Articles Posted in Gun Crimes in Jacksonville

A Jacksonville man who narrowly lost a “razor-close” decision that would have allowed him to walk free from murder charges has pleaded guilty to a Jackosnville reduced charge of manslaughter. Quintavious Seay pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter once the state agreed to drop the second-degree murder charge and cap the maximum prison sentence Seay will receive, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. The Florida manslaughter charge has a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, but the plea agreement calls for the sentence to range from 5 to 15 years, the newspaper reported.

Seay will be sentenced next month. The judge is not legally bound by the agreement but, in a majority of cases, once the judge accepts the plea, he or she generally issues a sentence within the agreed-upon range. Seay shot at three men who jumped him and friend for retaliation from an earlier fight, the newspaper reported. The three men attacked Seay and his friend, kicking his friend until he was almost unconscious in the street, the newspaper reported. When the men turned their attention back to Seay, he pulled out a gun and fired, killing one of the men. Witnesses said the fight was already over when Seay started shooting, which was likely the determining factor in Seay losing his Stand Your Ground defense. The Stand Your Ground law in Florida allows a person to use deadly force instead of retreating if the person fears for his or her life. The judge said in court he ruled against Seay in a “razor-close” decision and, when Seay’s Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorneys appealed the ruling, an appellate court agreed with the local judge, the newspaper reported.

The plea in this Jacksonville Gun Crimes case allows Seay to limit the potential damage in his sentence and, eventually, move on with his life. If he was found guilty at trial of second degree murder, he faced up to life in prison. Seay, 20, will now likely be out of prison before or shortly after his 30th birthday. Seay was 16 at the time of the shooting and has been in the Duval County jail since December 2009. Any sentence the judge imposes on the manslaughter charge will include credit for the more than three years Seay has already served. So a 5-year sentence would really be less than two years and a 15-year-sentence would be less than 12 years.

A former police officer is now facing an attempted murder charge in St. Johns County for allegedly shooting at a local firefighter after the two had a disagreement on the road. Nathaniel Juratovac, a former Flagler Beach police officer, was charged in the shooting last week, which hospitalized Jared Parkey, a Flagler County firefighter, according to a report in the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Parkey was hit twice in the upper body, but has since been released from the hospital, the newspaper reported.

Police have not yet said what caused the argument between the two men, who were both driving south on U.S. 1 in St. Johns County, though the newspaper reported Parkey, his wife and toddler son were on their way back from South Florida and were five miles from home when the incident occurred. Juratovac also had his wife and a young child in the car at the time, the newspaper reported. What does appear to be clear is an argument started and there was some sort of back-and-forth between the two drivers and both men eventually pulled over to the side of the road, the newspaper reported. Juratovac fired several times into the car and Parkey was hit in the upper body twice, the newspaper reported.

From a criminal defense perspective in this St. Johns County Attempted Murder Case, some of the keys will be the interplay between the two men and the actions of both during the argument. Yes, it appears that Juratovac ended the argument by shooting into the car. But, is it possible his actions could be seen as self-defense, depending on the facts of the altercation? Right now it seems like a longshot, but the picture will become much clearer once the St. Johns County Violent Crimes attorneys have a chance to dig further into the details. There are varying degrees of attempted murder in the state of Florida, and the decision prosecutors make will have a significant impact on the potential prison time exposure for Juratovac, should he be convicted or enter a plea in the case. Attempted first-degree murder would expose Juratovac to up to life in prison in this St. Johns County Attempted Murder Case. The state would have to prove Juratovac had a premeditated attempt to kill Parkey, but was just not successful. That’s unlikely to be proven, given the facts of this St. Johns County Violent Crimes case, but it may be where the case begins. Juratovac could also be charged with attempted second-degree murder, which basically means he was engaged in an inherently dangerous act with a disregard for the fact his actions could kill someone. Attempted second-degree murder is a second-degree felony in Florida, punishable by up to 15 years in state prison. Either way, a seemingly routine drive appears to have led to an incident where Juratovac is now facing a significant amount of time behind bars.

A Jacksonville woman was arrested in Jacksonville on a murder charge last week, accused of shooting her ex-boyfriend several times when he went to a Jacksonville Post Office to pick up some mail. Arianne Myles was arrested the day after the shooting, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Police say Myles was driving and saw Harold Davis in the Post Office parking lot. She then pulled into the parking lot, got a gun from the trunk of her car and opened fire, shooting Davis several times and killing him, the newspaper reported.

Myles is in jail with no Duval County bond and will be arraigned on formal charges next month. Prosecutors have not yet filed the charges, they have 40 days to do so, and it’s not yet clear what degree murder Myles will be charged with. If the state does decide to file a first-degree murder charge, it must go to a grand jury to have the decision approved. If Myles is convicted of or pleads guilty to first-degree murder in this Jacksonville Violent Crimes Case, the only possibilities for her sentence are life in prison or the death penalty.

