PANAMA CITY — Jimmy “Trey” Stanford III has been rehired by the Sheriff’s Office as a detention specialist two years after he resigned amid an investigation into a high-speed police chase in which he was the only suspect.

“The sheriff decided to give him a second chance,” Maj. Tommy Ford said, adding that Stanford did not receive special treatment.

Stanford had a documented history of alcohol use and behaving recklessly even before he resigned from the Sheriff’s Office in 2011. He was suspended without pay in 2005 after Panama City Beach Police, investigating a report of shots fired, chased him from Rock’It Lanes and found him hiding in bushes. A supervisor admonished him for bringing “discredit to yourself, but also to this agency,” according to law enforcement records.

Reports indicate Stanford, who was not on duty at the time of the Rock’It Lanes incident, was extremely intoxicated but unarmed, and no charges against him were filed.

Stanford was suspended in 2009 after he was involved in a crash in his Sheriff’s Office patrol car. Before the crash, he was talking on a cellphone while driving 99 miles per hour to respond to a non-emergency call.

Trey Stanford, whose father, Capt. Jimmy Stanford, is BCSO’s top criminal investigator, resigned after about a decade with the BCSO on Oct. 18, 2011. Only hours earlier, his personal car was found wrecked but abandoned a short distance from where a Panama City Police officer stopped chasing a car matching Trey Stanford’s after speeds reached 100 miles per hour.

His BCSO badge and a loaded pistol were found at the scene, but witnesses to the crash said the driver ran off before police arrived. Police found frozen food and a receipt indicating Trey Stanford had just been shopping at Wal-Mart. They found wrappers for ice cream bars, still cold, behind the business near the crash.

The BCSO did not conduct an investigation, but deputies responded to the scene of the crash and collected evidence.

Panama City Police conducted a brief investigation into the chase but did not have enough evidence to make felony charges against Trey Stanford. Lynn Haven Police charged him with a misdemeanor count of leaving the scene of a crash with property damage. The State Attorney’s Office asked the governor to assign a special prosecutor to Trey Stanford’s case because of the relationship between the two offices.

Trey Stanford eventually pleaded no contest to a count of failure to leave information, and Judge Joe Grammer withheld adjudication, which allowed him to keep his law enforcement certification.

“In our system of justice he has not been convicted of the things he was charged with,” Ford said.

Ford pointed out that Trey Stanford has not had any issues since he was arrested for DUI about two months after he resigned. That charge was dismissed.

His first day at the jail was last Friday, Ford said. He’s being paid about $30,000 a year, which is less than he made as a deputy but more than a detention supervisor just starting out.

It’s an entry-level position with “diminished responsibilities” compared to those of a patrol deputy, Ford said, adding that every position with the BCSO demands responsibility. Ford assumed Trey Stanford was not the only applicant for the job, but he said he was not sure.

“We do have a turnover at the jail, and these positions come open pretty frequently,” he said. “We do have a continuous pool of applicants.”

Attempts to reach Stanford Friday were unsuccessful.

CALLAWAY -- A man wanted in Kentucky on sexual abuse charges was captured in Callaway Friday night.

Robert Eric Price,  44, was arrested by the U.S. Marshal Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force at the Value Place Motel in Callaway at about 9 p.m., according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

Price was wanted by the Henry County Sheriff's Office in Henry County, Kentucky for three counts of sexual abuse first degree. He is being held in the Bay County Jail pending extradition to Kentucky.

COTTONDALE -- Two people were injured Friday afternoon in a crash on U.S. 231 at Tendell Road in Cottondale, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Kayla Smith, 20, was traveling southbound on U.S. 231 in her Saturn Vue about 5:35 p.m. when she attempted to turn left onto Tendell. Her vehicle was struck by a northbound Toyota Camry driven by 56-year-old Sue Kennedy.

Smith, of Sneads, was critically injured. She was taken to Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System. Kennedy, of St. Louis, was taken to Southeast Alabama Medical Center. She was in serious condition after the crash.

No charges had been filed in the incident as of Saturday night. An investigation is ongoing.

PANAMA CITY — Jury selection begins Tuesday for the retrial of a Fountain man accused of killing a neighbor in his home and stealing his property.

