Vincent Madhavath was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday for hiring a hitman to kill his wife.
Vincent Madhavath, 45, of Winter Haven.
Madhavath, 45, was convicted of attempted first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder by a jury on Sept. 29, 2016, after a three-day trial in front of Judge Yancey. Following his 20-year sentence, Yancey also gave him 10 years of probation.
During the trial, jurors learned Madhavath planned to have a hitman – who was an undercover Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent – enter his home after midnight and shoot his wife in the head.
The undercover FDLE agent and Madhavath met numerous times between May 2014 and August 2014 to discuss the details of the murder. In a video recording from one of their meetings, Madhavath handed the agent $5,000 in cash and a photo of his wife.
Assistant State Attorney Ashley McCarthy asked Judge Yancey to sentence Madhavath to 30 years in prison.
“He may not have been the one pulling the trigger,” McCarthy said, “but he’s more dangerous because he’s the mastermind.”
Madhavath’s wife pleaded with the judge to only sentence him to eight years because she needed him at home to help with their children. Friends of Madhavath’s sent in letters on his behalf, telling the judge he’s a “good guy.”
McCarthy said that Madhavath may seem like a good person from his friends’ perspectives, “but we saw the real him,” she said.
Judge Yancey sentenced him to 20 years, stating that he believed Madhavath was living a double life.
https://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/VincentMadhavath-1.jpg480400Kaitlyn Pearsonhttps://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Office-of-the-State-Attorney-10th-Judicial-Circuit-Logo.pngKaitlyn Pearson2017-01-18 15:19:022017-07-06 14:51:26SENTENCING UPDATE: Winter Haven man gets 20 years
Trevontae Shuler walked up to Pizzano’s Pizza with a red hoodie tied tightly around his face and a gun in his hand.
The firearm Shuler used to rob Pizzano’s Pizza sits in evidence Wednesday during trial.
About 5:15 p.m. on April 15, 2016, Shuler entered the Lake Wales store and pointed the weapon at the 16-year-old cashier, demanding she give him all the money from the register. Once he had the cash in hand, Shuler fled from the Lake Wales store, avoiding arrest by Lake Wales Police Department officers and a K-9.
Five days later, police spotted Shuler – who was wearing a hoodie tied around his face – at a RaceTrac. Shuler fled from officers again but was apprehended by a K-9 after ignoring requests to stand down.
A two-day trial came to a close after the jury deliberated for less than five minutes Thursday morning, finding Shuler guilty of robbery with a firearm.
Trevontae Shuler, 21, of Lake Wales.
Shuler was released from prison for grand theft of a firearm, trafficking in stolen property and attempted burglary of a dwelling just five months prior to committing the Pizzano’s robbery. He faces life in prison and will be sentenced for robbery with a firearm on January 26.
Law enforcement later found that the firearm Shuler used had been taken from a friend he was living with. They recovered the gun in a shed on another person’s property.
The defense attorney argued that because there was no evidence of fingerprints on the gun, anyone could have taken it. But when law enforcement checked the serial number on the firearm Schuler used and the one that had been taken from his friend, they matched.
Assistant State Attorney Jaenea Gorman reminded jurors that Shuler told law enforcement he took the gun from his friend.
“Why do we need fingerprints or DNA to prove it? He told you where he got it,” Gorman said. “We don’t need anything else.”
In closing statements on Thursday, she told jurors Shuler’s actions leading up to the incident proved that his sole intention upon entering Pizzano’s was to rob it, to which he later confessed. But the defense claimed Shuler’s confession was forced and that he had been falsely accused.
“These aren’t statements from somebody who is falsely confessing. These are statements from somebody who was actually there,” Gorman said, urging the jury to think back to Shuler’s taped confession that was played in court.
She reminded them that Shuler remembered exactly what he told the Pizzano’s cashier when he pointed the gun at her. He even repeated it to the detective: “Give me all of the cash out of the register.”
