A Pontiac woman convicted of crimes related to the homicide of a man described as her on-again, off-again boyfriend could be released from prison as early as April 2024 since one conviction was dismissed — along with its 5 to 20-year sentence.
As previously reported by The Oakland Press, Lakeisha Hawkins, 37, was granted a resentencing because of a Michigan Court of Appeals ruling last February which reversed her 2019 conviction of mutilation of a dead body in connection with the 2018 fatal shooting of Lanard Curtaindoll. Curtaindoll’s body remained beneath brush and debris in a Pontiac field until it was discovered in an advanced state of decomposition in April 2019.
The Court of Appeals, in reversing the conviction, said there was no indication Hawkins inflicted any damage to Curtaindoll’s body. The court has also ruled Hawkins was sentenced outside the guidelines for related crimes without the judge providing justification for it.
Hawkins’ resentencing hearing was held June 23 in Oakland County Circuit Court, where Judge Martha Anderson officially dismissed the 5 to 20-year sentence while again sentencing Hawkins for three other convictions: 30 months to 10 years for accessory after the fact to a felony and for felon in possession of a firearm to be served concurrently, and a 2-year sentence for possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, required to be served before the other two sentences. As of last week’s resentencing, court records show Hawkins had 972 days credit for the accessory conviction, 242 days credit for the felon in possession conviction and 730 days credit for the felony firearm conviction.
Michigan sentencing guidelines show a maximum of five years in prison and possible fines for both felon in possession of a firearm and accessory after the fact.
Curtaindoll died at age 41 from a single bullet wound to the chest. The prosecution said Lakeisha Hawkins’ father, Kenneth Hawkins, shot Curtaindoll who had been fighting with Lakeisha Hawkins at her private club in Pontiac on Nov. 24, 2018. Witnesses testified at the pair’s 2019 trial that after the shooting Kenneth Hawkins and Lakiesha Hawkins hatched and carried out a plan to get rid of evidence at the murder scene — including hiding Curtaindoll’s body in the Pontiac field.
Kenneth Hawkins’s attorney, Michael McCarthy, had defended the shooting as being done in self-defense, with Hawkins believing Curtaindoll was armed and was getting ready to shoot first. There was no evidence to show Curtaindoll was armed at the time of the killing.
Kenneth Hawkins was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and related crimes for Curtaindoll’s death and sentenced to life in prison. But the appeals court ordered a new trial for him, ruling that errors were made during the first trial when Anderson allowed testimony from two women describing assaults against them by Kenneth Hawkins. According to the appeals court judges’ opinion, the prosecution didn’t establish relevance for the testimony which could have unfairly prejudiced the jury.
Kenneth Hawkins’ new trial in Oakland County Circuit Court is scheduled to start Dec. 12.