A jury deliberated more than six hours in Phillip Brock’s first trial on a count of murder. When they deadlocked, Judge Brantley Clark declared a mistrial.

Brock, 57, is looking at life in prison if convicted this time around of allegedly binding 65-year-old Terry Brazil’s hands before beating, stabbing and shooting him to death in December 2012.

During the first trial in August, prosecutor Larry Basford painted Brock as a perpetually broke man who relied heavily on support from friends, neighbors and girlfriends until he killed Brazil and stole thousands of dollars worth of guns and collectable coins.

Several witnesses talked about how Brock lived in a trailer with no electricity or running water, and his landlord said Brock had offered to sell him silver coins before Brazil’s body was found.

Brock disputed most of the evidence against him when he testified. He and Brazil were friends with a business relationship, so he occasionally stored Brazil’s property at his home. Deputies found several guns, coins and Brazil’s car at Brock’s home.

The defense pointed out that some nights when Brock visited Brazil, he would have too much to drink and sleep it off at his friend’s home, so it made sense deputies with the Sheriff’s Office found his DNA inside the home.

Deputies also found Brock’s DNA on several key pieces of evidence, including a roll of duct tape and a broken bedpost that may or may not have been used to beat Brazil. Those items were found in the woods.

Jurors in Brock’s first trial heard three days of testimony.

PANAMA CITY — The animal is about 6-feet tall, with hooves and a mane, the defense attorney explained to the jury, and then she asked them which animal she was describing. 

Most said horse, but a few said mule, giraffe or zebra.

"You have got a whole lot of facts that make that thing look like a horse," Jennifer Fury said. "Unless it's not."

Since Phillip Brock's first trial on a count of first-degree murder in the death of 65-year-old Terry Brazil, which resulted in a mistrial after the first jury deadlocked, his attorney Kim Jewell enlisted Fury to help with his defense. Jewell described Fury, a Bradenton attorney, as an old friend and an exceptionally competent trial attorney.

Fury carried most of the water Tuesday, the first day of Brock's retrial. She handled cross-examinations of the state's law enforcement witnesses, which were called Tuesday in order to both accommodate the schedule of the state's expert witness on DNA and to fit the trial into a week shortened by a holiday Monday. Fury also questioned potential jurors during the jury selection process. 

The case against Brock is based on forensic and circumstantial evidence; as prosecutor Larry Basford told the first jury, nobody saw the crime, but deputies connected him to Brazil's home with DNA evidence and several items of Brazil's property that were found at Brock's home. 

In court Tuesday, Fury said jurors wouldn't be shown enough evidence to convict Brock. The roughly 20 witnesses for the state, she said, would amount to "a whole lot of nothing. … It’s the difference between quantity and quality."

One of the several analogies Fury used to describe the jurors she was looking for was the grocery shopper who does more than open the egg carton at the supermarket; several jurors admitted they, like Fury, run their hands over the eggs inside to find broken eggs that appear intact.

It took most of the day to select the nine women and five men who will hear the case. Brock is charged with first-degree murder, which means he can opt for a jury of 12 instead of six. 

Brock testified in the first trial that he and Brazil were friends and business associates who often sold things together at flea markets and sometimes had drinks together. His explanations for why his DNA was all over the crime scene and for why Brazil’s property was at his home were enough to convince at least one juror in the first trial there was enough reasonable doubt to deadlock the jury.

Judge Brantley Clark said Tuesday the trial will last until Friday.

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted in the 1991 sexual assault and murder of an aspiring artist in Orlando was executed Tuesday by injection.

Darius Kimbrough was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. at the Florida State Prison in Starke, officials said. He did not make any statement, telling officials “No, sir” when asked if he had any last words.

Kimbrough was condemned to die for the October 1991 killing of 28-year-old Denise Collins, who was attacked in her apartment as she slept. Experts testified at Kimbrough’s 1994 trial that blood and semen samples taken from Collins’ bed were compatible with the defendant’s DNA.

Collins’ mother and sister were among 24 witnesses, including news media, who attended the execution. Her mother, Diane Stewart, said the last 22 years have been “horrendous” while the family waited for the legal appeals to play out.

“This is well deserved,” Stewart told reporters. “Let’s see if we can pick ourselves up a little more and get on with our life.”

The sister, Annette Collins, said the execution was a numbing experience but also a relief.

