Florida – A Florida man was convicted last week of second-degree murder in the death of his spouse, 33-year-old Katherine, according to the Office of the State Attorney for the 4th Judicial Circuit. The conviction followed a bench trial in which Judge SaIem found him guilty. Hemans now faces up to life in prison, with sentencing scheduled for a later date.
The investigation process bean in May 2021 after Florida authorities received a report of a deceased person. When officers arrived they encountered the defendant, 33-year-old S. Hamans, who told them he had struck his spouse with a bIunt object; he was detained at the scene and investigators entered the apartment and found the victim deceased with severe trauma to her head.
According to the State Attorney’s Office and the police report, the defendant admitted to officers that he arrived at the apartment roughly 45 minutes before his wife and their baby returned. He said that as the victim walked toward a bedroom, he struck her in the back of the head with a bIunt object. The two struggled over the bar, and the defendant told investigators he regained control and struck her several more times, causing fatal injuries.
Prosecutors and police said the defendant told them there had been no argument or immediate provocation at the time of the attack. Instead, he described a motive rooted in a long-running belief that his wife had been performing “spirituaI practices” on him for years, and he told officers that this belief led him to commit the killing. Those statements were included in the State Attorney’s account of the case and were relayed during the bench trial.
The investigation was led by the Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit. Investigators processed the scene and seized the pipe described by the defendant; forensic examination and the medical examiner’s findings established that the victim suffered severe blunt force trauma to the head consistent with multiple blows. The State Attorney’s Office summarized the events and evidence in a news release after the verdict.
During interviews with law enforcement, after being advised of his rights, the defendant provided a post-Miranda statement acknowledging the sequence he described: that he struck the victim as she walked away toward the bedroom, that they struggled over the pipe, and that he struck her several more times. That admission to officers was a central factual element the judge weighed in finding him guilty of second-degree murder at the bench trial.
Community members and advocacy groups have noted the case as an example of domestic violence with tragic consequences; the State Attorney’s Office and local news outlets have emphasized the factual record from the scene, the defendant’s own statements to responding officers, and the medical evidence establishing the cause of death. The investigation and trial record, as summarized by prosecutors and reported by local media, provide the basis for the conviction.