The difference between first-degree murder and other murder charges is the state must prove the killing was premeditated for it to be first-degree murder. Myles and Davis dated for more than two years and Myles ended the relationship but then sought to get back together, the newspaper reported. By that time, Davis had moved on. There have been no media reports of how Myles happened upon Davis that day, and happened to have a gun in the trunk of her car. The newspaper reported she did not have any concealed weapons permits, nor did she have any criminal record. There also did not appear to be an argument in the parking lot, or anything that may have started small and escalated to the point Myles allegedly decided to go get a gun to protect herself.

In rare move for Jacksonville prosecutors, the state dropped a first-degree murder charge against a Jacksonville man and instead allowed him to plead guilty to lesser charges that now amount to five years in prison. Keir Delancy instead pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and attempted manslaughter, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Delancy was sentenced to five years in prison on each count, but the judge ordered they be served concurrently. That means Delancy serves the two sentences at the same time and will serve just five years total for the two charges. The judge also allowed Delancy to serve these two sentences concurrent to the 15 years he is now serving for selling cocaine, charges he pleaded to last year. So on the 25 years he was sentenced to for various Jacksonville Gun Crimes and Jacksonville Drug Crimes, Delancy will only serve 15 years. And if he stays out of trouble in prison, he will serve just 85 percent of that time and be released in less than 13 years.

That’s a remarkably good deal for Delancy and a far cry from the mandatory life sentence the 26-year-old would have been facing had he gone to trial on the first-degree murder charge. In first-degree murder cases, the judge does not have any discretion and Florida law requires the sentence to be either life in prison or the death penalty. The state was not seeking death in this case. Delancy and another man were both charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder for their roles in a drive-by shooting that killed one man and injured another in 2010. Delancy’s co-defendant, Brandon Acker, has yet to go to trial. Delancy and the victims had an ongoing dispute, presumably over drugs sales, the newspaper reported. The newspaper report does not say if Delancy agreed to testify against Acker, but that could certainly be one obvious reason for the state to pull the first-degree murder charge and offer Delancy a deal that is typically unheard of in Jacksonville. Prosecutors declined to discuss why the murder charge was dropped and the attempted murder charge was reduced, the newspaper reported.

In recent years, prosecutors have been extremely reluctant to drop any charges, let alone a first-degree murder charge. Had the case been solid, it’s very unlikely the state would have an offer as generous on the table for Delancy. It will be interesting to see if something similar comes around for Acker in this Jacksonville Gun Crime and Jacksonville Drugs Crime Case. Or if Delancy will appear on the witness stand to testify against him.

Four men whom allegedly at one point had their hands on a stolen gun that was eventually used to kill a Clay County detective are now facing significant prison time. All four were charged with Clay County dealing in stolen property, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Police tracked the gun using its serial number and several interviews with witness, the newspaper reported, and this case shows how wide of a net police can cast in a gun case.

Last year, one Clay County detective was killed and another injured when they were raiding a suspected meth lab and Ted Tilley opened fire from inside the home. Tilley tried to run away and was eventually shot and killed by police. Several people in the home were charged with murder in connection with White’s death. But the trail did not end there. Police then targeted the gun Tilley used and traced it to being reported stolen out of Jacksonville in 2011. The gun changed hands four times, with everyone involved knowing the gun was stolen, the newspaper reported. The last person with the gun gave it to Tilley, a convicted felon who would not have been legally permitted to own or even possess a firearm.

All four men were arrested in Clay County last week and booked into the county jail in this Clay County Gun Crimes case. Three had bonds set at $50,000 and the fourth at $100,000, showing the weight the state is placing on this case. In order to prove someone is guilty of dealing in stolen property in Florida, the state must show the person either knew or reasonably should have known that the item in question was stolen. It’s not clear in this case if the men were selling the gun each time it changed hands but, in this case, that is not relevant. Typically, this crime is charged when people are stealing items from businesses or homes and then selling the items. But in this Clay County Gun Crimes case it was used to show the trail of the gun and make all parties who touched it along the way responsible in the death. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were both involved in the investigation.

After two days of deliberations, a Jacksonville jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked and unable to reach a decision on whether a 21-year-old Jacksonville man was guilty of first-degree murder as the state alleged. That led the judge to declare a mistrial and now a second trial awaits Reginald Renard Battle, accused of shooting Eric Michael Burney in the back of the head after robbing him during a dice game in July 2010, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union.