“I’m just happy that Denise received justice. Wherever she is, I hope she is smiling down,” she said.

It was the second time a new mix of drugs was used in Florida since the previous execution in mid-October.

Kimbrough was not a plaintiff in a lawsuit by other inmates who have argued the use of the new drug mix should be halted as unconstitutional. The execution Tuesday appeared to go smoothly, with no apparent movements or unusual activity by Kimbrough.

In October, the state Supreme Court denied Kimbrough’s appeal, rejecting the argument from Kimbrough’s lawyers that he shouldn’t be executed because the jury recommendation wasn’t unanimous.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Kimbrough’s final appeal late Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier Tuesday, Kimbrough ate his last meal including pizza, fried chicken, fried green tomatoes and chocolate chip ice cream. Kimbrough also met with a chaplain, his mother, three aunts, a cousin and a friend.

After Collins was killed, a neighbor at her Orlando complex told detectives he had seen a man near her apartment next to a ladder by the apartment’s balcony. The neighbor later identified Kimbrough, then 19, as the man from a picture lineup.

A maintenance man at the complex also said Kimbrough had watched him putting away a ladder in the complex around the time of the murder.

Kimbrough was found guilty at his 1994 trial, during which experts testified that blood and semen samples taken from Collins’ bed were compatible with the defendant’s DNA.

Florida first used the new lethal injection drug mix during the execution of William Happ on Oct. 15.

Death row inmates in Florida are seeking to stop the use of the new drug mix, asking federal courts to declare the procedure unconstitutional. Kimbrough is not one of the plaintiffs in the suit.

Attorneys for the inmates who filed the suit say the use of the sedative midazolam hydrochloride won’t prevent excruciating pain and suffering when the next two drugs are administered. Use of the mix would be a form of cruel and unusual punishment, thus violating the condemned prisoner’s rights, according to the complaint.

A local reporter found herself looking down the barrel of a gun after knocking on the door of an off-duty public safety telecommunicator she'd hoped to interview, officials say.

Shortly after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Shauna Justice, who lives near New Smyrna Beach, answered a WESH-2 News reporter's knocks with a gun in hand, Volusia County sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.
Justice, 28, was recently suspended after an internal investigation revealed she'd been on her personal cellphone as her trainee directed first responders to the wrong location.

Justice yelled at the reporter, who didn't have a mic or camera in hand, to get off her property and continued to point her gun at the reporter who was backing away and asking Justice to calm down, Davidson said. Justice told deputies she thought she was justified in pointing the gun at the reporter because she “felt harassed to the point where she felt threatened.”

Officials determined Justice was not justified in her use of the gun, and she was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Davidson said.

Justice, who was hired in 2007, has been suspended without pay, and a disciplinary decision is pending based on the results of an internal investigation.

She was released from the Volusia County Branch Jail later Tuesday after posting $1,500 bail.
 

SOUTHPORT — Authorities are considering filing murder charges against a Chipley woman who stabbed her boyfriend in an American Legion parking lot.  

Earnestine “Tina” Canuet, 64, of Chipley, was arrested and charged with the stabbing last month, but the boyfriend died in a hospital Saturday. Canuet is out on bond.

A Bay County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said Tuesday the agency’s waiting on autopsy details before making a decision on upgrading the current charge against Canuet — aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

The stabbing happened Oct. 21 at the American Legion Post 375 at6937 State 77in Southport. When authorities arrived on the scene, 68-year-old Richard Lielasus was on the ground with a 6-inch gash in the left side of his stomach, and Canuet had his blood on her shirt, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

“I can’t believe that [expletive] stabbed me,” Lielasus said, according to the BCSO report.

Lielasus appeared to be heading into shock when the ambulance arrived and took him to Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System, the BCSO report said.

Other bar patrons pinned Canuet against a Ford pickup truck in the parking lot while they waited for deputies to arrive. As the handcuffs were being put on her, she wept and said “I’m sorry” over and over, according to the BCSO report.

En route to the jail on the stabbing charge, Canuet was in hysterics, making several outbursts including: “Please don’t hate me; I’m not a bad person; I just snapped; he said such mean things to me,” the report said.

