Trash can dispute between neighbors erupts in gruesome attack

TAMPA - There is no love lost between two Tampa neighbors after an altercation sent one to the hospital and another one to prison. 

It happened last August, and the beef was over trash cans. 

Recently, a jury found Kenny Blackmon guilty of aggravated battery with great bodily harm and battery. 

In a Tampa courtroom Thursday, prosecutors asked the judge to give him seven years in prison. They say back in August 2023, Blackmon, who was living in a home on N. Mitchell Ave. in Tampa, had an ongoing dispute with a woman living next door. It had to do with where the trash cans were placed in the neighborhood. It all came to a boil on Aug. 11 when they say Blackmon threw the garbage can at the woman and began punching her. Another neighbor stepped in to break it up and Blackmon attacked him too. Prosecutors say Blackmon then grabbed a brick and began striking the man in the back of the head. They say he then did something even more gruesome. He bit the man in the face. Prosecutor Nathan Watters described it for the court, "when the battery occurred the defendant bit his eyelid, there were photographs that showed his eyelid was practically detached from his eye," explained Watters. 

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Blackmon was arrested and charged with aggravated battery with a weapon. Because Blackmon is a habitual offender with five felony convictions and had just been released from prison 17 months prior to the incident, prosecutors asked for a hefty sentence. But Hillsborough public defender Daniel Amparo asked for much less time behind bars. He wanted a year in the county jail and reminded the judge of the jury’s verdict, "we are asking the court to treat this case as the jury found it was a misdemeanor offense," said Amparo. 

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Which is the court did consider, but Blackmon’s criminal history, coupled with his recent prison release weighed even more with Tampa Judge Samantha Ward, "I am going to adjudicate you guilty of each count and sentence you to 24 months in the Florida State prison," ruled Ward. 

Blackmon was fingerprinted in the courtroom and sent back to prison. 

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