CAPE SAN BLAS -- A 28-year-old Apalachicola man was pronounced dead at the scene of a single-vehicle wreck on the beach, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Christopher Lee Burke was driving a 2001 Mercury Mountaineer on the sandy beach between State C 30 and the Gulf of Mexico around 3 a.m. Thursday. The vehicle swerved left, overturned and came to rest on its roof.

Burke was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger, 28-year-old Keith Daniel Kelley of Panama City Beach, was taken to Bay Medical Center in serious condition.

Troopers are investigating the crash, and potential charges are pending.
 

PANAMA CITY — The family of a man who was shot in the head with a shotgun by his best friend has filed a lawsuit claiming the incident could have been avoided, according to court documents.

Blaine Kendall, 29, called authorities to his 2605 Cypress St. home in January 2013 to report that he’d shot and killed his friend, 24-year-old Thomas Crawford, when he tripped over a shotgun while entering his residence. The physical evidence at the scene conflicted with several of Kendall’s explanations. He later admitted he had been holding the weapon when it discharged once and struck Crawford in the head, and the case proceeded as an accidental death.

However, the entire incident could have been prevented by Kendall, according to a three-count lawsuit filed by Crawford’s surviving relatives.

“… Kendall failed to take reasonable steps to prevent or remedy the unsecured nature of the loaded shotgun,” the lawsuit states. “As a result of the unsafe conditions, (Crawford) suffered fatal injuries when he was shot and killed.”

Kendall pleaded no contest to providing law enforcement with false statements and improper exhibition of a firearm and was placed on probation for a year after the shooting. Since, the Crawfords have filed a wrongful death, negligence and gross negligence suit against Kendall.

In his initial statement, Kendall told investigators he kicked the gun returning into the home after feeding his dogs when it discharged and struck Crawford.

He then said the gun actually had been on the coffee table when he reached for a drink and knocked it, causing it to discharge when he tried to steady the gun, officials reported.

In his third account, Kendall told officers he reached under his futon, retrieved the shotgun and laid it across his lap. When he went to stand up, he clinched his hand and accidentally shot Crawford in the head, according to investigative reports.

The Crawfords are seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the pain, suffering and mental anguish caused by the loss of their son exceeding $15,000 from a jury trial. The funeral costs alone were $9,485, according to court documents.

The Kendalls’ home insurance company, Florida Farm Bureau, has filed suit against both families to prevent their company from having to cover a settlement. Florida Farm is asking to evoke its right to deny $100,000 liability coverage, because Kendall is not an insured party and the Cypress Street address is not an insured location under the policy.

Kendall spent about 120 days in jail for violating his probation at which time he penned an apology letter to the sentencing judge.

“Before all I was worried about was going out with my friends and doing illegal drugs,” Kendall wrote. “I guess because it helped get my mind off things. … Now I look back, all I was really doing in the end and have done is hurt the people I love most.” 

PANAMA CITY — Police have identified a woman found dead after an apparent domestic violence issue between her and her boyfriend.

The Panama City Police Department announced the identity of the deceased female found at 600 E. Eighth Court as 31-year-old Jessica Brandy Huey. Huey was discovered at the residence when officers responded Wednesday to an unresponsive person report. When first responders arrived they found Huey dead in a bedroom of the home.

An official cause of death is still under investigation by the medical examiner and will be released as the information becomes available.

Justin L. Davis, identified as Huey’s boyfriend, has been arrested and charged with an open count of murder. He will be held without bond following his first appearance Thursday. According to court documents, Davis has a history of domestic violence and sexual battery.  

MARIANNA -- A fourth person has been arrested in the investigation of a Sunday homicide in Jackson County.
Arrested was Laderious D. Corbitt Pittman, who was charged with murder and attempted robbery.

Pittman was implicated in the homicide of Patrick Register and the attempted homicide of Travis Locke through witness statements and physical evidence collected during the investigation, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. Pittman turned himself in Thursday after hearing of an arrest warrant.

Already arrested were Dayeisha Curry, Christopher Laster and Jordan Davis.

