PANAMA CITY — Incriminating statements an accused murderer made to Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies after his arrest will be allowed in court, as will the man’s DNA sample and evidence collected from his home. 

Defense attorney Kim Dowgul had filed a motion to suppress the statements and evidence on behalf on Philip Dean Brock, the Panama City man accused of killing 65-year-old Terry Brazil in December. Judge Brantley Clark denied that motion Wednesday.

Brock, 56, is accused of tying up Brazil with duct tape and shooting, stabbing and beating him in December inside Brazil’s home. Brazil’s decomposed body was found about two weeks later during a welfare check by BCSO deputies. Investigators located Brazil’s stolen 1990 Cadillac at Brock’s home, and later charged Brock with murder after DNA evidence linked him to the slaying.

Dowgul filed the motion in June, arguing that Brock had been denied a lawyer after his arrest and that

statements he made regarding Brazil’s death, items seized during searches of his home, and DNA samples collected from him should be thrown out as evidence. The motion alleged that while Brock did waive his Miranda rights for questioning, he later invoked his right to counsel multiple times. The motion also alleged that while Brock provided his DNA to investigators, he did so after investigators told him they did not need a warrant to obtain a sample.

Additionally, Brock claimed an investigator hit him during an unrecorded interview.

A court order denying the motion stated Brock “knowingly and intelligently waived his Miranda rights” and never invoked his right to counsel during interviews with investigators. The order also states that incriminating statements Brock made regarding Brazil’s death after being arrested in an unrelated burglary case were “wholly voluntary and spontaneous.”

Moreover, the order states that Brock was never told his DNA could be obtained without a warrant, though “it appears that law enforcement had already obtained a warrant.”

Brock’s allegation he was physically abused during questioning also was rejected in the order. The judge wrote that “not once was he slapped or otherwise subject to verbal or physical abuse by law enforcement” during questioning.

BCSO Maj. Tommy Ford found the ruling satisfying.

“We’re very pleased with the judge’s ruling. Obviously there was some serious allegations levied against our guys and they turned out not to be true,” Ford said.

Dowgul has said that deputies not recording the interview in which Brock claimed he was physically abused was among several missteps indicative of a “sloppy” investigation. 

Ford said Thursday that recording interviews is not a requirement, and investigators typically don’t record statements until a “concise set of facts” has been established.

Dowgul and prosecutor Larry Basford could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Brock’s trial is scheduled to begin in September.

An earlier version of this story is posted below.

PANAMA CITY — A local judge has ruled that a defendant in a murder case was not hit by Bay County Sheriff’s deputies and that the evidence obtained by investigators in the case can be used against him.

A motion filed by Kim Dowgul, a public defender, on behalf of Philip Brock, accused of killing Terry Brazil in December, stated that Judge Brantley Clark should throw out evidence and statements Brock made before he was arrested because he was denied a lawyer.

Clark heard arguments on the motion in late July. The ruling, which was released today, stated that Brock did not testify at the hearing and that since the only evidence presented at the hearing was given by investigators it was “uncontroverted.” Therefore, because there was no evidence presented by the defense that Brock was denied a lawyer or struck by a deputy, Clark denied the motion.

During the hearing Dowgul argued that not having a recording of a suspect’s entire interview puts too much trust on the word of investigators.

This is a breaking story and we will have more information later today.

PANAMA CITY — A former Panama City Beach man accused of conspiring to murder two local judges was captured in Bossier City, La. on Thursday, according to authorities.

Joseph Russell Schmitt, 46, was arrested outside his room at the Horseshoe Casino Hotel about 7 p.m. by agents with the U.S. Marshals Service and FBI, and Bossier City police officers.

After his arrest, Schmitt told authorities that he had explosive devices inside his hotel room and his vehicle parked outside the hotel, according to police. The hotel was evacuated and the Bossier City Fire Department Bomb Squad responded to the scene. No explosive devices were found. 

Schmitt had been trying to arrange the murders of Bay County Judge Allen Register and Washington County Judge Chris Patterson, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office received a tip earlier this month and began communicating with Schmitt through text messages and phone calls, in which Schmitt allegedly told an undercover investigator he would pay to have the judges abducted, tortured and killed.

