By John Lloyd 
The verdict in Daytona Beach lands with the weight it deserves. A jury has now put a legal end to a path of destruction that unfolded in minutes but ended a life forever. The conviction of Latravius Jacobs for first-degree murder, vehicular homicide, carjacking, and burglary of a conveyance is not just a criminal judgment. It is a blunt reminder of how speed, violence, and access to powerful vehicles collide with fatal certainty.
This case began in a motel parking lot on December 14, 2023. A vehicle was taken at gunpoint. From there, the danger escalated almost immediately. Within roughly three minutes, the stolen vehicle was traveling at 91 miles per hour through city streets. Not a highway. Not an isolated road. A city.
The consequences were swift and irreversible. While fleeing, Jacobs ran a red light at Mason and Ridgewood Avenue. The impact that followed was violent enough to launch another vehicle into the air and flip it multiple times. The driver of that vehicle died at the scene. No warning. No chance to react. Just the blunt force of someone else’s decision to treat public streets as an escape route.
This is where the failure becomes impossible to ignore. Cars are still treated as neutral objects in crimes like this, even when they are clearly being used as weapons. Ninety-one miles per hour through an intersection is not an accident. It is a choice. And the system has spent years underestimating how lethal that choice can be.
The Daytona Beach Police Department reconstructed the timeline, and prosecutors laid it out clearly during a three-day trial. The jury did not hesitate. The charges stuck because the facts were unavoidable. Speed magnified every decision. The stolen vehicle did exactly what physics demands when pushed past limits in the wrong place.
This case did not hinge on complex legal theories. It hinged on reality. A stolen car, a red light ignored, and a life erased.
Sentencing is scheduled for February 9, 2026, but the broader message cannot wait that long. Violent car theft paired with extreme speed is not just criminal behavior. It is a public safety crisis that turns ordinary intersections into killing zones.
The verdict forces a hard truth into the open. When a vehicle is driven like a missile through city streets, the law must treat it that way. This time, it did.
Source
Shawn Henry