“Nobody prompted him to say that (in the confession),” Gorman said. “The detective wasn’t suggesting the answers. He was asking, and the defendant answered.”
https://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Trevontae-Shuler.jpg600480Kaitlyn Pearsonhttps://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Office-of-the-State-Attorney-10th-Judicial-Circuit-Logo.pngKaitlyn Pearson2017-01-13 15:09:522017-07-06 15:09:19JURY VERDICT: Lake Wales man guilty of armed robbery
Leo Jackson parked his scooter in the shadows and walked toward his ex-girlfriend’s house with a loaded firearm.
Assistant State Attorney Natalie Oven holds up the firearm Leo Jackson used to shoot into his ex’s house. She also presented a shell casing and projectile to the jury as evidence.
About 11 p.m. on Dec. 24, 2015, Jackson walked around his ex’s house, yelled obscenities and shook the window air conditioning units. He then lifted his firearm and shot twice – first into the dining room window, scattering shards of glass across the room and onto the victim’s Christmas tree, and second into the siding of the house.
Jackson, 56, of Bartow, was found guilty of shooting into a building and trespassing by a jury on Thursday afternoon. Immediately following his conviction, Jackson was sentenced to 10 years in Florida State Prison by Judge Kelly Butz.
Leo Jackson, 56, of Bartow, was found guilty of shooting into a building and trespassing by a jury Thursday afternoon.
Jackson’s taped statements were played in court during the two-day trial, and in an interview with law enforcement, Jackson said there was no way he could have shot into the house because he’d been at home all evening. Police reminded him that when they arrived on scene, his scooter’s engine was warm.
Further attempts to exonerate himself included Jackson telling law enforcement he didn’t know the victim – even though he’d dated her for 10 years – claiming he had no reason to have been at her house.
But Assistant State Attorney Natalie Oven told jurors there was a reason Jackson fired shots at his ex’s home: He was upset that she’d had broken up with him and was dating another man.
The defense argued that the incident had nothing to do with a lovers’ quarrel and that his client was framed, but Oven rebutted the defense’s claims through witness testimony.
Not only did the victim recognize Jackson’s voice when he was yelling at her, a woman sitting across the street saw him park his scooter and lurk around the house before shooting into it.
ASA Oven holds up a photo of the gold scooter Jackson parked outside his ex’s house. A witness saw him drive up on it before he shot into the house.
The woman, who has known Jackson and the victim for three years and was aware of their breakup, said she found it odd that he was flitting in and out of the shadows around the house.
She said she had no doubt it was Jackson because she saw his face.
“It’s the defendant who did it,” Oven said in her closing statement Thursday. “He’s the one with the motive. He’s the one who’s angry.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed through ballistics that a shell casing found outside the house and a projectile recovered from the siding matched Jackson’s firearm.
“Not only did a shooting occur, but we know that it was no one other than the defendant,” Oven said. “No reasonable, logical conclusion could lead anyone to believe it was someone other than him (Jackson). The evidence points only to him.”
https://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Leo-Jackson.jpg600480Kaitlyn Pearsonhttps://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Office-of-the-State-Attorney-10th-Judicial-Circuit-Logo.pngKaitlyn Pearson2016-12-19 14:54:152017-07-06 15:15:00JURY VERDICT: Bartow man guilty of shooting into ex’s house
After two and a half hours of deliberation, a jury found Wesley Booker guilty of first-degree murder.
Wesley Booker, 26, of Lakeland.
Booker, 26, of Lakeland, shot and killed Maurice Knight – a rival gang member – in Feb. of 2015. Booker was sentenced to life in prison by Judge Harb immediately following his conviction at the end of a two-week trial.
Assistant State Attorneys David Stamey and Kristie Ducharme prosecuted the case, and in closing arguments Wednesday, Stamey told jurors the situation was a “recipe for disaster” from the beginning.
“These two (Booker and Knight) had a reason not to like each other,” Stamey said.