She also said, “He broke my heart; he told me to suck it up and get over it; I don’t know why I did it but I just did, and I’ve never hurt anyone before.”

The retired Lielasus often went to the post and was in the bar minutes before he was stabbed in the late afternoon, said Deborah Spain, 29, of Southport, who was there.

“He says, ‘I got to go; I’ve got something to take care of; I’ll see y’all later,’ ” Spain said.

Canuet was not in the post with him, but a few minutes after Lielasus left, she burst in, yelling, “I stabbed him; I stabbed him.” She was holding a big hunting knife, at least 6 inches long, but the situation was too surreal for Canuet to be taken seriously, Spain said.

The patrons wrested the knife from her hands as a bartender went out a side door to check it out, finding Lielasus on the ground with his intestines hanging out, Spain said.

“It was bad. … The way she stabbed him and pulled (the knife) out his insides basically kept the blood from coming out. So he was bleeding internally, and there was nothing we could do,” Spain said.

Lielasus was dazed and talked about how he was in pain, Spain said. Canuet went outside with the rest of the bar patrons and apologized repeatedly to her boyfriend, but then started “getting violent,” Spain said, so she was pinned against a truck until the law enforcement showed up.

“She’s a little crazy,” Spain said.

Post Commander August “Red” Viehweger wasn’t there but said as far he knew no one witnessed the stabbing, only the aftermath.

“There was a lot of heartaches; a lot of people knew the gentleman,” he said.

Viehweger said Lielasus was very nice, but a “little rough around the edges” — not unusual for a former military man. He had served in the U.S. Navy. The post plans to hold a memorial service for him in a few weeks.

“He was a cuttin’ up, gettin’ along kind of guy. … Everybody’s going to miss Richard,” said 46-year-old Chris Windsor, a Southport resident and Army veteran. “Like I said: He was a character. He was — I mean, he had his moments just like anybody else, but he was a pretty decent guy.”

Windsor said his father and Lielasus were close and would cook out and play horseshoes every Saturday afternoon. He was looking forward to additional details being released by the BCSO, hoping to learn a motive.

“I’d like to find out what the hell happened. … A woman just doesn’t gut a man in the parking lot for no reason, unless she’s a real nutty chick — and he had a habit of finding them now,” Windsor said.

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

SOUTHPORT — A Southport man died in a hospital Saturday after being stabbed nearly three weeks ago in an American Legion parking lot in Southport.

The man’s girlfriend, Earnestine “Tina” Canuet, 64, of Chipley, was arrested and charged with the stabbing, but has since bonded out.

No murder charges had been filed as of midday Monday.

The stabbing happened Oct. 21 at the American Legion Post 375 in Southport. When authorities arrived on the scene, 68-year-old Richard Lielasus was already on the ground with a 6-inch gash in the left side of his stomach, and Canuet had his blood on her shirt, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

“I can’t believe that [expletive] stabbed me,” Lielasus said, according to the BCSO report.

He appeared to be heading into shock when the ambulance arrived and took him to Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System, but he was apparently stabilized.

Other bar patrons pinned Canuet against a Ford pickup truck in the parking lot while they waited for deputies to arrive. As the handcuffs were being put on her, she wept and said “I’m sorry” over and over, according to the police report.

En route to the jail on the stabbing charge, Canuet was in hysterics, making several outbursts including: “Please don’t hate me; I’m not a bad person; I just snapped; he said such mean things to me.

“He broke my heart; he told me to suck it up and get over it; I don’t know why I did it but I just did, and I’ve never hurt anyone before.”

Check back later today for more details

PANAMA CITY — A judge Wednesday denied a request from the attorney for a man accused of a hate crime for shooting and killing a black man to separate the trial into two phases: one focusing on guilt and another focusing on motive. 

Judge John Fishel denied attorney Mark Sims' request, ruling the testimony surrounding Walt Butler's guilt and motive would be too intertwined to separate. Sims argued testimony focusing on what prosecutors believe was Butler's motive — racism — would be too prejudicial and Butler might be convicted simply for describing Everett Gant using a racial slur.

"He's not on trial for being a racist," Sims said. "He's on trial for second-degree murder."

Butler was arrested by the Gulf County Sheriff's Office in July 2012 after he allegedly shot Gant in the face when he came to the door to confront Butler over some racist comments he'd allegedly made to a child from the Port St. Joe neighborhood earlier that day. Gant died six weeks later.