Judge Register presided over an April domestic violence case involving Schmitt and his girlfriend, who lived together at Island Reserve Condominiums in Panama City Beach, according to court records. The case resulted in a domestic violence injunction, or restraining order, against Schmitt. His ex-girlfriend was relocated to a domestic violence shelter in another county, and also was an alleged target in Schmitt’s murder-for-hire plot.

Judge Patterson’s connection to Schmitt is unclear, BSCO Maj. Tommy Ford said. Both judges were informed of the threats and given personal protection through the investigation. They could not be reached for comment Friday.

Schmitt was on his way to Bay County when authorities caught him in Bossier City. He was coming from his 90-year-old mother’s home in Lewisville, Tex., and allegedly beat her and tried to smother her with a pillow before leaving. He faces charges in that incident, as well.

A psychiatrist at Emerald Coast Behavioral Center has filed a retraining order against Schmitt, according to Ford.

In June, while still in Bay County, Schmitt was ordered to undergo mental evaluations and counseling after being arrested twice for violating his domestic violence restraining order, according to court records.

The first arrest also included a burglary charge. During his second arrest, according to BCSO, Schmitt barricaded himself in his home and shot mortar-like fireworks at deputies. He has also been charged in the past with making a false 911 call.

Schmitt is being held in Bossier City Jail on a host of charges including solicitation to commit murder, aggravated stalking, and violation of a domestic violence injunction. His extradition to Florida is being arranged. 

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

PANAMA CITY — A Panama City Beach man accused of conspiracy to murder two local judges was captured in Bossier City, La., on Thursday, according to the Bossier City Police Department (BCPD).

Joseph Russell Schmitt, 46, was arrested outside his room at the Horseshoe Casino Hotel about 7 p.m. by agents with the U.S. Marshals Service and FBI, and Bossier City Police officers. He also was wanted on aggravated stalking charges in St. Johns County, Fla.

After his arrested, Schmitt indicated to authorities he had explosive devices inside his hotel room and in his vehicle parked outside the hotel, according to BCPD. The Bossier City Fire Department Bomb Squad responded to the scene, but no explosive devices were found. 

Schmitt is being held in Bossier City Jail while his extradition to Florida is arranged. 

Further details on the case were not immediately available.

Check back later for more details

PANAMA CITY -- Gulf Power is warning customers to continue to be aware of scam artists calling residents and businesses in Northwest Florida impersonating utility company employees.

The company has received an escalated amount of calls from customers reporting fraudulent calls this week. Customers are being told their electric bill is past due and that their electricity will be cut off if the customer does not provide a credit card payment or other forms of immediate payment.

Gulf Power advises customers that Gulf Power employees will never call a customer at home seeking any personal information, including credit card numbers.

Also, Gulf Power representatives will never ask a customer for money when they visit a residence.

All Gulf Power representatives carry badges with picture identification that includes the employee’s name and the company’s name and logo.

Customers should call Gulf Power at 1-800-225-5797 if they have any questions about the identity of anyone representing Gulf Power.

Gulf Power is working with local law enforcement agencies to identify the perpetrators. If anyone has been victimized by one of these schemes, or has any information about suspects, they are asked to call local law enforcement and to contact Gulf Power at 1-800-225-5797.

PANAMA CITY — A woman was at her Panama City apartment Friday night when the driver of an SUV crashed through her front door.

Panama City police, the Panama City Fire Department and emergency medical personnel responded to the crash at Joe’s Apartments on West 15th Street and Foster Avenue shortly after 6:30 p.m. Gloria Perrier, who lives in the apartment, suffered scrapes and bruises in the incident, but had no serious injuries. The driver of the SUV and several passengers were not injured.

Perrier said she was talking on the phone with her daughter when she heard tires squealing. A moment later, the SUV plowed through her front door and knocked down most of the surrounding wall.

“I told my daughter, ‘I’ve got to go. I just got hit by a car,’ ” Perrier said.