Knight’s gang got involved in a fight with Booker’s gang at a club in Winter Haven prior to the shooting, and Stamey said, security video shows Booker throwing punches at Knight.
After the fight was broken up, both sides went outside. Shots were fired into the air with Booker’s gun by fellow gang member Quintyn Davis, who was agitated after being “beat down” in the scuffle.
Booker’s friend Quintyn Davis was “beat down” in the scuffle. When they got in the car to leave, Booker asked Davis how they should deal with the fact that they’d been beaten.
They decided to follow the other gang back to Lakeland and “figure it out as they went,” Stamey said.
Booker saw the other gang’s vehicle turn into a gas station at Havendale Boulevard and U.S. 17. Booker turned off the lights to his vehicle and rolled down the window.
During closing statements Wednesday, Assistant State Attorney David Stamey shows the jury how Wesley Booker fired the handgun at Maurice Knight from inside a vehicle. Booker was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday and was sentenced to life in prison by Judge Harb.
As he drove by, he pointed the gun at Knight and fired.
The footage shows people duck as Knight falls into a friend’s lap.
A bullet traveled through his lungs and lodged in his heart, killing him.
In Booker’s statement to police, he claimed Davis had the gun, reached over and fired at Knight from inside the car. But evidence rebutted Booker’s version of the story – a shell casing was found on the ground at the gas station.
“Booker gave multiple versions of what happened in an attempt to desperately wiggle off the hook he found himself on,” Stamey said.
Stamey anticipated the defense would argue that Booker simply fired in Knight’s direction and that it was an “Annie Oakley shot that he couldn’t reduplicate.”
“Does that in any way take away from the fact that he accomplished exactly what he did?” Stamey asked the jurors. “The fact that it was one heck of a shot is irrelevant. He succeeded with what he attempted to do.”
Stamey told the jury it was Booker’s decisions and actions alone that led to Knight’s death.
“He hit who he was aiming at,” Stamey said. “Hold him accountable.”
https://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Wesley-Booker.jpg480400Kaitlyn Pearsonhttps://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Office-of-the-State-Attorney-10th-Judicial-Circuit-Logo.pngKaitlyn Pearson2016-11-17 19:40:022017-07-06 15:17:53JURY VERDICT: Lakeland man convicted for murder of rival gang member
PANAMA CITY – State Attorney Jerry Hill was honored alongside State Attorney Willie Meggs, Second Judicial Circuit, for 32 years of public service as State Attorney.
State Attorney Jerry Hill, right, stands next to State Attorney Willie Meggs, Second Judicial Circuit, after receiving the Eugene Whitworth Memorial Award Tuesday in Panama City Beach.
Both Hill and Meggs were elected in 1984 and are retiring at the end of this year. They were presented with the Eugene Whitworth Memorial Award for outstanding leadership by the Florida Prosecuting Attorney’s Association at their annual conference in Panama City Beach on Tuesday.
“I will tell you that being a Florida prosecutor has been the career of a lifetime,” Hill said upon accepting the award, “and I simply want to say thank you for allowing me to be part of it.”
The inscription on the Eugene Whitworth Memorial Award says: In recognition of outstanding leadership, achievements and contributions to the criminal justice system. For faithful service to your circuit, community and citizens of the state of Florida. Your leadership will serve as an example for those who follow.
Hill, left, thanked FPAA for recognizing him at the Awards Luncheon on Tuesday.
https://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Award1.jpg30724608Kaitlyn Pearsonhttps://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Office-of-the-State-Attorney-10th-Judicial-Circuit-Logo.pngKaitlyn Pearson2016-11-17 19:22:242017-07-06 15:20:33State Attorney Jerry Hill honored by FPAA
Joshua Davis stood in front of his third victim, the gun facing his forehead at point-blank range.
Joshua Davis, 37, of Winter Haven was found guilty of shooting and killing two Polk State College students and injuring a third. He will be sentenced Dec. 9 by Judge Harb.
