Linval Raymond Cohoone Jr., 39, Sarasota, was sentenced on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, in a Sarasota County Courtroom and he will spend the rest of his life behind bars for crimes investigated by the Sarasota Police Department.  

During the early morning hours on April 6, 2018, Sarasota Police officers responded to a double shooting at a residence in the 1400 block of 21st Street, Sarasota. Two victims were found inside the residence, each suffering from a close-range gunshot wound to the head. Miraculously, both victims survived. All the evidence identified Linval Cohoone as the suspect and warrants were obtained for his arrest. 

On April 10, 2018, Cohoone was placed under arrest for two (2) counts of Attempted Murder and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Prior to this investigation, Cohoone had 45 previous felony charges, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, aggravated fleeing to elude, burglary of an occupied structure, and possession of cocaine. 

In December of 2021 and while still in custody at the Sarasota County Jail, Cohoone solicited an inmate, who he knew was to soon be released, and offered the inmate $7,500 to kill one of the surviving victims. As a result of that investigation, Cohoone was charged with Premeditated Murder (Murder for Hire). 

In December of 2022, while still in custody, Cohoone directed a three-way call from inside the jail to one of the victims. Cohoone ‘apologized’ to the victim and begs the victim to help ‘get off’ the charges. As a result of that investigation, Cohoone was charged with Violation of Pre-trial Release (Witness Tampering). 

This sentence brings closure to a nearly six-year investigation that could not have been possible without the courageous survivors, witnesses, prosecutors, Joshua Wertheim and Ethan Dunn, and former prosecutor, Kaylin Humerickhouse, with the State Attorney’s Office 12th Judicial Circuit. 

“We are very pleased with the recent sentencing of Linval Cohoone for the heinous crimes he committed on the victims in this case,” said Captain Johnathan Todd of the Sarasota Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division. “This sentence will ensure that Cohoone is never free to harm another innocent victim in our community again.” 

Cohoone was sentenced as follows:  

• 18-021774, April 2018 
  • Count 1: Attempted Murder – Mandatory life sentence 
  • Count 2: Attempted Murder – Mandatory life sentence 
    • The first two counts are consecutive sentences. Cohoone was a Prison Releasee Reoffender due to being released from the Department of Corrections on November 1, 2016.  
  • Count 3: Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon – 15 years  
• 21-001961, December 2021 
  • Count 4: Premeditated Murder (Murder for Hire) – 30 years 
  • Count 5: Violation of Pre-Trial Release (Witness Tampering) – 30 years