JCSO said Register and Locke, both of Sneads, were shot early Sunday morning on Dellwood Cypress Road , where they expected to purchase pseudoephedrine pills used to cook methamphetamine. The sheriff’s office said Locke had arraigned the deal, but the two men were instead ambushed during the drug deal.
 

PANAMA CITY — Leaders of a failed Panama City Beach-based bank who lied to get more than $3.8 million of federal taxpayer money — intended to keep the economy from tanking in the midst of a downward spiral — have been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay the money back.

Donald Terry Dubose, president and CEO of Coastal Community Investments, and Frank Baker, lawyer for the company, were sentenced Thursday to four years and Elwood “Woody” West, chief financial officer of the company, was sentenced to three years. All three will serve their time in a minimum security prison for white-collar criminals. Jointly, the trio will repay about $4.54 million in restitution to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) for a 2008 fraud scheme.

Each of the men received about half the prison time normal fraudsters receive as dictated by 1984 federal sentencing guidelines.

“This offense was a marked deviation from an otherwise law-abiding life,” said Judge Richard Smoak after each man’s sentencing.

Attorneys of the three Coastal Community Investments bankers, a holding company that owned Panama City Beach-based Coastal Community Bank and Port St. Joe-based Bayside Savings, attempted to have the case acquitted and retried after jurors found them guilty in May on several counts of defrauding an FDIC program in 2008. The program, as described by prosecutors, was intended to rapidly pump U.S. taxpayer money into the banking industry to prevent an economy in crisis from crumbling.

“If all the borrowers did what these borrowers did, there would have been a complete collapse,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle Littleton.

Coastal itself collapsed months after accepting the loan without repayment.

During the nearly eight-hour sentencing hearing in a filled courtroom, defense attorneys attempted to convince Smoak that the $3.8 million lost to Costal Community was actually the FDIC’s fault.

Dubose’s attorney likened it to a case where an oil tanker came loose from a barge and ran aground, spilling large amounts of oil — an unfortunate analogy for residents along the Gulf Coast. Exxon sued the company hauling the tanker and won.

“You know what the court found?” said lawyer John Despriet. “The captain was an idiot. … The FDIC caused its own loss because it is lazy and stupid.”

Smoak dismissed several enhancements to crimes to which a jury had already convicted the three, including obstruction of justice and abuse of trust. He agreed the men used sophisticated means and skills to attain the money.

“That required some considerable finesse to pull off,” Smoak said. “A slip of the tongue could have caused it to scuttle off.”

Each of the men also was sentenced to three years probation after their prison stays. Attorneys for the men said they will be appealing the court’s findings. Each will contribute to repaying $3.8 million for the loan and $731,565 in interest since 2010 to the FDIC program.

Despite not receiving the eight to nine years of prison sought, prosecutors said they were confident the conviction and sentencing of the bankers would send a message to others.

“What we had was three people who had all the benefits this world had to offer and yet they decided to steal from the federal government,” Littleton said. “This will resonate. Whether you are a banker or a lawyer — when you lie, cheat and steal — you will be punished.” 

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

PANAMA CITY — Three former bankers were sentenced Thursday to years in prison and millions in fines in connection to their running of the now defunct Coastal Community Bank.

Earlier this year, defendant Terry Dubose was convicted of all 12 counts brought against him by federal prosecutors, according to officials at the U.S. Federal District Court. Those counts included wire fraud, making false statements and conspiracy. Frank Baker was found guilty of counts 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 and not guilty on the other counts. Elwood West was found guilty of every count except count one. 

On Thursday, Dubose and Baker were sentenced to four years in prison each. West was sentenced to three years. Jointly they will pay the FDIC $4.54 million. They were allowed to stay out of jail until Oct. 1, when they are to surrender.

The three men were executives or directors of Coastal Community Holdings, which owned Coastal Community Bank and Bayside Savings until the banks failed in 2010. They were accused of misrepresenting their eligibility for a loan guarantee under a hastily created FDIC program designed to stabilize financial institutions by ensuring access to credit.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Police arrested at least five homeless men early Friday morning for blocking a public beach access, according to court records.

