Trial Date Set For Accused Seminole Heights Serial Killer

TAMPA, FL — Accused Seminole Heights serial murderer Howell Donaldson III is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 10, 2020.

Hillsborough County Circuit Court Judge Mark Wolfe announced the trial date during a disposition hearing Tuesday. Donaldson appeared in court but did not speak other than to answer, "Yes, sir," when Wolfe asked him if he understood the proceedings.

Donaldson, 26, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of four people in the Seminole Heights area during the fall of 2017. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty.

Even though the trial is a year away, Hillsborough County Public Defender Julianne Holt told Wolfe it will be a challenge for her office to be ready with a defense by that time.

"We still have over 200 depositions to take, so I don’t know that 2020 would appear realistic," she said. "I do know that our offices are already scheduled out for trial throughout, I believe, May of 2020 at this time."

The random shooting deaths of four people on the streets of east Seminole Heights between Oct. 17 and Nov. 14, 2017, received national coverage.

Donaldson was arrested Nov. 28, 2017, at his workplace at the Ybor City McDonald's after he asked his manager to hold a paper bag for him while he went to get a check cashed. The bag contained the gun that forensics later proved was the murder weapon.

The victims were 22-year-old Benjamin Mitchell, 32-year-old Monica Hoffa, 20-year-old Anthony Naiboa and 60-year-old Ronald Felton.

The next disposition hearing is set for Nov. 5.

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Octavio Jones/Tampa Bay Times via AP, Pool