Police said Battle and two other men were at a park one evening when a group of men were playing a dice game, the newspaper reported. Battle testified at the trial that he left the park before the shooting, and surveillance cameras do show his truck leaving the area, the newspaper reported. But police argued he let one of his friends borrow the truck and Battle stayed behind at the park. Both of the friends have pleaded guilty in this Jacksonville Gun Crimes Case – one to second-degree murder, the other to accessory after fact – and both testified against Battle.

Battle’s Duval County criminal attorney argued the men were lying to try to avoid life in prison. Because Battle is charged with first-degree murder, he faces mandatory life in prison if convicted. In jury trials in the state of Florida, decisions must be unanimous. Now that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of discussion and convincing that goes on behind closed doors in the jury room. That’s what deliberation is all about. However, it takes every single juror to agree with the decision for it to stand up. In most cases, the criminal defense attorneys on the losing side will ask to have the jury polled, which means every member of the jury will be asked, under oath, if the announced verdict was indeed their verdict.

A local man was charged with 10 counts of Jacksonville Aggravated Assault for shooting into a crowd at his neighbor’s house during a house party last week. Police reported that Randall Wilkie was upset about the noise coming from the party and fired the shots into the house where about 15 people were gathered, according to a report on News4Jax. No one was hit with any of the shots, the television station reported.

But Wilkie has a completely different story that he told his mother, according the news report. He said he came home and saw his girlfriend outside at the neighbor’s house, then three cars pulled up and several people jumped out and started a fight, the television station reported. Wilkie said some of the people started beating his girlfriend, so he ran to his house to get a gun and started shooting to protect her, according to the news report.

Wilkie is charged with 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Jacksonville. Each count is a third-degree felony in Florida with a maximum penalty of five years in prison, which means Wilkie would be looking at a maximum of 50 years in prison if convicted of all counts and the judge opts to give him consecutive sentences. But it could get much worse for Wilkie. Because he discharged a firearm, he could be subject to a 20-year minimum mandatory sentence under the state’s 10-20-Life law for gun crimes.

A Jacksonville teen trying to sneak into a Clay County movie theater is now facing a felony charge of carrying a concealed firearm after police found a gun in his waistband. The 17-year-old is charged with carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest and trespassing, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. The concealed weapon charge is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The teen could be charged as a juvenile and avoid prison time, but the newspaper reported he also had three warrants out for his arrest in Duval County, so the state may be unwilling to keep him in juvenile court. The resisting arrest without violence charge and the trespassing count are both misdemeanors in Florida.

People are on high alert for guns in movie theaters after the mass shooting in Colorado over the summer. A prime example was when police evacuated a St. Johns County movie theater last week after there was a report of someone bringing a gun into the theater. After further investigation, it turned out the person was simply trying to sneak in a submarine sandwich to eat during the show. So the recent Clay County case will be thought of as a teen bringing a gun into the theater, but it’s really a trespassing case where the person happened to have a gun on him. He was trying to watch a movie without paying for a ticket and got caught. There is no evidence that’s been made public about the teen planning to shoot people inside the theater and he didn’t show it or try to use it when he was running away from police. In fact, the newspaper reported the teen told police about the gun before they found it.

It is not illegal to carry a concealed weapon in the state of Florida, but there are several requirements that must be met. First, a person must have a permit to do so. In this case, the teen was not even eligible, because a person must be at least 18 to even apply for a permit. There are also restrictions on where a person can bring a gun and it is a felony for a convicted felon to possess or own a firearm.

Shaketa Sharell Jones was convicted of the same crime, the same charges, the same everything. But the second time around, she was sentenced to life in prison on felony murder and armed robbery charges in Jacksonville, instead of the 35 years she received on her first conviction, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union.

Jones was convicted this month for the second time for her role in planning a Gate gas station robbery her boyfriend was carrying out when he was shot and killed by two Jacksonville police officers in 2010. She was initially convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 35 years in prison, but her convictions were reversed because of an error during the jury selection process. The state took Jones to trial again this month and she was convicted again of the same charges. Assuming she would have earned gain time and served the 85 percent of her sentence that most inmates in the Florida Department of Corrections system serve, Jones, 31, would have been released from prison at about age 60. Now, she’ll be in prison for the rest of her life with no chance of getting out. The only thing that changed in the case was the initially ruling was reversed on what appears to be a technicality. And Jones is the one being held accountable for it with a significantly tougher sentence than she received the first time around. But her fate was in the hands of a different judge, who saw the case differently and handed down a life sentence.

Jones was charged with murder under a Florida law that allows prosecutors to charge a person with murder is f they are committing a felony when another person is killed. Police said Jones was the mastermind behind a series of armed robberies and was serving as the lookout and talking to her boyfriend Jessie Cooper when he was robbing a gas station. Police had been following Jones and staking out the Gate station, so they approached Cooper immediately after he fled the store. Police said they told Cooper to show his hands and, when he didn’t, officers shot and killed him, the newspaper reported.