Shortly after 1 a.m. Friday, Panama City Beach Police officers descended on Beach Access 66, near 17290 Front Beach Road, and arrested five individuals for “impermissible activities at a beach access.”

All of the suspects were identified as transients and cited with misdemeanor offenses. Officers wrote up the citations with idententical language as “obstructing or causing to be obstructed the free and unencumbered travel” of a public beach access.

The men were then taken to Bay County Jail.
 

MARIANNA — Gun powder lingered in the cab of the truck as Travis Martin Locke and his passenger, Patrick Register, sped off from Auburn Lane in Marianna, bullet holes in the windshield and both men shot in the midst of an ambush.

Locke, who had been shot in his right arm and abdomen, raced to Grand Ridge Sunday morning for help at the home of Register’s mother. Register also suffered a gunshot wound. One of the assailants had lost his shoe in Locke’s 2002 Ford F-150 when he jumped into the window of the truck wearing a bandana on his face and brandishing a revolver. Locke forced the gun barrel against the dash, causing it to discharge through the windshield, as another man fired into the truck from outside.

Register’s mother called authorities after the two arrived. Register, 26, stopped responding shortly after the deputy arrived and began performing CPR. He died shortly after at about 2 a.m. Sunday. Locke, 27, was treated and released for his injuries. Jackson County deputies have arrested four people in connection with the shooting and Register’s death, attributing both to a drug deal turned ambush.

Locke initially told officers he and Register, both men from Sneads, stopped at the intersection of Dellwood and Cypress Road to assist a lady having car troubles when two armed men attacked them. Locke revised his story and copped that he and Register arraigned to meet Dayeisha Canika Curry to purchase 23 boxes of pseudaphedrine to make methamphetamine, according to police reports.

According to documents released Friday, this is what happened:

Locke pulled the truck near Curry’s vehicle at an intersection of Auburn Lane. As she walked around the front of the truck toward Locke’s window, Register spotted a man approaching his open passenger window.

“Go, go, go! He’s got a gun,” Register yelled to Locke.

The two sped off, but the assailant had jumped into the window with the revolver, Locke told police. He pushed the gun barrel onto the dashboard but could also hear gunshots coming from a second shooter outside the car. Before forcing him back out the window, in the midst of the struggle, the man’s bandana came down from around his nose and Locke got a look at his face, he told police.

One of his shoes also came off inside the truck, Locke said.

Deputies matched the shoe print to those at the scene of the shooting. They later spotted Curry driving through Marianna. Jordan Taishon Davis and Christopher Michal Laster were passengers in her car when police stopped her, police reported.

The three were arrested on charges of principal to murder and principal to attempted murder. Police believed Davis was shooting from outside the car and a fourth suspect, identified Thursday as 24-year-old Laderious Corbitt Pittman, was the man who gained entry to the truck.

Pittman was arrested and also charged with an open count of murder Thursday after officers obtained a warrant to track his cellphone data, which placed him in the area and near the time of the shooting. Authorities also released information that a text from Curry to Pittman’s asking him to accompany her and others to the “spot,” according to arrest records.
 

PANAMA CITY — A Panama City man with a long history of felony drug offenses was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison on Wednesday.

Kenneth F. Williams, 48, also known as “Mobile,” was found guilty of all charges stemming from an investigation that led to the seizure of crack cocaine, marijuana, $4,000 in cash and two vehicles from Williams’ residence in August last year.

A Panama City Police press release said a joint investigation by the police special operations unit and DEA agents began in 2012 to probe Williams’ drug-related activities. The investigation yielded enough suspicion for a search warrant on Williams’ home, resulting in the seizure and above charges.

Williams’ sentence came down after an indictment on his latest charges in February by a grand jury for two counts of distribution of a controlled substance and one count of possession with the intent to distribute.
 

PANAMA CITY – The Florida Department of Environmental Protection reports that a contamination site off

ABB Inc, the company that initiated the cleanup back in 1993, is required to continue monitoring at 2433 and 2435 Jenks Ave. and is required to submit a five year status review to FDEP.

