A Florida man convicted in a violent 2023 crime spree involving a DoorDash driver and two other women has been sentenced to four life terms in prison, bringing a major chapter of the Hillsborough County case to a close.
Joseph Killins was convicted after a jury deliberated for only about 20 minutes. The verdict followed testimony from three women who described the attacks that prosecutors said were carried out over two consecutive days in April 2023.
Killins was ultimately sentenced to four life terms for the crimes, according to the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office as reported by Tampa Bay 28.
The case centered on a DoorDash delivery that quickly turned into a violent confrontation.
According to evidence presented at trial, Killins targeted a female DoorDash driver in April 2023. Prosecutors said he kidnapped and sexually assaulted her before another woman and her twin sister came to the area after realizing something was wrong.
The confrontation that followed escalated when Killins fired a gun, striking one of the women who had arrived to help.
The violence did not end there.
Prosecutors said Killins was involved in another robbery the following day, targeting a different woman in the same general area.
Those three victims eventually took the stand in court, giving jurors firsthand accounts of what they experienced.
Their testimony became a central part of the prosecution’s case.
A DoorDash delivery turned into a kidnapping
The first incident began with what should have been an ordinary food delivery.
The DoorDash driver was working when she encountered Killins.
Prosecutors alleged that he used a firearm to control her and forced her into a situation she could not safely escape from. The case ultimately resulted in convictions related to kidnapping, sexual violence and the shooting that occurred when others attempted to intervene.
During the trial, prosecutors presented testimony describing how the victim was held against her will and sexually assaulted.
Killins disputed aspects of the allegations, and his defense attempted to challenge the prosecution’s account of the relationship between him and the victim.
But testimony presented during the trial provided jurors with a detailed account of the encounter.
One particularly significant moment came during cross-examination, when Killins acknowledged using physical force during the sexual encounter, according to trial coverage.
That testimony became part of the evidence the jury considered before reaching its verdict.
The call that brought help
The situation became even more dangerous when the victim was able to communicate with her girlfriend during the attack.
Her girlfriend and the woman’s twin sister went to the location after realizing that something was wrong.
They confronted Killins, and one of the women reportedly approached carrying a baseball bat.
Instead of ending the confrontation, prosecutors said the encounter turned into gunfire.
Killins fired his weapon, striking one of the women in the head.
The shooting added another violent felony to an already serious case and became one of the central events presented to jurors.
The woman survived, but the shooting demonstrated how quickly the situation had escalated from a delivery call into a potentially deadly confrontation.
The three victims later testified during Killins’ trial, putting their experiences directly before the jury. Tampa Bay 28 reported that all three were present in court when Killins was sentenced.
Another victim was attacked the next day
The prosecution’s case did not end with the DoorDash incident.
Authorities also connected Killins to a separate robbery that occurred the following day.
Prosecutors said he targeted another woman in her 40s in the same area, taking her backpack before fleeing.
That second incident became part of the broader criminal case against him and helped prosecutors establish the sequence of violent crimes surrounding the April 2023 attacks.
Killins was ultimately convicted of the charges arising from the separate incidents.
The case therefore involved multiple victims and more than one type of violent offense, rather than a single isolated confrontation.
The jury reached its decision quickly
After hearing the evidence and testimony, the Hillsborough County jury took approximately 20 minutes to reach its verdict.
Killins was found guilty of the charges brought against him.
The speed of the deliberations came after a trial in which prosecutors presented testimony from the victims and evidence concerning the attacks.
Following the verdict, Killins reportedly reacted angrily inside the courtroom and had to be removed by officers. According to trial coverage, he denied the accusations and shouted profanities as the verdict was being read.
The courtroom confrontation marked a dramatic end to the trial itself, but the legal process still had one major stage remaining: sentencing.
Four life sentences
That stage came with an extraordinary punishment.
Killins was sentenced to four life terms in prison.
The sentence reflects the severity of the convictions stemming from the kidnapping and sexual assault of the DoorDash driver, the shooting of the woman who intervened, and the separate robbery involving another victim.
Hillsborough County State Attorney Suzy Lopez praised the three victims for coming forward and testifying during the case.
Their willingness to appear in court meant that jurors heard directly from the women affected by the crimes rather than relying solely on police reports and other evidence.
That testimony was particularly significant in a case involving allegations of sexual violence, where a victim’s account can become a critical component of the prosecution.
A case that began more than three years ago
The sentence closes a long period of uncertainty for the victims, but the crimes themselves date back to April 2023.
For more than three years, the case moved through the criminal justice system before reaching a jury.
During that time, prosecutors built a case involving multiple victims and separate incidents.
The final trial allowed the three women to tell their stories in court.
For the DoorDash driver, what began as a routine work assignment became a terrifying ordeal involving kidnapping and sexual assault.
For the woman who came to help, the attempt to intervene ended with her being shot.
And for the third victim, a separate encounter the following day resulted in a robbery.
The four life sentences now imposed on Killins mean he will spend the rest of his life in prison under those sentences.
The victims’ courage became a central part of the case
The prosecution’s case was not simply about what happened in April 2023. It was also about whether the victims would be willing to return to court and relive what happened.
All three testified.
That meant facing the man they said had attacked them and answering questions about some of the most traumatic moments of their lives.
After the verdict and sentencing, State Attorney Suzy Lopez specifically recognized their courage in coming forward, testifying and continuing to seek justice throughout the process.
Their presence in court also provided an important reminder that the case involved real people whose lives were changed by the violence.
What the case establishes now
Unlike an active investigation in which suspects are still awaiting trial, this case has reached a different stage.
Killins has been convicted.
He has been sentenced.
And the court has imposed four life terms in prison.
That distinction matters.
The allegations that once had to be proven in court were tested before a jury, and the jury returned guilty verdicts. The sentence followed those convictions.
The case therefore no longer rests only on police accusations or charging documents. The convictions represent the outcome of the criminal trial.
At the same time, the individual details of the crimes should still be described carefully, based on what prosecutors presented and what the court established through the proceedings.
The four life sentences are the clearest indication of how seriously the court treated the crimes for which Killins was convicted.
A violent attack that began with a delivery
The case is also a disturbing reminder of how vulnerable delivery workers can be when they arrive at unfamiliar locations while working alone.
For the DoorDash driver involved in this case, a routine delivery placed her in a situation that prosecutors described as a kidnapping and sexual assault.
The attempt by others to intervene then produced another victim.
A separate robbery followed the next day.
More than three years later, the case has finally reached a point of resolution in the trial court.
Joseph Killins will spend four life terms in prison following his convictions for the violent crimes committed against the three women.
For the victims, the sentence cannot erase what happened.
But after years of investigation, court proceedings and testimony, the jury’s verdict and the life sentences have established the legal outcome of one of Hillsborough County’s most disturbing recent cases.
The three women who testified ultimately saw the man convicted of the crimes sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
And for a case that began with an ordinary DoorDash delivery in 2023, that courtroom ending represents the conclusion of a long and painful pursuit of justice.