The crash sent concrete blocks flying into the apartment, destroying a chair, dresser and television set while wedging the SUV in the wall. Perrier left her apartment by climbing out a broken window with the assistance of fire personnel. Later, when the SUV was being pulled from the apartment by a tow truck, firefighters used wooden beams to support the structure. The crash sent cracks rippling through the walls, leaving them vulnerable to collapse.

Perrier’s neighbor, Garland McGuire, was watching TV when the crash happened.

“I just heard someone braking real hard and then sliding and then a big boom,” he said. “And then I went outside and I didn’t know what to think.”

The SUV was traveling westbound on West 15th Street when a car traveling eastbound hydroplaned as it entered the shared turn lane, according to passengers in both vehicles. The driver of the SUV swerved to avoid a collision, and traveled over the curb into Perrier’s apartment. The identities of the drivers were not available Friday night.

No charges had been filed in the incident Friday night. An investigation is ongoing.

SOUTHPORT -- A pedestrian was seriously injured Friday night when he was struck by a truck on State 77.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Dale Lewis, 47, of Panama City was walking southbound in the northbound lane of State 77 north of Liberty Avenue at about 10:45 p.m. when he was hit by a 2006 GMC Sierra driven by John J. Rudovsky, 33, of Chipley.

While Rudovsky was traveling northbound, the front right corner of his truck struck Lewis, who was walking in the road, FHP said.

Lewis was transported to a local hospital where he is being treated for his injuries.

Rudovsky was arrested for DUI and transported to the Bay County Jail where he was booked in. Lewis was charged with failing to use the sidewalk, FHP said.

PANAMA CITY — The man who’s dogs got free and mauled a 7-year-old neighbor boy to death in April is scheduled to put his fate in the hands of a jury this week.

Edward Daniels, 21, could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison if he’s convicted of manslaughter. He’s also charged with marijuana possession and tampering with evidence for allegedly washing the blood from the animals after the April 2 attack on Tyler Jett in his front yard.

The community rallied around Jett as he clung to life in a Pensacola hospital, where doctors worked to help Jett survive his torn scalp and punctured carotid artery. His mother, Brandy Wilhite, made the decision to turn off the machines keeping her son alive five days after the attack.

Prosecutor Larry Basford has filed notices that he plans to put forth evidence that Daniels had been an irresponsible custodian of dogs even before M.J. and Fat Boy, two bulldogs, got loose and killed Jett. The dogs, which were euthanized after mauling Jett, had cornered a neighbor’s grandfather just days earlier. The neighbor later told reporters he was moments away from shooting the dogs.

Bay County Animal Control cited Daniels for allowing the dogs to run loose, but because the dogs didn’t bite anyone that day, they were not eligible to be placed on animal control’s list of dangerous dogs, a designation that places enhanced restrictions on owners and exposes them to felony charges if the dogs attack without provocation and seriously injure of kill someone.

Daniels had another dog named Dude that was declared dangerous after it bit a 9-year-old in the face in 2012. Basford intends to put that incident in front of the jury. He will have to convince the jury that Daniels knew the dogs were dangerous, and the “actions of the dog(s) and the defendant are inextricably entwined with the facts and circumstances this case (sic),” according to records.

Public Defender Kevin Carlisle is representing Daniels. He could not be reached for comment.

NEWARK  — While one burning question looms over the run-up to Super Bowl — Will it snow? — at least as much attention is being focused behind the scenes on how to safely and efficiently move tens of thousands of people in and around MetLife Stadium.

Over it, too.

MetLife Stadium sits within a few miles of Teterboro Airport to the north and several miles from Newark Liberty Airport to the south. Those are two of the four hubs that help make the New York-New Jersey metro area the most congested airspace in the country. Newark Liberty and New York's LaGuardia and JFK airports handled a combined 109 million passengers last year.

At certain times of the day, planes serving both Newark and Teterboro fly over the stadium complex every few minutes. Add hundreds more private jets that figure to arrive in the days leading up to the Super Bowl and the airspace could become even more crowded.

That won't be the case during the game, however, when the Federal Aviation Administration will create a temporary flight restriction over MetLife Stadium.