“Human health, public safety and the environment are adequately protected,” FDEP stated in a letter.

The property at 2433 is now owned by George Bass, who uses the building for storage for Panhandle Paint. Contamination at that location dates back to the late 1980s before ABB purchased the property. RAH Electric and Emerson Electric used solvents to wash electric motors in the facility. A faulty PVC pipe led to trichloroethylene leaking into the soil and into surrounding ground water. ABB also used the site to clean electric motors but FDEP external affairs officer Brandy Smith said ABB utilized an aboveground handling system.

Darryl Fagen, who works at neighboring Ferguson Plumbing Supplies, said he knew of the contamination but added it did not affect the business because they are on the city water system.

“The grass loves it,” Fagen said referring to some overgrowth in the area behind

Public Works Director Neil Fravel said the city was not concerned about the contaminated area using the same reasoning. He does not believe there are any wells in the area that could be affected.

Darren Haiman, the property manager for Southwood, the office complex south and west of 2433 Jenks, said he believes the contamination is completely contained.

“Relative to values, we’re not concerned about a negative impact,” Haiman said. 

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A contact man between a Panama City Beach company and buyers of illegal exports has pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate international trade laws.

Gilberto Lopez, 49, of Manhattan, was one of three men facing federal conspiracy charges for various roles in a Panama City Beach-based company called Freedom Marketing Inc. Lopez identified himself as a consultant to the company from 2005 to 2009 when Freedom bought auto parts from a Chinese manufacturer, relabeled them as “Made in the USA” and then sold them to unwitting buyers in Central and South America.

John Wall, president of Freedom Marketing, and Casey Patrick Lee, manager, have also been indicted on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the federal government.

Specific dates identified by investigators over three months indicated more than 114 unmarked or incorrectly marked crates, claiming the contents were “Processed in the USA,” left Freedom Marketing for Mexico and Venezuela in early-2007. On April 25, 2007, Lopez received an email photo from a sales representative in Mexico of boxes with “Korean Air” stickers on the outside.

Lopez convinced the representative to accept the parts, but the rep responded with one complaint.

“It’s obvious,” he wrote.

Lopez had been instructing the employees at the factory to never tell customers the products were made in China, and after the discovery Lopez sent an email to Lee, manager of the company, reiterating the need for discretion.

“Casey, the guys in the factory cannot leave ‘Korean Air’ stickers on this stuff,” court documents stated.

False and misleading shipping labels are a violation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), intended to promote commerce among Canada, Mexico and the USA. NAFTA is the world’s largest free-trade area in terms of GDP. It allows anyone who signs a NAFTA agreement tariff-free commerce among the participating nations.

Lee, Lopez and Wall had signed NAFTA certificates.

The indictment further alleged Lee and Wall made multiple trips to China to arrange purchases and shipments from a company named Qingdao Haizhiguan to Panama City Beach, instructing their employees to package the parts in different boxes and label the boxes as “Made in the USA,” according to court documents.

Wall, president of Freedom Marketing, and Lopez contacted brokers in Mexico to arrange the sell side of the business and both knew the origin of the auto parts, Lopez testified.

Lopez could face up to five years in prison, $250,000 in fines and seizure of his assets during his November sentence hearing.

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- One person was killed and another seriously injured Monday morning in a two vehicle collision on Front Beach Road and Sand Oak Boulevard, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

Tawny L. Browning-Carlisle, 44, Panama City Beach, died at a local hospital from injuries received in the wreck at about 6 a.m., FHP said. Injured was Otto Ford III, 54, of Panama City.

FHP said Browning-Carlisle was traveling south on Sand Oak Boulevard in the left turn lane and Ford was traveling west on Back Beach Road approaching the intersection in the outside lane. Witness told FHP they saw Browning-Carlisle’s Infiniti make a rolling stop at the stop sign at Sand Oak Boulevard and then pull out in front of Ford’s Nissan Frontier, which hit the Infiniti in the driver’s side door.