Davis had just shot and killed Polk State College students Joe Palacios and Christian Rodriguez, both 19, before turning the gun on Esteban Zavala, who feared he would be shot next.
“I didn’t see any hesitation, any doubt,” 23-year-old Zavala said from the witness stand Oct. 20, recalling how Davis murdered his friends. “At that point, I’d just accepted that’s how I was going to die.”
“I just accepted that it was going to happen and that’s it,” he said. “The next thing I knew, I heard a bang, and I just passed out.”
A jury deliberated for three hours Friday and found 37-year-old Davis guilty of murdering two students and attempting to kill a third, bringing a three-week trial to an end. Davis was found guilty of two counts of second degree murder, one count of attempted first degree murder and child abuse.
Assistant State Attorney John Waters questioned the surviving victim, Esteban Zavala, taking jurors back to the evening of April 24, 2012.
Assistant State Attorney John Waters addresses the jury during opening statements of Joshua Davis’ trial Monday, Oct. 17.
The four men met when they worked at McDonald’s in Winter Haven and decided to smoke marijuana together with Davis at his Lake Howard apartment. Rodriguez and Zavala stepped outside to smoke with Davis while Palacios stayed inside with Davis’ 7-year-old daughter.
Upon returning to the apartment, Zavala said, they didn’t talk much, but he watched as Davis “darted down the hallway” to his bedroom.
“Everything seemed weird,” Davis said in a sworn statement to law enforcement that was played during trial.
Davis claimed he felt the three students were sending signals to each other, so he felt like he needed to protect his home.
“I could see them shake their heads ever so slightly. I just knew they were about to do something,” Davis told law enforcement. “Something inside me told me it wasn’t OK.”
Davis said he saw “darkness in their faces” and had a “dark feeling” come over him.
Zavala said he heard bangs and saw flashes of light come from the hallway. Both Rodriguez and Palacios were shot in the head at point-blank range.
As Zavala tried to hide behind a couch, he felt his leg give out but didn’t realize he’d just been shot. Davis walked around the couch to where Zavala was laying and pointed the gun at his forehead.
“What are you doing? Why are you doing this?” Zavala asked Davis.
Davis didn’t hesitate. He shot Zavala in the left temple, but the bullet passed through his face and stopped in his right cheek.
Assistant State Attorney John Waters points to a hand-drawn picture of the inside of Joshua Davis’ house. Waters used the map to show jurors where each of the students were when Davis shot them.
Zavala regained consciousness and pulled himself up to see Davis talking to his daughter while holding the gun in his hand. Zavala’s vision had a purple hue, he could only open his right eye and his ears were ringing, but he realized he only had one chance to get the gun away from Davis.
“I either try and get that gun off of him … or I’m dying and die trying,” Zavala said from the stand.
He lunged at Davis and fought him for the gun. He placed his hands over the trigger, making sure the gun wasn’t pointed at Davis’ daughter, and squeezed until three more bullets fired.
But Zavala wasn’t sure he’d emptied the gun of its bullets.
He fell backward and watched as Davis pointed the gun at him again, inches away from his face.
“All I heard was just the click noise of the gun,” Zavala said. “When I heard the click, it was a frozen moment.
Zavala was able to make it out of the apartment and down the stairs where he was able to get medical help.
“There are two guys inside, and I’m pretty sure I killed both of them,” Davis told a medic at the crime scene. “I just got so scared … It’s almost like could read their minds by looking at their faces and feeling the vibes.”
Assistant State Attorney John Waters speaks to the jury during closing statements Thursday, Oct. 27. The jury deliberated for three hours on Oct. 29 before finding Davis guilty of second-degree murder and attempted first degree murder.
The defense claimed Davis was simply protecting his daughter and his home. They also claimed Davis was legally insane.
Waters argued that Davis’ paranoia after smoking marijuana was not a valid defense for murdering two people and attempting to murder a third. He also said it’s clear Davis wasn’t insane because he questioned his own actions during his statement to police.