The FAA didn't offer details on that this week, but judging by previous Super Bowls, it figures to include a no-fly zone restricting all private, non-commercial aircraft from flying within several miles of the stadium beginning a few hours before the game and lasting for a few hours after. Scheduled commercial flights haven't been disrupted during previous Super Bowls and likely wouldn't be this time.

Unlike Newark, Teterboro handles mostly private jets and could be the most affected, both by the increased traffic leading up to the game and the restrictions after the game that could create a bottleneck of flights getting out of town.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Teterboro and Newark Liberty, is consulting with airports in cities that have hosted previous Super Bowls and will require private aircraft to use a reservation system to land at Teterboro during Super Bowl week. The airport's voluntary ban on flights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., instituted several years ago in response to residents' noise concerns, will remain in effect during that time, Port Authority spokesman Ron Marsico said.

Then there's the challenge of where to put all those planes once they are on the ground. Ray Adams, head of the air traffic controllers' union at Newark Liberty, said the airport could shut down some sections and use them to park aircraft. Adams said private aircraft departing after the game could have to reserve slots ahead of time.

No-fly zones over major sporting events have become commonplace since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., and they have been employed at all Super Bowls since 2002. They have encompassed airspace up to 18,000 feet and can extend from prohibiting all private aircraft from an area a few miles around a stadium to a 30-mile radius in which aircraft must keep in constant contact with controllers.

The airspace around Super Bowls has been patrolled by Air Force F-16 fighter jets and other aircraft operating under the auspices of Homeland Security. There have been isolated instances over the years in which private planes have violated restrictions inadvertently and were intercepted and landed without incident.

CALLAWAY — An armed person crawled through the drive-through window at a Callaway McDonald’s, held the manager at gunpoint, took an undisclosed amount of cash from the safe and crawled back out the window, police said.

Security video cameras captured the incident, which happened shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday.

VIDEO: Click here to watch the surveillance tape »

The suspect was wearing all black clothing, blue mittens and a blue bandana covering his face. He did not speak but gestured with his handgun at the safe in the office, officials wrote in a news release. The manager opened the safe and gave the suspect cash. He fled and was seen climbing out the drive-through window.

Deputies found several bills scattered in the McDonald’s back parking lot along with a bank money band, officials added.

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact the Bay County Sheriff’s Office at 850-747-4700 or CrimeStoppers at 785-TIPS (8477).

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Part of Allison Avenue, on the east side of Panama City Beach, will be closed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday for utility work.

The primary shutdown will occur at the intersection of Faith Avenueand Allison Avenue; traffic will be routed via Front Beach Road onto Moylan Road as a detour, according to a news release.

The project is expected to be finished Wednesday, weather permitting. The city is lowering a water line and the county is putting in a cross drain where the road will be closed, according to George Walrond, county engineering division manager. The county will do its portion in-house, while the city has hired Royal American Cos.

CALLAWAY — A man wanted on a Leon County murder warrant was taken into custody Monday in Callaway, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

Leon County investigators got a warrant for 29-year-old Roderick Damon O’Brian Jarmon after deputies in Leon County responded to a report of a small child unattended in the roadway and found the child’s mother dead inside a nearby home. Deputies alerted local authorities with the sheriff’s office and the U.S. Marshals Northwest Florida Fugitive Task Force that Jarmon had ties to Bay County.

Deputies gathered intelligence that suggested Jarmon was staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Callaway, where Jarmon was arrested without incident. He will be turned over the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.

PANAMA CITY — Jurors selected to determine whether a man was negligent when his dogs escaped and mauled a 7-year-old neighbor to death should expect an emotionally charged trial, attorneys said in court Monday.

A handful of potential jurors said they did not think they could be fair and impartial if asked to decide the fate of Edward Daniels, 21, who is charged with manslaughter and tampering with evidence in the death of 7-year-old Tyler Jett. One juror cited her 7-year-old grandson as the reason she could not bear to see grisly photos of the boy’s wounds or autopsy.

“These are not photographs that anybody would want to look at,” Prosecutor Larry Basford said.