Browning-Carlisle was pronounced dead at 10:48 a.m. while at Bay Medical Sacred Heart Hospital. Ford also is at Bay Medical and is listed in serious condition, FHP said.

Seat belts were in use by both drivers and no charges were filed.
 

PANAMA CITY -- Investigators are asking for public assistance in finding a credit card thief, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday.

On Aug. 8, the victim of a theft learned her credit card was missing. She contacted her credit card company and learned that the credit card had been used without her consent to conduct several transactions at different businesses. BCSO released a video Monday asking for assistance from the public to identify their suspect in the theft and subsequent fraudulent use of a credit card.

Images of the suspect were taken from security cameras. BCSO identified the suspect as a white male, in his late 30s with a medium build and short brown hair. He was wearing dark shorts, a dark, short sleeve collared shirt, dark shoes, white socks, and a large brimmed hat.

Anyone with information on this suspect is asked to contact the Bay County Sheriff’s Office at 747-4700 or Crime Stoppers at 785-TIPS.
 

VIDEO

SANTA ROSA BEACH -- Three Panama City Beach residents were ejected from an overturning vehicle after a Sunday collision, Florida Highway Patrol reported.

Nicasio Ramirez, 27, was airlifted to a local hospital with serious injuries, but the remaining people involved in the wreck — including a 7- and 4-year-old — were treated for minor injuries.

Erika Xithe Duran, 24, was driving a 2003 Ford Expedition west on U.S. 98 toward the intersection at Bay Drive. Duran, Nicasio Ramirez, Darwin Ramirez, 7; and Lara Ramirez, 4; all of Panama City Beach, were approaching a red traffic signal at the intersection, according to FHP reports.

Duran failed to stop at the light and was struck in the side by a 2000 Buick Regal, being driven by 50-year-old Vanessa Petrea of Santa Rosa Beach. Duran and her passengers overturned several times before three of the people were ejected from the SUV, FHP reported.

FHP reports were unclear which occupants were ejected. Nicasio Ramirez was the only passenger identified as not wearing a seatbelt and was airlifted to the hospital with serious injuries.

Duran, Petrea and the two juveniles were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
 

PANAMA CITY -- Police have arrested two alleged counterfeiters after trying to spend funny money at a drive-in restaurant across the street from their operation’s headquarters, according to the Panama City Police Department.

Curtis Latrell Scruggs and Glenn A. Ford were arrested Saturday after police brought an employee of the Sonic Drive-in at 3407 West Highway 98 across the street to identify the men who’d tried to pass off fake money. Police also found various counterfeiting devices in the room before the two men were taken to Bay County Jail.

The employee confronted Scruggs about the fake money when he attempted to pay with it. Scruggs attempted to get the bill back but when the employee would not return it, Scruggs fled across the street to room 114 of the Fairway Inn.
Officers made contact with Scruggs at the room, which also was occupied by Ford. The Sonic employee was brought across the street and positively identified Scruggs. The employee also identified Ford as the person who passed a counterfeit bill earlier that same day.

Police found an all-in-one copier/printer, paper matching the paper the bills were printed on and a pair of scissors in the room. In the trashcan, detectives also located paper trimmings from the printed bills.

After the completion of the investigation, Scruggs was charged with three counts of forgery and one count of uttering a forged instrument. Ford was charged with one count of uttering a forged instrument. Both subjects were transported to the Bay County Jail.
 

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The Beach Police Department has lost one of its K-9 officers after a deadly lightning strike Sunday night.

K-9 officer Argo was found motionless in his kennel behind a Firenzo Avenue residence Sunday evening about 6:30 p.m. after a thunderstorm passed through Bay County. Panama City Beach police said it appeared Argo had been struck by lightning before the daughter of his longtime handler, PCBPD Cpl. Jason Gleason, found the K-9 dead.

Police reported Argo, a Belgian Malinois similar to a German shepherd, had been left in the kennel during the storm because Gleason was en route to a training session. Argo had most of the hair missing from his right front leg above the paw, possibly singed from the lightning strike, according to the PCBPD incident report.

