Ronnie Oneal III rests after half-hour defense, will not testify in murder trial
TAMPA — Ronnie Oneal III rested his case Friday after just over 30 minutes after presenting three witnesses in a defense littered with objections from prosecutors.
Much of his case appeared to be geared toward showing inconsistencies in his T-Mobile call log on the night his girlfriend and daughter were killed.
Oneal is accused of killing his girlfriend, Kenyatta Barron, and his daughter, Ron’Niveya Oneal, and stabbing his son in March 2018 before setting their Riverview home on fire.
Judge Michelle Sisco said closing arguments will begin Monday. One juror was dismissed Friday morning due to health issues. The first of two alternates was brought in to take their place.
Oneal continues to defend himself and faces a potential death sentence if he’s convicted. He decided Friday he will not testify in the trial.
Oneal called three witnesses including Deputy Christopher Heaverin, who’s time at the witness stand took the majority of the short defense. Heaverin was asked about Oneal and Barron’s call logs. Barron’s shows a 911 call the night of the killings. Oneal’s does not, despite a recording of a 911 call he made, which prosecutors played earlier Friday.
“I’ve just been attacked,” Oneal said in the recording, which according to testimony came less than 10 minutes after Barron called. “She tried to kill me.”
Oneal spent hardly any time with his other two witnesses, and prosecutors only cross-examined Heaverin. Throughout his own defense, Oneal was visibly frustrated as the prosecutors objected repeatedly. He often gazed at the ground or glared at the prosecutors.
Objections came when Oneal appeared to argue with witnesses or gave a narration instead of asking a question.
Oneal asked only a few questions of his first two witnesses. They included a young man who lived near the Oneal home. He described seeing Barron run out of the house late that night with Oneal chasing her with a shotgun.
The prosecution’s case rested just before 11:30 a.m. Friday, concluding a week in which jurors heard horrifying screams from 911 calls and saw images of a gasoline container placed next to charred clothes and a red Elmo doll in Ron’Niveya’s bedroom, among other evidence.
The state’s witnesses included law enforcement officers as well as Oneal’s family members. The lead detective, Thomas Dirks, recalled seeing the bodies of Barron and Ron’Niveya Oneal laid out on the lawn in front of the burning house.
On Wednesday, Oneal’s son testified via video call, protecting him from being in the same room as the man accused of killing his mother and sister.
Oneal’s stepfather, Billy Smith, told jurors Thursday about a call Oneal made just before midnight on March 18, 2018.
“They’re trying to kill me,” Smith recalls Oneal telling him.
That call was made just after Barron called 911, according to court testimony.
Later Thursday, fire investigator handler Jefferey Batz detailed how his 9-year-old black Labrador, Booker, helped probe the house on the morning of March 19, just after the fire.
When she smelled the children’s clothes, Booker sat, an indication that she smelled gasoline. When she walked around the exterior of the house, she also sat multiple times. In Ron’Niveya’s bedroom, Booker sat five times. Forensic investigators also testified that items from the home tested positive for gasoline.
Photos from the interior of the house showed curtain rods fallen off the wall and walls burned by the fire. They showed clothes and household items were charred. Photos showed singed bed sheets and smoke stains near the stickers of Frozen princesses on Ron’Niveya’s bed.
Oneal asked Dirks, the case detective, if he could say for certain if Oneal committed murder.
“Yes, that’s why I arrested you,” Dirks said.
“I’m being treated guilty until proven innocent,” Oneal later said.
Jurors were sent home for the weekend soon after noon Friday. They will return Monday for closing arguments and the beginning of deliberations.
Sisco told them to bring an overnight bag.