“I just remember almost blind firing … I was very angry,” Davis said. “All I remember is thinking to myself, ‘What am I doing?’”
Davis will be sentenced by Judge Harb Dec. 9.
https://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/JoshuaDavis.jpg480400Kaitlyn Pearsonhttps://www.sao10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Office-of-the-State-Attorney-10th-Judicial-Circuit-Logo.pngKaitlyn Pearson2016-11-01 19:14:342017-07-06 15:26:10JURY VERDICT: Man guilty of killing two students, shooting another
SENTENCING UPDATE: Winter Haven man gets 20 years
/in SAO10 Blog /by Kaitlyn PearsonVincent Madhavath was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday for hiring a hitman to kill his wife.
Vincent Madhavath, 45, of Winter Haven.
Madhavath, 45, was convicted of attempted first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder by a jury on Sept. 29, 2016, after a three-day trial in front of Judge Yancey. Following his 20-year sentence, Yancey also gave him 10 years of probation.
During the trial, jurors learned Madhavath planned to have a hitman – who was an undercover Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent – enter his home after midnight and shoot his wife in the head.
The undercover FDLE agent and Madhavath met numerous times between May 2014 and August 2014 to discuss the details of the murder. In a video recording from one of their meetings, Madhavath handed the agent $5,000 in cash and a photo of his wife.
Assistant State Attorney Ashley McCarthy asked Judge Yancey to sentence Madhavath to 30 years in prison.
“He may not have been the one pulling the trigger,” McCarthy said, “but he’s more dangerous because he’s the mastermind.”
Madhavath’s wife pleaded with the judge to only sentence him to eight years because she needed him at home to help with their children. Friends of Madhavath’s sent in letters on his behalf, telling the judge he’s a “good guy.”
McCarthy said that Madhavath may seem like a good person from his friends’ perspectives, “but we saw the real him,” she said.
Judge Yancey sentenced him to 20 years, stating that he believed Madhavath was living a double life.
JURY VERDICT: Lake Wales man guilty of armed robbery
/in SAO10 Blog /by Kaitlyn PearsonTrevontae Shuler walked up to Pizzano’s Pizza with a red hoodie tied tightly around his face and a gun in his hand.
The firearm Shuler used to rob Pizzano’s Pizza sits in evidence Wednesday during trial.
About 5:15 p.m. on April 15, 2016, Shuler entered the Lake Wales store and pointed the weapon at the 16-year-old cashier, demanding she give him all the money from the register. Once he had the cash in hand, Shuler fled from the Lake Wales store, avoiding arrest by Lake Wales Police Department officers and a K-9.
Five days later, police spotted Shuler – who was wearing a hoodie tied around his face – at a RaceTrac. Shuler fled from officers again but was apprehended by a K-9 after ignoring requests to stand down.
A two-day trial came to a close after the jury deliberated for less than five minutes Thursday morning, finding Shuler guilty of robbery with a firearm.
Trevontae Shuler, 21, of Lake Wales.
Shuler was released from prison for grand theft of a firearm, trafficking in stolen property and attempted burglary of a dwelling just five months prior to committing the Pizzano’s robbery. He faces life in prison and will be sentenced for robbery with a firearm on January 26.
Law enforcement later found that the firearm Shuler used had been taken from a friend he was living with. They recovered the gun in a shed on another person’s property.
The defense attorney argued that because there was no evidence of fingerprints on the gun, anyone could have taken it. But when law enforcement checked the serial number on the firearm Schuler used and the one that had been taken from his friend, they matched.
Assistant State Attorney Jaenea Gorman reminded jurors that Shuler told law enforcement he took the gun from his friend.
“Why do we need fingerprints or DNA to prove it? He told you where he got it,” Gorman said. “We don’t need anything else.”
