The State Attorney’s Office announces that Kirkland Lehto, 27, was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder with a firearm.

On April 25, a Palm Beach County jury found Lehto guilty in the 2021 death of a 31-year-old man whom he had just met. The defendant shot the victim as they rode in a truck that was driven by a friend near Loxahatchee.

The sentence imposed by the court includes a 25-year mandatory prison term, to be served day for day without any gain time.

Assistant State Attorneys Courtney Behar and Bethany Johnson prosecuted the case.