Kevin Carlisle, the public defender representing Daniels, asked potential jurors to set aside their emotional response when it came time to deliberate and base their verdict on the facts of the case and law.

“It’s probably going to be impossible not to have an emotional reaction to them,” Carlisle said of the photos jurors will see in the trial.

About half the pool of potential jurors in the jury box Monday afternoon owned dogs, and another handful had been bitten themselves or had a family member who had been bitten. One man previously had been on a jury in a civil trial involving a 7-year-old girl who was bitten by a dog.

Carlisle asked the dog owners among the group if their dog had ever gotten loose. One man talked about how his dog jumped over a 6-foot privacy fence. Another said his dog once broke off a leash and ran for 30 miles.

Basford, who said he expected the prosecution to call 18 or more witnesses during the two- or three-day trial, asked if anyone disagreed that dog owners should be responsible for their pets. No one did.

Daniels is accused of letting his dogs, Fat Boy and M.J., get free April 2. Tyler had just gotten off the school bus and was playing in his front yard when the dogs attacked him, tearing away flesh from his scalp and puncturing his carotid artery. He died of his injuries five days later at a Pensacola hospital.

Police and animal control officials said Daniels showed no concern for the boy, and he washed the blood from the dogs when they returned, for which he was charged with tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.

Basford will have to prove Daniels knew the dogs were dangerous, and he intends to show the jury the dogs had gotten loose only a week before Jett was attacked. In that incident, the dogs cornered a neighbor’s grandfather, but were corralled before the neighbor shot the dogs.

If convicted of manslaughter, Daniels would face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating a Tuesday night wreck at Front Beach Road and Twin Lakes Drive, according to its website.

Troopers were dispatched at 7:18 p.m. in response to a wreck that injured at least two people, according to police scanner traffic between EMS personnel and dispatchers. Panama City Beach Fire and Rescue responded as well.

Two patients were en route to Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System. Law enforcement at the scene closed down Front Beach Road in both directions for several hours, according to the FHP website.

Additional details were not available. More information will be reported as it becomes available.

MARIANNA — The National Institute of Justice has awarded University of South Florida researchers a $423,000 grant to help with exhuming the gravesites located at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna.

The grant was announced Wednesday morning. It allows researchers to perform DNA testing and conduct investigations on human remains for identification. Starting this weekend, researchers from USF hope to start exhuming bodies from unmarked graves and perhaps return them to family members for a proper burial.

Former students and family members of the deceased say exhuming the remains might shed light on how the students died — and how they lived their final days at the school.

The school opened in 1900 and was shut down in 2011 for budgetary reasons.

Some former students have accused employees and guards at the school of physical and sexual abuse. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated but concluded in 2009 that it was unable to substantiate or dispute the claims.

Researchers said they have already used historical documents to discover more deaths and gravesites than what the law enforcement agency found; they have verified the deaths of two adult staff members and 96 children — ranging in age from 6 to 18 — between 1914 and 1973.

Researchers received nearly $200,000 from state legislators to begin their project on the site 60 miles west of Tallahassee. The federal grant announced Wednesday will allow researchers to work with the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification in performing all of the DNA analysis. All of the data will be entered into the Combined DNA Index System and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, said Erin Kimmerle, an anthropologist and one of USF's head researchers on the project.

Once DNA is collected, the information will be entered into national databases in hopes of finding families of the boys. In some cases, researchers have found families and have collected DNA, which will make identification of remains easier.

Kimmerle said researchers can also use facial reconstruction on remains that don't yield DNA results. The research team will also try to determine a cause of death for each student.

Greg Ridgeway — the acting director of U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice — said such grants usually are given to law enforcement or medical examiners' offices to clear cold cases and identify unclaimed bodies.

PANAMA CITY — At least a half-dozen of Edward Daniels’ neighbors had trouble with M.J. and Fat Boy before the two dogs fatally attacked a child in his front yard in April, according to testimony during the first day of Daniels’ trial on charges of manslaughter and evidence tampering.

One man was sure he would’ve been attacked if he hadn’t been able to hold the dogs off with a rake. One man drew an AR-15 and was close to shooting. Two others pulled knives when they were confronted by the animals.

