Man found guilty of 2015 kidnapping, murder of girlfriend

After seven years, a man accused of kidnapping and murdering his girlfriend on her birthday was found guilty by a Gadsden County jury last Friday.

Gregory Sapp was charged with first-degree premeditated murder for the death of Keyonda Collier.

Prosecutors said Sapp stabbed Collier several times before placing her face down in a bathtub of water in her home, where she drowned on April 21, 2015.

During the past seven years, Sapp had been found incompetent to stand trial several times, before being found competent to proceed in March last year.

Sapp’s attorney Zachary Ward said the defendant was heavily medicated on drugs used to treat bipolar mania each day of his trial, which began on Monday, August 29.

Prosecutor argued that Sapp was guilty of first-degree murder because the crime was pre-meditated.

He changed weapons at least two times while stabbing Collier, using two knives and a screwdriver, before then attempting to clean up the crime scene.

The jury was told that as Sapp tried to hide what he had done, Collier’s children came home from school.

Sapp met them at the door and took them into a bedroom, where he bound and gagged them.

The prosecutor motioned to have an insanity defense removed - a request that the judge denied.

“It’s pretty clear Mr. Sapp has a mental defect,” Sapp’s attorney said during closing arguments.

He said Sapp experienced hallucinations the day he murdered Collier, consistent with hallucinations Sapp had allegedly experienced as a teen.

The defense argued Sapp feared the police.

Gregory Sapp (seated) recently stood trial for the 2015 murder of his girlfriend, Keyonda Collier. Sapp is pictured with his defense attorney Zachary Ward, who attempted to persuade the jurors to hand down a not-guilty verdict by reason of insanity.

According to testimony from an officer that responded to the scene, Sapp came out of a window with a shirt wrapped around his head.

“That’s what he does when he hears voices,” Ward said.

The defense argued that Sapp belongs in the Chattahoochee Florida State Hospital.

“Don’t be afraid to do the right thing,” Ward said to the jurors. “The right thing in this case is to find him not guilty by reason of insanity.”

Prosecutor James Beville pointed out that Sapp also identifies as Hebrew Israelite, who frequently wear head coverings for religious purposes, and he reminded jurors of a photograph presented as evidence of Sapp wearing a t-shirt around his head taken a week before Collier’s murder.

Beville also reminded the jurors that an expert witness confirmed the prison system has doctors and psychiatrists that can treat Sapp.

“They will take care of him like they have to take care of anybody else,” Beville said.

Sapp’s attorney said there was no doubt that he committed the crime, and it was premeditated.

Initially, Sapp told authorities “two white men dressed in black suits, white shirts and red ties” killed Collier.

“Mr. Sapp did this,” Ward said. “The only way he could not be guilty of this is if he was criminally insane.”

After about an hour and a half of deliberation, the jury found Sapp guilty of a lesser offense of second-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation.

Sapp will be sentenced at a later date.

Judge Ronald Flury, who presided over the case, ordered that Sapp remain at the Florida State Hospital until sentencing.

Erin Hill - erin@gadsdencountytimes.com

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Man found guilty of 2015 kidnapping, murder of girlfriend

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