SAN DIEGO—A man who fatally beat his boyfriend at a downtown San Diego motel was sentenced May 17 to 40 years to life in state prison.
Ryan Breeland, 43, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and other charges in the death of 32-year-old Kenneth Banks, who was found dead on the morning of June 9, 2021, at a motel on 10th Avenue.
Banks’s body was discovered inside one of the motel’s rooms when employees went inside to clean it, according to Lt. Matt Dobbs of the San Diego Police Department. Breeland was arrested and booked into county jail later that day.
In addition to murder, Breeland pleaded guilty to charges of domestic violence and assault with a deadly weapon. A prior strike conviction from 2015 for assault with a deadly weapon led to a doubling of Breeland’s sentence on some of the counts. He also has a prior domestic violence conviction from 2016.
At Breeland’s sentencing hearing, Banks’s sister-in-law Kimberli Coons Banks called Banks “an angel” and “the most innocent, pure-hearted gentle soul.”
While Banks had a great love for his family, she said he also “yearned for love and acceptance from his peers and people outside of his family.”
Coons Banks said that because “Kenneth was so naive and innocent, we always worried someone would take advantage of him. And that is exactly what Ryan Breeland did to our sweet, innocent Kenneth.”
Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast read a letter in court from Banks’s sister, Kendra Banks.
“You took advantage of a person you knew wouldn’t hurt a fly,” the letter read. “You saw that as an opportunity to use and abuse and you did just that to the point that he wanted out and you couldn’t let him ... You never loved him and it breaks my heart because that’s the only thing my brother wanted: to be happy, comfortable and loved.”