Former Sheriff Joe Nugent testified during the hearing Wednesday. He said Butler had barricaded himself in the home and was eating dinner when he entered and put Butler in handcuffs.

"He (Butler) said he didn't know what the problem was," Nugent said. "He just shot a (racial epithet)."

Prosecutor Bob Sombathy said that while testimony that might show Butler to be a racist would certainly be prejudicial, it should be allowed because he had to prove Butler targeted Gant because of his race in order to convict him of a hate crime. 

"Of course it's going to be prejudicial, but the fact is that's the very issue the jury is going to have to decide," Sombathy said.

Sims also tried to have Butler's entire statement suppressed, but Fishel denied that as well. Between Sims and Sombathy, there were nine pretrial motions on Fishel's plate during the hearing. 

"Let all my stuff in, and keep all his stuff out," is how Sims jokingly summarized his argument. 

Sims was successful in keeping testimony from a long-time friend of Butler's out of court. The man said in a deposition Butler valued a black person's life less than a white person's.

"Our theory is, this man cared no more for shooting [Gant] than putting a dog down," Sombathy argued, referring to the man's deposition testimony. 

Sims argued that was in response to a leading question. Fishel found the testimony would be too prejudicial, but he said he would allow the jury to hear testimony to establish Butler had used racial slurs in the past. 

"I will caution that that does not need to become the primary focus of this trial," he said. 

If convicted of second-degree murder with the hate crime enhancement, Butler could be sentenced to life in prison. The trial is set for next week in Port St. Joe.

Wednesday’s hearing was held in Bay County to accommodate the schedules of some participants.

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- Two people were arrested Wednesday in connection with counterfeit money being used at several Panama City Beach businesses in the last week.

Will Rustin Sprayberry, 33, of Oxford, Ala., and Jeniffer Pippin, 30, of Anniston, Ala., are accused of using phony $20 bills to pay for merchandise at Wal-Mart stores on Front Beach Road and Back Beach Road. They also used the fake money for purchases at local Taco Bell and Burger King restaurants, according to Panama City Beach police.

Investigators identified the vehicle used in the incidents, and when it was pulled over Wednesday by a Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputy, Sprayberry and Pippin were arrested.

Sprayberry was charged with two counts of passing counterfeit currency, which he has been previously convicted of in Alabama. Before his latest arrest, he had been wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service for violation of probation.

Pippin was charged with principal to passing counterfeit currency. She and Sprayberry are being held in Bay County Jail.

The U.S. Secret Service assisted Panama City Beach police in their investigation. Additional charges are expected in the case, police reported.

PANAMA CITY — Philip Logan Brock, whose father is on trial for the murder of his neighbor, testified that he found $12,000 worth of silver coins concealed a pool pump on his father’s property when he went with a detective to look for additional evidence last month.

The evidence had not been discovered prior to Philip Dean Brock’s first jury trial in September, which resulted in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked after six hours of deliberation. Brock’s son said it was discovered just moments after he and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office lead investigator on the case had joked about finding silver.

He said he asked the investigator if there was any evidentiary value to the pool pump on the property he owned but his father lived on.

“ ‘Not unless it’s filled with silver,’ and then we both just kind of laughed,” Logan Brock said.

Brock’s attorney, Kim Jewell, questioned her client’s son about how secure the property had been kept since Brock’s arrest in December 2012. Someone had gotten into the living quarters and been through some of his father’s personal papers, Logan Brock said.

Jewell had been critical of the investigation even before the discovery of new evidence after the first trial. In July she called it “sloppy” during a pretrial hearing during which she also relayed her client’s accusations against investigators that were not supported by evidence. Her remarks drew a response from Sheriff Frank McKeithen on Facebook in a post that suggested she had a vendetta against the BCSO and was using a “dirty cop defense” instead of a “competent defense.”

In another notable variation from the first trial, prosecutor Larry Basford and crime scene investigator Mike Wesley went to victim Terry Brazil’s home and asked him to swing a bedpost possibly used to batter Brazil in the bedroom. Wesley testified that he is roughly a foot taller than Brock, and he was able to swing the bed post freely without hitting the ceiling or anything else in the room.

