An appeals court Wednesday upheld the conviction of a Palm Beach County man in the murder-for-hire shooting death of his wife in 2017.
A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal rejected arguments by Euri Jenkins, whose wife, Makeva, was shot while she was sleeping.
The appeal, at least in part, targeted the credibility of testimony from a co-defendant and a friend of Euri Jenkins. But the panel said evidence in the case supported Jenkins’ conviction for first-degree murder.
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“Appellant (Jenkins) alleges that the state failed to provide competent substantial evidence of his guilt, arguing that the state’s only evidence was based on inconsistent statements made by two witnesses — appellant’s friend as well as the co-defendant — who lied during the investigation,” said the ruling, written by Judge Spencer Levine and joined by Judges Melanie May and Ed Artau. “We disagree and find that there was competent substantial evidence of guilt based, in part, on the trial testimony of these two witnesses who inculpated appellant in the crime.”
The ruling and media reports about Jenkins’ 2022 trial said the co-defendant, Joevan Joseph, shot Makeva Jenkins.
The media reports said Makeva Jenkins was pregnant at the time.
Joseph testified that he was offered $20,000 by Euri Jenkins to kill Makeva Jenkins, the ruling said.
Jenkins, 37, was sentenced to life in prison and is an inmate at Century Correctional Institution, according to information on the Department of Corrections website.
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Joseph pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as part of a deal and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to the ruling and the Department of Corrections website.
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