Gleason declined to comment on the incident.

“He is still having a hard time,” Beach Police Chief Drew Whitman said.

Argo replaced Gleason’s former K-9 partner after the former went missing in July of 2009. Poncho, also a Belgian Malinois, was last seen tracking three burglary suspects into the woods near Arnold High School. The three were later arrested, but Poncho never emerged and was presumed dead.

A portion of Frank Brown Park was dedicated to Poncho following the incident, calling the fenced in area behind a flagpole, Poncho’s Park.

Argo served the police department for about five years under Gleason. He acquired four national certifications for K-9 officers. During his time with the force, Argo helped seize about $25,000 worth of illegal narcotics, four vehicles and made several felony arrests. He recently had been instrumental in a burglary case, Whitman added.

Gleason took Argo to a doctor in Fountain until arrangements are made for his remains.

Police had not made immediate plans for a memorial service as of Monday afternoon. 

PANAMA CITY — Firefighters don’t always make it out of fires, but a few abandoned buildings have given fire crews in the county a unique opportunity to train in real-life conditions and prevent those tragedies from happening.

Every wall of the four buildings, formerly the Ninth Street Yard of Bay County transportation operations, had a spray-painted tribute to firefighters lost in the line of duty. The buildings are set for demolition to make way for the new Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) hub.

But for the past three weeks, fire crews throughout the county have had the unique opportunity to use the structures in worst-case-scenario simulations, so “they don’t end up a statistic,” said Capt. Wayne Gilmore of Bay County Fire Control.

PHOTO GALLERY

“These are the worst conditions possible,” Gilmore said before sending a small group of firefighters into a narrow, debris-strewn building meant to recreate a collapsing structure on fire. “We don’t want to set them up for failure. We want them to fight their way out of a collapsible building.”

More than 120 personnel have cycled through one of the four scenarios nearly everyday since fire crews gained access to the buildings. About 50 firefighters Monday battled tooth and nail through the “confined-space and entanglement” scenario.

Senior officers placed large crates to block doorways, low-hanging obstructions in inopportune locations and cable chords along the floors in the dark corridors of the building,

The other buildings being steadily cycled through by fire crews simulated vent-enter searches, structure fire attacks and mayday training scenarios. Each of them had a common condition of extremely low visibility — only about four inches.

Many of the firefighters have learned the ins and outs of their regular training site, and the repetition can dull their responses to a drill, Gilmore said. With one of the buildings on-site containing about 30 rooms, the lack of familiarity and visibility presented fire crews with real-life problems.

“Guys use their other senses in fires,” Gilmore said. “A lot of them know the feel of every doorway or window frame in our training facilities. This is so new it gives them a chance to train in real-world conditions, working as fast as they can as safely as they can.”

Fire crews also rarely have a chance to bust up a training building like sometimes is required, since people don’t usually unlock their doors and windows before a fire. The buildings are set for demolition at the beginning of September, giving fire crews a few more days of rigorous training.
 

Blotter is a light-hearted look at some of the unusual things that happen on the police beat in Bay County.

Laws vary so widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction that people can sometimes unwittingly tread into illegal acts — but they could just need a reminder.

That happened at a local auto repair shop. The night security guard was making his rounds when he noticed a guy trying to hoist a single tire over the yard’s fence, with him on the outside.

The guard grabbed the other side of the tire, now nearly over the fence, and engaged in an impromptu game of tug-o-war. The game was on with neither side prevailing until the guard reminded the man that he would call the cops if he didn’t let go.

Apparently realizing the additional teammates could give the guard an advantage, the man forfeited the game, released the tire and scurried off.
 

PANAMA CITY — The Bay County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a man they suspect of about 15 tire slashings in the Cherokee Heights neighborhood, officials announced Tuesday.

Dylan Ely Creamer, 19, was arrested Monday and charged with 15 counts of criminal mischief for the slashing of multiple car tires in the Cherokee Heights area of Bay County.

Video of a suspect was obtained from a home within the neighborhood and was distributed by law enforcement to area media shortly after 15 complaints were filed by victims of a rash of tire slashings on Aug. 16. Some victims also had damage to their mailboxes.

