More than three years after a late-night food delivery in Tampa turned into a kidnapping and a string of attacks, a Hillsborough County jury needed only about 20 minutes to convict Joseph Killins. A judge then imposed four life prison terms, closing a case that prosecutors said involved three victims over two days in April 2023.

The Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office said the convictions grew out of an investigation by the Tampa Police Department. Prosecutors told the court that Killins abducted and Sєxually ᴀssaulted a DoorDash driver, sH๏τ another woman who tried to help, and robbed a third woman the following day. All three victims testified at trial and were present in the courtroom when the sentence was imposed.

What the state said happened in April 2023

According to Tampa police accounts from the time of the arrest, the first attack began just after 11 p.m. on April 18, 2023. A woman in her early 20s was making a DoorDash delivery near the Residence Inn on West Boy Scout Boulevard when an armed man forced her back into her vehicle and made her drive to the Belara Lakes Apartments. Police said he Sєxually battered her there. Family members who had been tracking her phone found the car and pulled her out. Officers said the suspect then fired several sH๏τs, striking a woman in her 20s who was related to the driver’s girlfriend. Both injured women were treated at a hospital.

The next day, April 19, police said a woman in her 40s was attacked in the same apartment complex. Detectives later linked that robbery to the same suspect. Killins was arrested late on April 21 at the Tampa Inn on East Busch Boulevard. At the time he was about 38; by the 2026 trial he was reported as 41. He had prior felony convictions. Interim Police Chief Lee Bercaw said the arrest came through police work and help from the community.

The trial, the defense, and the outburst

Killins pleaded not guilty. Court TV and other outlets reported that he took the stand as the only defense witness and claimed he had been in a relationship with the DoorDash driver and that the encounter was not a crime. Prosecutors argued that his story did not match the evidence or the other testimony. The jury rejected the defense after a short deliberation—about 20 to 29 minutes, depending on the outlet.

He was found guilty on all counts tried, including armed kidnapping, Sєxual battery with a firearm or ᴅᴇᴀᴅly weapon, robbery with a firearm, and attempted first-degree murder, plus additional counts of robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm. After the verdict was read, video from local stations showed him shouting denials and being removed from the courtroom by deputies. Judge Lyann Goudie had already warned him earlier in the week to stay quiet or be taken out.

The sentence

Because he was treated as a reoffender, the court imposed life in prison on four counts and 15 years each on two others. FOX 13 listed the four life counts as armed kidnapping, Sєxual battery with a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly weapon, robbery with a firearm, and attempted first-degree murder. The Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office publicly thanked the victims for coming forward and credited ᴀssistant State Attorneys Jessica Couvertier and Anna Ismer with the prosecution.

Where the case stands now

As of the August 13–14, 2026 coverage, the criminal case against Killins has reached sentencing. There has been no later public report of a successful appeal or a reduced sentence. The facts above come from court reporting and official statements, not from a word-for-word copy of any single article.

Sources: Court TV