Jewell wielded the bed post during her closing arguments in the first trial, and she suggested that it couldn’t be done in a room with 7-foot ceilings without hitting the ceilings.

There were heated arguments, while the jury waited outside the courtroom, about whether Wesley should be allowed to re-enact the crime in front of jurors.

“They said it wasn’t possible,” Basford said. “We know it is.”

Otherwise the retrial has mirrored the first trial, with several witnesses testifying Brock was destitute, and they didn’t know him to collect coins or carry firearms, and law enforcement officers testifying they found guns and valuable coins at Brock’s home during searches.

Brock’s trial is expected to last until Friday. He faces life in prison if he’s convicted.

LYNN HAVEN — A Bay County Jail correctional officer described as a family man with a spotless employment record has been arrested and fired after allegedly having a sexual relationship with an inmate.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday that Pedro Reyes, a detention corporal employed by the jail since 2008, admitted to having sex with a female inmate on two occasions. He was charged with sexual misconduct between a detention facility employee and inmate, which is a third-degree felony.

Investigators believe the inmate was a willing participant in the encounters. She told BCSO that in mid-to-late October, they had sex in a storage room in the jail’s laundry facility, which Reyes supervises.

The Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether Reyes had sex with other inmates. Additional charges are possible, BCSO reported. An investigation is ongoing.

Jail director Rick Anglin said Reyes would’ve had to take significant risks to make the sexual encounters happen. Male and female inmates are held in separate dorms at the jail, and they’re supervised by detention officers of the same sex. The laundry facility also is separated by gender. And when the alleged encounters were occurring — between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. — other jail staffers were in the laundry area, Anglin said.

“He was able to manipulate, basically, opportunities to where he would be alone for short periods of time, is what we’re gathering,” he said.

Reyes, according to Anglin, has been a correctional officer for 19 years and previously worked at a state detention facility. Anglin said Reyes had no employment infractions at Bay County Jail. To his knowledge, Anglin said, Reyes also had a clean record at the state corrections center.

”I’m extremely disappointed. I would have never believed this. I’ve always known him to be a very good officer,” he said, adding that Reyes appeared to be a family man.

Anglin repeatedly called the inmate a victim, noting that while the sexual encounters appear to not have been forced, they were still against the law.

“There is no consent when dealing with inmates and staff. An inmate cannot consent to something like that because they’re under our supervision,” he said.

Reyes is being held at Washington County Jail.

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

PANAMA CITY — A Bay County Jail correctional officer has been arrested after allegedly having a sexual relationship with an inmate.

The Bay County Sheriff's Office reported Wednesday that Pedro Reyes, a detention corporal employed by the jail since 2008, admitted to having sex with a female inmate on two occasions. Investigators believe the relationship was consensual. The Sheriff's Office is investigating whether Reyes had sex with other inmates.

Reyes was charged with sexual misconduct a between detention facility employee and inmate. Additional charges are possible, BCSO reported.

This is developing story. Check back soon for more information.

The Panama City Police Department is seeking help from the community in identifying three female subjects who fraudulently used a credit card that was taken during a vehicle burglary on October 31.

The card was used at the Walmart on West 23rd Street in Panama City and the Walmart on Tyndall Parkway in Callaway.

The card was used within hours of being stolen from the victim’s vehicle. The primary suspect appears to be a woman between 5”6 and 5”9, between 25 to 30 years of age, wearing a white tank top style shirt and dark pants. Those with information this woman are asked to contact Detective Rossomondo at 850-872-3100. Anonymous tips can be reported to CrimeStoppers at 850-785-TIPS.
 

GRAND RIDGE -- An eighth-grade teacher in Jackson County was arrested Thursday following an investigation into a sexual relationship with a former student.

Arrested after school and charged with a single count of lewd and lascivious battery upon a minor child between the ages of 12 and 16 was Patrick Kyle McDaniel, 32, a teacher at the Grand Ridge Middle School.

According to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, officials received information from the Jackson County School Board concerning the allegations. The investigation revealed that sexual contact began occurring in July. The victim was McDaniel’s former student at Grand Ridge Middle School; however, the allegations of sexual misconduct did not appear to have occurred during the time the victim was a student of McDaniel’s, JCSO said.