In closing statements on Thursday, she told jurors Shuler’s actions leading up to the incident proved that his sole intention upon entering Pizzano’s was to rob it, to which he later confessed. But the defense claimed Shuler’s confession was forced and that he had been falsely accused.
“These aren’t statements from somebody who is falsely confessing. These are statements from somebody who was actually there,” Gorman said, urging the jury to think back to Shuler’s taped confession that was played in court.
She reminded them that Shuler remembered exactly what he told the Pizzano’s cashier when he pointed the gun at her. He even repeated it to the detective: “Give me all of the cash out of the register.”
“Nobody prompted him to say that (in the confession),” Gorman said. “The detective wasn’t suggesting the answers. He was asking, and the defendant answered.”
JURY VERDICT: Bartow man guilty of shooting into ex’s house
/in SAO10 Blog /by Kaitlyn PearsonLeo Jackson parked his scooter in the shadows and walked toward his ex-girlfriend’s house with a loaded firearm.
Assistant State Attorney Natalie Oven holds up the firearm Leo Jackson used to shoot into his ex’s house. She also presented a shell casing and projectile to the jury as evidence.
About 11 p.m. on Dec. 24, 2015, Jackson walked around his ex’s house, yelled obscenities and shook the window air conditioning units. He then lifted his firearm and shot twice – first into the dining room window, scattering shards of glass across the room and onto the victim’s Christmas tree, and second into the siding of the house.
Jackson, 56, of Bartow, was found guilty of shooting into a building and trespassing by a jury on Thursday afternoon. Immediately following his conviction, Jackson was sentenced to 10 years in Florida State Prison by Judge Kelly Butz.
Leo Jackson, 56, of Bartow, was found guilty of shooting into a building and trespassing by a jury Thursday afternoon.
Jackson’s taped statements were played in court during the two-day trial, and in an interview with law enforcement, Jackson said there was no way he could have shot into the house because he’d been at home all evening. Police reminded him that when they arrived on scene, his scooter’s engine was warm.
Further attempts to exonerate himself included Jackson telling law enforcement he didn’t know the victim – even though he’d dated her for 10 years – claiming he had no reason to have been at her house.
But Assistant State Attorney Natalie Oven told jurors there was a reason Jackson fired shots at his ex’s home: He was upset that she’d had broken up with him and was dating another man.
The defense argued that the incident had nothing to do with a lovers’ quarrel and that his client was framed, but Oven rebutted the defense’s claims through witness testimony.
Not only did the victim recognize Jackson’s voice when he was yelling at her, a woman sitting across the street saw him park his scooter and lurk around the house before shooting into it.
ASA Oven holds up a photo of the gold scooter Jackson parked outside his ex’s house. A witness saw him drive up on it before he shot into the house.
The woman, who has known Jackson and the victim for three years and was aware of their breakup, said she found it odd that he was flitting in and out of the shadows around the house.
She said she had no doubt it was Jackson because she saw his face.
“It’s the defendant who did it,” Oven said in her closing statement Thursday. “He’s the one with the motive. He’s the one who’s angry.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed through ballistics that a shell casing found outside the house and a projectile recovered from the siding matched Jackson’s firearm.
“Not only did a shooting occur, but we know that it was no one other than the defendant,” Oven said. “No reasonable, logical conclusion could lead anyone to believe it was someone other than him (Jackson). The evidence points only to him.”
JURY VERDICT: Lakeland man convicted for murder of rival gang member
/in SAO10 Blog /by Kaitlyn PearsonAfter two and a half hours of deliberation, a jury found Wesley Booker guilty of first-degree murder.
Wesley Booker, 26, of Lakeland.
Booker, 26, of Lakeland, shot and killed Maurice Knight – a rival gang member – in Feb. of 2015. Booker was sentenced to life in prison by Judge Harb immediately following his conviction at the end of a two-week trial.
Assistant State Attorneys David Stamey and Kristie Ducharme prosecuted the case, and in closing arguments Wednesday, Stamey told jurors the situation was a “recipe for disaster” from the beginning.
