KEY WEST, Fla. — A former Key West businessman is now set to spend the rest of his life as a state prison inmate.
A judge sentenced 60-year-old Lloyd Preston Brewer III to life without parole on Thursday, a little more than a month after he was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Garrett Hughes, 21, on Feb. 13, 2023. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
Investigators said Brewer, then 57, gunned down an unarmed Hughes after he left Conch Town Liquor & Lounge, located at 3340 N. Roosevelt Blvd., after confronting the former Key West High School football star for urinating on the side of the building.
Brewer owned the small shopping center where the bar is located. He claimed self-defense, but a Monroe County jury didn’t buy it, convicting him on Jan. 21.
“I stood my ground,” Brewer had told Key West Police Department detectives in interrogation footage obtained by Local 10 News. “I feared for my life.”
RAW: Key West police interrogation of Lloyd Preston Brewer III
In a statement on Thursday, Monroe County Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield said the shooting “was not self-defense, it was a deliberate decision to reengage and escalate the confrontation with deadly force.”
Brewer, he said, “initially walked away, but instead of continuing to disengage, he turned around and chose to confront the victim again. He closed the distance, drew his weapon, and fired.”
“The jury saw exactly what happened and rejected his claims,” Mansfield said. “Garrett Hughes’ family and friends were present at every hearing, every motion, and every stage of this case, forced to relive that night, time and time again. No sentence will ever bring him back, and they will forever carry the weight of this needless and senseless act.”
Officials said Brewer has the right to appeal his conviction.
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