After viewing the images, a BCSO deputy developed information that led to the identification of the suspect in the video. BCSO investigators made contact with Creamer who lives within the Cherokee Heights neighborhood. After speaking with Creamer, investigators arrested him and charged him with 15 counts of criminal mischief.
 

PANAMA CITY — Defense attorneys argued Tuesday testimony about the murder of a 90-year-old Lynn Haven veteran should be suppressed because investigators allegedly violated the suspect’s rights to legal counsel and to remain silent.

In response, a prosecutor told a judge that investigators did violate the defendant’s right to remain silent, but not his right to an attorney.

David Challender, 28, was arrested at his father’s Caryville home in April of last year, bringing a close to a manhunt for the three suspects accused of 90-year-old Wallace Reid Scott’s violent death. The other two suspects — Ashley Griffin, 29, and Kevin Jeffries, 29 — have pleaded or been found guilty, respectively, for their roles in Scott’s slaying. Scott was bound and tortured in his Lynn Haven home before being murdered and then robbed April 4, 2013.

Authorities tracked Challender to Caryville on April 14 and charged him with an open count of murder, at which time he requested legal counsel, he said, but investigators continued to question him that day and the next.

“My immediate response was that I wanted an attorney; I don’t have nothing to say,” Challender testified Tuesday during a motion hearing on his request to suppress statements he made the day before.

However, four Bay County Sheriff’s deputies also took the stand and testified they respected his right to remain silent and did not recall hearing him ask for an attorney.

In a recorded statement taken the following day, when officers returned to question him, Challender halted questioning and did not ask to speak with an attorney. State prosecutor Larry Basford argued that if Challender asked for an attorney the previous day, it should have been present in his mind to ask again.

“Nowhere in the interview is the statement, ‘I want an attorney,’ “ Basford said. “They turn off the recorder, and (Challender) reinitiated the interview.”

Basford said Challender’s right to remain silent was violated but not his right to legal counsel, a difference that would not dictate the suppression of his statements.

Though both sides contradicted the other’s testimony, hard evidence does not exist to support either.

Since investigators did not have a signed waiver of his Miranda Rights, defense attorney Kim Jewell said, they should have ceased their line of questioning until an attorney was present. She supported her opinion with a 1981 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found police must cease interrogations — unless the suspect initiates further communication.

A time frame for when police can reinitiate contact with a suspect is not definite. In some cases, officers have reinitiated communication after about six hours. However, Jewell argued that since Challender asked for legal counsel more than 14 hours before, the investigators should not have returned to take a recorded statement.

“It’s a classic case of wearing down a defendant,” she said. “Actions by law enforcement are designed to elicit a response, and if they are not present they cannot get that.”

Jewell also requested the death penalty be taken off the table for Challender during the penalty phase of his trial, because Florida law allows a simple majority of the jury to levy the death penalty. Judge Brantley Clark denied her request.

Challender’s co-defendant, Jeffries, already has been sentenced to the death penalty. Clark will weigh in on the jury’s decision Friday at 9 a.m. during Jeffries’ sentence hearing.

Clark said he would decide in the coming weeks whether to allow statements Challender made after invoking his right to remain silent.

Challender’s case goes to trial Sept. 9.
 

PANAMA CITY — A foot pursuit turned amphibious for a Panama City man after police attempted a routine traffic stop, officials said Tuesday.

Officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on Ronald Gene Burton Jr., 37, because he failed to stop at a stop sign on Everitt Avenue Monday night. When police activated their emergency lights and siren, Burton immediately sped off, leading officers on a pursuit that ended in front of a residence on North James Avenue.

Burton stopped the vehicle and ran behind the residence. But as officers closed in on Burton, he jumped into Watson Bayou and attempted to swim away. He swam around for a few minutes before exiting the water and was taken into custody without further incident.

Burton was transported to the Bay County Jail and charged with fleeing or eluding a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest without violence, operating a motor vehicle while license suspended or revoked and violation of probation.