DETROIT – A man convicted of murder for killing a man at a trucking business before allegedly fatally shooting another man in a different suburban Detroit community has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Forty-six-year-old Vernest Griffin of Sterling Heights was sentenced Monday. A Wayne County jury earlier found him guilty of first-degree murder and other charges in connection with the February 2018 fatal shooting in Taylor of 60-year-old Keith Kitchen. Griffin declined to address the court.
Authorities said Griffin had lost his job at the company in November 2017.
Griffin also is awaiting trial in Oakland County on first-degree murder and gun charges in the slaying of 58-year-old Eriberto Perez at an aluminum stamping firm in Pontiac. Griffin was captured after a shootout with officers.