“I’d have gutted that dog if he had charged me,” Sammy Allen said.

Is that enough to prove Daniels knew the dogs were dangerous?

That’s what a jury will have to determine.

“What did Edward Daniels know?” Kevin Carlisle asked jurors during his opening statement Wednesday morning. “Because that’s what this case is about.”

Carlisle focused most of the questioning during his cross-examinations Wednesday not on the April 2 attack that killed 7-year-old Tyler Jett, who lived across Kelly Court from Daniels, but on an incident five days earlier when the two dogs got loose and behaved aggressively toward several neighbors, including Jett’s stepfather.

Carlisle asked the neighbors what they told Daniels after the confrontations.

“They’re going to kill a kid,” Stanlee Himbaugh testified to telling Daniels on March 28. Himbaugh didn’t mention that warning when he gave a statement to law enforcement after Jett was attacked.

When Bay County Animal Control arrived on March 28, Daniels refused to sign a citation for allowing his dogs to run loose. Animal control had to call the sheriff’s office to back them up because Daniels was confrontational, and Daniels’ mother eventually signed the citation. 

“Either sign the citation or get rid of the damn dogs,” she told her son, according to testimony from John Rosin with animal control.

Adolph Williams testified that he drove his truck onto Daniels’ lawn and cussed him after one of the dogs threatened him one night. He said he told Daniels he would hurt Fat Boy and M.J. if Daniels didn’t come get them. While he didn’t expressly tell Daniels the dogs were dangerous and likely to kill someone, he felt confident at the time that his tone and use of profanity that night conveyed the message.

The neighbors painted Daniels as nonchalant and unconcerned, even when they threatened to kill the dogs if they got loose again. Daniels told Shannon Washington to “mind his own damn business” after he told Daniels to keep his dogs on a leash; Daniels said what his dogs did when he wasn’t around was out of his control, Washington told the jury.

Even when Bay County Animal Control Officer Matthew Bland told Daniels that his dogs had mauled Jett and the boy’s heart stopped beating, Daniels showed no reaction. Bland didn’t know how Daniels would typically respond to horrific news, he admitted in response to question from Carlisle.

Rather than compassion for his neighbor, Daniels reacted by washing the blood and human tissue from his dog, prosecutor Larry Basford said in his opening statement.

Bland and a crime scene investigator found blood and tissue on Daniels’ back porch. They showed photos of a fence in disrepair that surrounds the yard. There were large gaps between the boards and deep holes near the base of the 6-foot privacy fence.

Daniels has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. He will have an opportunity to call his witnesses after the prosecution rests.

His trial will continue, and possibly conclude, Thursday, Judge James Fensom said. Fensom could sentence Daniels to up to 15 years if he’s convicted.

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

Opening statements and testimony were given Wednesday morning in Edward Daniels manslaughter trial.

Daniels, 21, is charged with manslaughter and tampering with evidence in the death of 7-year-old Tyler Jett. Daniels is accused of letting his dogs, Fat Boy and M.J., get free April 2. Tyler had just gotten off the school bus and was playing in his front yard when the dogs attacked him, tearing away flesh from his scalp and puncturing his carotid artery. He died of his injuries five days later at a Pensacola hospital. 

In his opening statement Prosecutor Larry Basford described Tyler Jett's “innocent and fatal mistake” as playing outside. He added that Daniels knew or should have known the dogs were dangerous and could kill. However, in Public Defender Kevin Carlisle’s opening statement he refuted that claim.

“These two dogs had never bitten a human being,” before they killed Tyler, Carlisle says.

Basford put several of Daniel’s neighbors on the stand who said the dogs had attempted to attack them including one neighbor who said he specifically warned Daniels about what could happen.

“They're gonna kill a kid,” he recalled saying. 

----

We will have more updates from the trial later today. For live updates throughout the trial follow News Herald reporter @pcnhchriso on Twitter.

PANAMA CITY -- A man charged in the firebombing of a Muslim doctor’s home last year was acquitted by a local jury Tuesday.

