Trial date set for Kenneth Stancil III's first-degree murder case
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on March 15, 2017 5:14 PM
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Kenneth Morgan Stancil III, seen here arriving at the Wayne County Jail after being extradited from a Florida jail in 2015, will stand trial for the killing of Wayne Community College employee Ron Lane in April of that year.
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Stancil, who gained national attention for his expletive-laden outburst in a Florida courtroom immediately after his capture, also had to be restrained and removed from a Wayne County courtroom upon his return to Wayne County in 2015.
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Stancil again appeared in a Wayne County courtroom in May 2016, where he pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder. At that same hearing, the death penalty was taken off the table. If convicted, Stancil will instead be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A trial date has been set for April 17 in the first-degree murder case against Kenneth Morgan Stancil III.
Stancil is charged with the killing of Ron Dwight Lane, 44, on the campus of Wayne Community College in April 2015.
District Attorney Matthew Delbridge said Superior Court Judge Jay Hockenbury, who is based in New Hanover County, will preside over the case.
The trial will take place at the Wayne County Courthouse.
In May 2016, Stancil and his lawyer, local defense attorney Walter Webster, entered a plea of not guilty.
At that appearance, Delbridge said the death penalty would not be sought. Instead, prosecution will seek a sentence of life without parole.
Webster did not immediately reply to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Lane worked as a print shop technician at Wayne Community College. Stancil, who was 20 years old at the time of the murder, allegedly entered the college's print shop around 8 a.m. the morning of April 13, 2015, fired a single blast from a pistol grip pump-action shot gun killing Lane, then left the campus.
Police say Stancil then returned to his home in Dudley, changed clothes and fled on a motorcycle. Stancil's motorcycle was ditched in Lumberton and then he hitchhiked his way to Florida.
He was found sleeping on Daytona Beach by Volusia County Beach Patrol officers at 1:20 a.m. on April 14, 2015, and was armed with a knife. Stancil was then arrested and held in the Volusia County Branch Jail without bond.
Stancil appeared in a Florida court proceeding on April 14 and confessed to killing Lane, saying at the time, "All right, I just want you to know I ridded one less (expletive) child molester from the (expletive) world, that (expletive) with my little brother, you know what I'm saying?"
"Doing time is the easy (expletive) part, know what I'm saying?"
Stancil was soon extradited back to Wayne County and put in the Wayne County Jail without bond.
Wayne County Jail Administrator Maj. Fane Greenfield confirmed Stancil was then shipped to Central Prison in Raleigh under the care of the Department of Correction on June 15, 2015. He was brought back to Wayne County on May 4, 2016 for his first court appearance.
Greenfield said Stancil was shipped back to Raleigh for safe keeping that same day.
A court order issued May 4, 2016, said Stancil was put in custody of the Department of Correction for safe keeping "to insure safety from himself, due to the high profile and nature of his crime. He is a high security risk for the Wayne County Jail and at this time is showing suicidal behavior."