“These two (Booker and Knight) had a reason not to like each other,” Stamey said.
Knight’s gang got involved in a fight with Booker’s gang at a club in Winter Haven prior to the shooting, and Stamey said, security video shows Booker throwing punches at Knight.
After the fight was broken up, both sides went outside. Shots were fired into the air with Booker’s gun by fellow gang member Quintyn Davis, who was agitated after being “beat down” in the scuffle.
Booker’s friend Quintyn Davis was “beat down” in the scuffle. When they got in the car to leave, Booker asked Davis how they should deal with the fact that they’d been beaten.
They decided to follow the other gang back to Lakeland and “figure it out as they went,” Stamey said.
Booker saw the other gang’s vehicle turn into a gas station at Havendale Boulevard and U.S. 17. Booker turned off the lights to his vehicle and rolled down the window.
During closing statements Wednesday, Assistant State Attorney David Stamey shows the jury how Wesley Booker fired the handgun at Maurice Knight from inside a vehicle. Booker was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday and was sentenced to life in prison by Judge Harb.
As he drove by, he pointed the gun at Knight and fired.
The footage shows people duck as Knight falls into a friend’s lap.
A bullet traveled through his lungs and lodged in his heart, killing him.
In Booker’s statement to police, he claimed Davis had the gun, reached over and fired at Knight from inside the car. But evidence rebutted Booker’s version of the story – a shell casing was found on the ground at the gas station.
“Booker gave multiple versions of what happened in an attempt to desperately wiggle off the hook he found himself on,” Stamey said.
Stamey anticipated the defense would argue that Booker simply fired in Knight’s direction and that it was an “Annie Oakley shot that he couldn’t reduplicate.”
“Does that in any way take away from the fact that he accomplished exactly what he did?” Stamey asked the jurors. “The fact that it was one heck of a shot is irrelevant. He succeeded with what he attempted to do.”
Stamey told the jury it was Booker’s decisions and actions alone that led to Knight’s death.
“He hit who he was aiming at,” Stamey said. “Hold him accountable.”
State Attorney Jerry Hill honored by FPAA
/in SAO10 Blog /by Kaitlyn PearsonPANAMA CITY – State Attorney Jerry Hill was honored alongside State Attorney Willie Meggs, Second Judicial Circuit, for 32 years of public service as State Attorney.
State Attorney Jerry Hill, right, stands next to State Attorney Willie Meggs, Second Judicial Circuit, after receiving the Eugene Whitworth Memorial Award Tuesday in Panama City Beach.
Both Hill and Meggs were elected in 1984 and are retiring at the end of this year. They were presented with the Eugene Whitworth Memorial Award for outstanding leadership by the Florida Prosecuting Attorney’s Association at their annual conference in Panama City Beach on Tuesday.
“I will tell you that being a Florida prosecutor has been the career of a lifetime,” Hill said upon accepting the award, “and I simply want to say thank you for allowing me to be part of it.”
The inscription on the Eugene Whitworth Memorial Award says: In recognition of outstanding leadership, achievements and contributions to the criminal justice system. For faithful service to your circuit, community and citizens of the state of Florida. Your leadership will serve as an example for those who follow.
Hill, left, thanked FPAA for recognizing him at the Awards Luncheon on Tuesday.
JURY VERDICT: Man guilty of killing two students, shooting another
/in SAO10 Blog /by Kaitlyn PearsonJoshua Davis stood in front of his third victim, the gun facing his forehead at point-blank range.
Joshua Davis, 37, of Winter Haven was found guilty of shooting and killing two Polk State College students and injuring a third. He will be sentenced Dec. 9 by Judge Harb.
Davis had just shot and killed Polk State College students Joe Palacios and Christian Rodriguez, both 19, before turning the gun on Esteban Zavala, who feared he would be shot next.