Patrick Pippen, 22, was found not guilty of principal in the first degree to arson of a dwelling and possession or manufacture of a fire bomb. He was on trial for the fire-bombing of Dr. Aziz Ahmad’s home, in which a device similar to a Molotov cocktail was hurled at the residence. Pippen had told police he put gasoline in a Mason jar and used a rag as a fuse, but that another man, Anthony Wait, threw the bomb. He said the bomb was intended only to scare the victims.

Investigators found Mason jars and gasoline in and around a shed behind Pippen’s home in Wewahitchka. The Mason jars were consistent with glass found at the site of the fire.

Wait, 24, and Daniel Blankenship, 22, also were arrested in the case. Blankenship pleaded no contest in February to accessory after the fact to arson and was placed on probation. The case against Wait is pending. 

Police affidavits indicate Ahmad was targeted as retaliation. One of the suspects’ relatives died in Ahmad’s care.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Ahmad would not comment on Pippen’s acquittal.

PANAMA CITY — Edward Daniels tries not to show his emotions, he testified Thursday morning, so he didn’t react visibly in the evening when he was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of his 7-year-old neighbor.

It took the jury about two hours to reach its verdict: guilty of manslaughter for neglecting to contain his dogs on the day they got loose and mauled Tyler Jett; not guilty of tampering with evidence for washing the blood from one of them after it returned home.

Daniels told jurors he didn’t know what his dogs had done when he washed away Tyler’s blood from Fat Boy’s face and paws. He’d heard a gunshot moments earlier and believed one of his neighbors had followed through on a threat to kill his dogs, so he washed away the blood looking for injuries. Only later did he learn what Fat Boy and M.J. had done.

“I felt bad. I was surprised by it,” he said. “I didn’t think my dogs would do something like that.”

But his neighbors said they’d warned him so often that he should have known, and the jury agreed. Daniels, who has no significant prior criminal history, could be sentenced to up to 15 years when he next appears before Judge James Fensom on Oct. 14 for sentencing.

Defense attorney Kevin Carlisle tried to convince the jury that neighbors had enhanced their stories about the confrontations in the months since Tyler died. Daniels’ testimony disputed many of his neighbors’ accounts, and he said no one ever explicitly told him they felt the dogs were dangerous or aggressive.

Prosecutor Larry Basford said there was plenty of evidence to show the dogs were dangerous before they killed Tyler; Daniels, he said, either chose to ignore them or didn’t care.

“You can’t stick your head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend the world isn’t there,” Basford told the jury during his closing arguments.

For Tyler’s family, the verdict amounted to justice for Tyler. His mother, Brandy Wilhite, said after the trial that they would go to the cemetery where Tyler is buried, perhaps with one of the chocolate milkshakes the boy enjoyed.

Wilhite said she wasn’t sympathetic to Daniels, but she felt for his family. Her best friend Katy Phillips, who describes herself as Tyler’s step-mother, described the situation as a loss for everyone involved.

“Not only did we lose the best part of us, they’ve lost their son,” Phillips said.

Edward Daniels Sr., who testified about his and his son’s efforts to repair the privacy fence from where the dogs escaped several times before they attacked Tyler, said after the trial that he was unhappy with the way his son had been portrayed in media coverage. He declined to comment further.

Daniels testified that he’d only seen the dogs behave aggressively once before, with another dog. But Wednesday nearly half the people who were his neighbors on Kelly Court in Callaway testified to the trouble the dogs had caused. Several told of how they armed themselves with guns, knives, rakes and shovels when they were confronted by the unattended dogs.

The dogs are reportedly bulldogs, but Daniels testified that he wasn’t actually sure of their breed; bulldog was an educated guess based on a Google search, he said. The dogs were euthanized after the attack.

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

PANAMA CITY – The owner of two dogs who killed a 7-year-old boy took the stand this morning.

On April 2 Edward Daniels’ dogs attacked Tyler Jett, who lived across from Daniels in Callaway. During the first half of the manslaughter trial Prosecutor Larry Basford called witnesses who testified that Daniels had been warned his dogs were violent and dangerous and that after the attack he was unemotional and washed the blood off of them in an attempt to destroy evidence.