PANAMA CITY — The trial of Philip Dean Brock continued Thursday as defense attorneys questioned the origin of new evidence in the case and again challenged the Bay County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation of the accused murderer.

The new evidence, $12,000 worth of silver coins discovered hidden on Brock’s property, furthered prosecutor Larry Basford’s argument that Brock killed 65-year-old Terry Brazil last December for monetary reasons. But Brock’s attorneys, Jennifer Fury and Kim Jewell, argued Thursday that Brock’s property had not been secure since his arrest and that anyone seeking access could’ve jumped its fence or chain-locked gate.

Fury asked BCSO Corp. Mark Bailey, the lead investigator in the case, if deputies had been monitoring Brock’s property in Southport every day since his arrest.

“No,” Bailey said.

Brock’s son, Logan Brock, was the only person granted access to the property. He discovered the coins hidden in a pool filter last month after Bailey had arrived to search for additional evidence. Logan Brock has testified that since his father’s arrest, someone entered the property’s living quarters and went through his father’s personal papers.

Further pursuing her argument that Brock’s property was vulnerable to trespassers, Fury presented two photos she said were taken by investigators, one that shows the property after Brock’s arrest and the other that shows the property last month. The photos, according to Fury, showed that some objects on the property were moved or missing. Things became tense after Fury repeatedly asked Bailey to confirm the dates the photos were taken, but Bailey could not. Basford objected and told Judge Brantley Clark she was “trying to jam the photos down his throat.”

Fury was animated throughout Thursday’s proceedings, pacing around the courtroom and pointing at witnesses, Brock and the jury.

Testimony from BCSO Capt. Jimmy Stanford, the head of criminal investigations, became similarly tense. Fury pressed him as to why he did not record an interview with Brock that was conducted after Brock’s initial statement to investigators, which was taped. Stanford’s interview was much longer and covered more information, including details that were later used in court to question Brock’s credibility. As Fury probed Stanford’s reasons for not recording the interview, she frequently interrupted his responses.

“Would you like me to answer the question or not, ma’am?” Stanford asked at one point.

He later said that given the early stage of the investigation, the interview was used for “gathering facts,” and that not all interviews are taped.

“A lot of people don’t want to have that recorder on when they start talking,” Stanford said.

Also Thursday, the jury was shown crime scene and autopsy photos of Terry Brazil’s body. District medical examiner Dr. Michael Hunter said it was obvious Brazil was shot and stabbed before he died. But whether Brazil was beaten with a bed post, as prosecutors believe, was unclear — Hunter said an object similar to a bed post could’ve caused Brazil’s blunt force injuries.

Brock’s trial continues Friday. If convicted of first-degree murder, he faces life in prison.

PANAMA CITY -- The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s assistance to identify three suspects involved in a grand theft case at the Dollar General Store at 2323 E. 15^th St. in Panama City.

On Oct. 28, deputies responded to the store after receiving a 911 call in reference to the theft at about 6:20 p.m. and made contact with a store employee. The employee stated two women had shopped in the store and come to the checkout counter.

VIDEO

As the employee rang up the items, a man entered the store and spoke to the two women, telling them he was going to take the items out to the car while they paid. Then one of the women swiped a credit card to make the purchase but the card was declined. The employee asked for the card but the women refused.

As this was happening one of the women slipped out the front door. After refusing to give her card to the employee, the second woman ran out the front door without paying for the items, valued at over $300.

The store employee said their vehicle could have been a ‘92 to ‘99 white Suburban.

A description of the suspects follow: One woman is described as 5’2”, 25 to 30 years of age, with blondish brown hair and wearing pink and purple sunglasses. She was wearing a red, white, and blue striped shirt and blue jeans. The other woman was slightly taller with brown hair, and wore a black and white shirt and blue jeans. The male suspect was about 6’ tall with short or shaved brown hair and wore a black shirt and blue grey pants. The incident was captured on store security video.

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

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- A Panama City man was arrested Friday on charges of having sex with a 14-year-old girl at a church retreat, according to Panama City Beach Police.

Arrested was Lawrence D. Brown-McCarter, 24.

Panama City Beach Police said the charges stem from an incident in July when the victim was staying at Edgewater Beach Resort for a church retreat.