“I didn’t see any hesitation, any doubt,” 23-year-old Zavala said from the witness stand Oct. 20, recalling how Davis murdered his friends. “At that point, I’d just accepted that’s how I was going to die.”
“I just accepted that it was going to happen and that’s it,” he said. “The next thing I knew, I heard a bang, and I just passed out.”
A jury deliberated for three hours Friday and found 37-year-old Davis guilty of murdering two students and attempting to kill a third, bringing a three-week trial to an end. Davis was found guilty of two counts of second degree murder, one count of attempted first degree murder and child abuse.
Assistant State Attorney John Waters questioned the surviving victim, Esteban Zavala, taking jurors back to the evening of April 24, 2012.
Assistant State Attorney John Waters addresses the jury during opening statements of Joshua Davis’ trial Monday, Oct. 17.
The four men met when they worked at McDonald’s in Winter Haven and decided to smoke marijuana together with Davis at his Lake Howard apartment. Rodriguez and Zavala stepped outside to smoke with Davis while Palacios stayed inside with Davis’ 7-year-old daughter.
Upon returning to the apartment, Zavala said, they didn’t talk much, but he watched as Davis “darted down the hallway” to his bedroom.
“Everything seemed weird,” Davis said in a sworn statement to law enforcement that was played during trial.
Davis claimed he felt the three students were sending signals to each other, so he felt like he needed to protect his home.
“I could see them shake their heads ever so slightly. I just knew they were about to do something,” Davis told law enforcement. “Something inside me told me it wasn’t OK.”
Davis said he saw “darkness in their faces” and had a “dark feeling” come over him.
Zavala said he heard bangs and saw flashes of light come from the hallway. Both Rodriguez and Palacios were shot in the head at point-blank range.
As Zavala tried to hide behind a couch, he felt his leg give out but didn’t realize he’d just been shot. Davis walked around the couch to where Zavala was laying and pointed the gun at his forehead.
“What are you doing? Why are you doing this?” Zavala asked Davis.
Davis didn’t hesitate. He shot Zavala in the left temple, but the bullet passed through his face and stopped in his right cheek.
Assistant State Attorney John Waters points to a hand-drawn picture of the inside of Joshua Davis’ house. Waters used the map to show jurors where each of the students were when Davis shot them.
Zavala regained consciousness and pulled himself up to see Davis talking to his daughter while holding the gun in his hand. Zavala’s vision had a purple hue, he could only open his right eye and his ears were ringing, but he realized he only had one chance to get the gun away from Davis.
“I either try and get that gun off of him … or I’m dying and die trying,” Zavala said from the stand.
He lunged at Davis and fought him for the gun. He placed his hands over the trigger, making sure the gun wasn’t pointed at Davis’ daughter, and squeezed until three more bullets fired.
But Zavala wasn’t sure he’d emptied the gun of its bullets.
He fell backward and watched as Davis pointed the gun at him again, inches away from his face.
“All I heard was just the click noise of the gun,” Zavala said. “When I heard the click, it was a frozen moment.
Zavala was able to make it out of the apartment and down the stairs where he was able to get medical help.
“There are two guys inside, and I’m pretty sure I killed both of them,” Davis told a medic at the crime scene. “I just got so scared … It’s almost like could read their minds by looking at their faces and feeling the vibes.”
Assistant State Attorney John Waters speaks to the jury during closing statements Thursday, Oct. 27. The jury deliberated for three hours on Oct. 29 before finding Davis guilty of second-degree murder and attempted first degree murder.
The defense claimed Davis was simply protecting his daughter and his home. They also claimed Davis was legally insane.
Waters argued that Davis’ paranoia after smoking marijuana was not a valid defense for murdering two people and attempting to murder a third. He also said it’s clear Davis wasn’t insane because he questioned his own actions during his statement to police.
“I just remember almost blind firing … I was very angry,” Davis said. “All I remember is thinking to myself, ‘What am I doing?’”
Davis will be sentenced by Judge Harb Dec. 9.