While on the stand Daniels denied that a neighbor told him the dogs would kill a child. He also said he never saw the dogs act aggressively, except once, with another dog. He added that the dogs often found new places in his privacy fence where they could escape.

"They found a weak spot and the privacy fence and tore it, tore it up." Daniels said, adding that they never got out in the same place twice.

Immediately after the attack Daniels believed that someone had shot his dog, he said. He washed the blood looking for an injury, he added. Finding none, he believed the dog attacked another dog.

Daniels also testified that he was not an emotional person by nature in order to explain his reaction after finding out his dogs had seriously injured a child.

“I felt bad. I was surprised by it. I didn't think my dogs would do something like that,” he said.

WASHINGTON — The federal government said Thursday that it won't sue to stop the states of Colorado and Washington from allowing recreational marijuana use.

In a sweeping policy announcement, the Justice Department outlined eight top priority areas for its enforcement of marijuana laws.

They range from preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors to preventing sales revenue from going to criminal enterprises, gangs and cartels and preventing the diversion of marijuana outside of states where it is legal under state law.

Other top-priority enforcement areas include preventing state-authorized marijuana activity from being used as a cover for trafficking other illegal drugs and preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana. The top areas also include preventing drugged driving, preventing growing marijuana on public land and preventing marijuana possession on federal property.

The announcement follows the first-in-the-nation legalization of recreational marijuana use by the states of Colorado and Washington.

Last December, President Barack Obama said it does not make sense for the federal government to go after recreational drug users in a state that has legalized recreational use of small amounts of marijuana.

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the theft of 50 tires from a Pep Boys auto store in Panama City Beach.

Security cameras at the store at 8113 Front Beach Road recorded a white or light-colored Nissan Frontier truck used in the Sunday theft, according to BCSO. Investigators believe two suspects stole the tires from the back of the store between 10:44 p.m. and 11:11 p.m. The truck was recorded traveling east on Front Beach after the stolen tires were loaded. The tires are valued at $6,000 total.

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

PANAMA CITY — Police have arrested a man they believe is responsible for a spree of costly property crimes in St. Andrews earlier this month.

Nearly a dozen St. Andrews residents woke up Aug. 11 to find their tires slashed or cars spray-painted. Police investigated for several days without developing a suspect because there was no apparent connection between the victims, former Panama City Police spokesman Lt. Robert Luther said a few days later.

Tires on West 12th Street were slashed on several vehicles. A few blocks away on Hickory Avenue, two vehicles were spray-painted with yellow paint, as was a moving van a few blocks north on 15th Street.

At least eight vehicles at seven addresses had tires cut, along with the three that were painted. The damages totaled nearly $6,500.

Mark Alvardo, 37, of West 12th Court, is in the Bay County Jail on several felony counts of criminal mischief. He was arrested Sunday and charged with three counts, and detectives leveled an additional seven counts Tuesday. His bonds total $12,000.

Alvardo was identified as a suspect based on surveillance video footage and accounts of witnesses to a fight on Aug. 11, according to Detective John Wray with PCPD. Alvardo was in a fight and upset with the outcome, so he allegedly set out on a vandalism spree between Beck Avenue and his home.

Like Hansel and Gretel, Alvardo left a figurative trail of breadcrumbs for investigators to follow.

“They all lead right to his house,” Wray said.

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In addition to the vehicles he’s accused of spray-painting, police found a building painted and a utility box with a painting of a foot.

Why a foot?

Wray said he’s given up trying to figure that one out.

“I still don’t know the significance of the foot,” he said.

There are other victims who haven’t been in touch with Wray yet, he said, so additional charges against Alvardo are possible. Anyone with information or who believes they are a victim should contact Wray at 872-3112.

SPRINGFIELD -- The Springfield Fire Department and other emergency personnel responded Friday to a house fire in the 3600 block of East Second Street.

No injuries were reported.

The owner of the home, Betty McRay, said no one was inside when the fire began shortly after 5:30 p.m.

Police cordoned off East Second Street between Helen Avenue and Claire Avenue during the fire. It was unclear how much damage the fire caused.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.