lynx station and engaged in multiple fights with them. Finally, this ended with one of the women defending the other by shooting and killing the deceased.
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Mr. Acosta squared up for a fight, then pressed Watson up against the vehicle with his forearm across her neck, choking her. He was struck in the head by the butt of a firearm before being shot and killed. They tried to stop him before shooting him. It is very possible that without him being shot, Ms. Watson would have been the victim in this case.
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The Orlando Police Department put its thumb on the scale and framed the deceased as the victim in this case. He was not. This caused years of pain for the deceased’s family and those accused in this case.
Aug. 28, 2024 | Darling Law criminal defense attorneys: Jury Finds Client NOT GUILTY of Murder (excerpts)
The law firm called on the state attorney’s office to review the investigation and determine if different actions should have been taken, stating Watson “committed no crimes and will never get those 652 days back.” The news release otherwise states Darling Law seeks to work with local legislators to “fix this problem,” making specific note of the need for a way to compensate Watson for the time she lost in jail.
Responding to the news release, the Orlando Police Department provided News 6 with the following statement:
The primary role of the Orlando Police Department is to enforce laws that protect the people of Orlando. All evidence gathered during this criminal investigation was provided to the State Attorney’s Office, who took the case to trial and presented to a jury.
The Orlando Police Department stands by its investigation, which developed probable cause to charge Kelonshay Watson with First Degree Murder with a Weapon and Robbery.
That decision was based off the following events, discovered during our investigation:
The suspects in this case, later identified as Watson and Santana, chased the victim, Sean R. Acosta, over a six-block area from the Lynx bus station to the Salvation Army.
At one point, the suspects caught up to the victim and began to attack him.
The victim eventually made it to the Salvation Army, where the suspects attacked him again.
This led to Santana shooting Acosta in the back and Watson stabbing him multiple times, in a violent manner.
Both Santana and Watson fled the scene, leaving the victim on the ground to die.
Although we have no control over the outcome of the trial, we appreciate the hard work of our investigators and the State Attorney’s Office. The Orlando Police Department also wishes to extend condolences to the family of Mr. Acosta.
Media Relations - Orlando Police Department
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