The man was charged with traveling to meet a child with the intent to engage in any unlawful sexual conduct, solicitation of a child to engage in unlawful sexual conduct and lewd or lascivious molestation of a child less than 16 years of age.

PANAMA CITY — A 12-person jury began deliberations shortly after 4 p.m. Friday in the re-trial of accused murderer Philip Dean Brock. Seven hours later, at 11:15 p.m., the jury remained behind closed doors without reaching a verdict.

It was unknown how long the jury would continue to deliberate.

Brock is charged with murder, grand theft and robbery with a firearm in last December’s slaying of his 65-year-old friend and neighbor, Terry Brazil. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Friday, another friend and neighbor of Brock was questioned in the case. Pursuing his theory that Brock was destitute and killed Brazil for money, prosecutor Larry Basford asked Nelson Singer for details on Brock’s lifestyle. Singer said that Brock would come over to use his shower and toilet because Brock did not have running water at his Fountain home. Brock had solar power at his home, Singer said, but it provided only enough electricity to run small electronic devices like radios. 

Basford also asked Singer to confirm that because Brock had no running water, Brock would sometimes use the bathroom in a bag and dispose of it in Singer’s garbage can. Singer, though, said he was unaware of that.

Two of Brock’s ex-girlfriends answered similar questions earlier in the trial. During defense attorney Kim Jewell’s closing argument Friday, she said she took exception to the questions.

“If this was a prosecution for Dean Brock being poor, I’d let you have it. ... But it became offensive to put two women on the stand to explain bathroom conditions,” she said.

Jewell also took more jabs at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation of Brock, which she has criticized since hearings for the first trial began in July. But she used another law enforcement agency to downplay the importance of DNA evidence against Brock, 57. Presenting a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report to the jury, she noted that the DNA of several other people besides Brock was found on key pieces of evidence, as well as at the murder scene.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Ok, his DNA was there.’ Well, it’s easy to say someone else’s DNA was there, too,” she said.

In his closing argument, Basford implored jurors to use “common sense.” If they do, he said, the connection between Brock, the evidence, and Brazil’s death would be obvious.

“They want you to believe you have to have every piece of the puzzle to see this picture clearly,” he said, referring to Brock’s attorneys. “You don’t.”

The jury in Brock’s first trial apparently did need more pieces of the puzzle. After deliberating for six hours, they could not decide Brock’s fate and a mistrial was declared. 

It appeared late Friday the jury was headed toward another non-decision. About 11 p.m., Judge Brantley Clark announced the jury was at an impasse, then summoned them to the courtroom and requested they continue attempting to reach a verdict.

Brazil was found shot, stabbed and beaten on Dec. 27 inside his home, and duct tape was found around his wrists, indicating he’d been tied up. His car, several guns, and sets of valuable collectible coins had been stolen. Investigators found the car in Brock’s possession and later, while searching for additional evidence after Brock’s mistrial, discovered $12,000 in silver coins hidden on his property. 

Brock’s defense argued that his property was vulnerable to trespassers since his arrest last year, leaving the origin of the coins in doubt.

The gun and knife used in the killing were not found. But investigators did recover a bed post they believe was used to cause blunt force injuries to Brazil’s skull.

“He was robbed of his firearms, robbed of his coins — but more importantly, he was robbed of his life,” Basford said to jurors Friday.

Brock, as he has done throughout his re-trial, watched Friday’s proceedings in silence and showed no emotion. He did not testify.

At Brock’s first trial in September, a jury deliberated more than six hours before being unable to reach a verdict. Judge Brantley Clark declared a mistrial, leading to the second trial.

CHIPLEY — Three people were killed and six injured in a single vehicle crash caused by a blown tire Saturday morning in Washington County.

Killed were Patricia Baker, 58, Micah Goldsmith, 11, and Maliya Chrishon, 8, all from DeFuniak Springs, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

FHP reported that a 2001 Dodge van was traveling east on Interstate 10 near Chipley at about 7:30 a.m. when the left rear tire blew out, causing the driver, Martha Bramlet, 49, of Freeport, to lose control of the vehicle.

The driver over-corrected, which caused the van to enter the median in a northeasterly direction. The van continued through the center grassy median and across both westbound lanes of Interstate 10 and overturned several times on the north shoulder, coming to rest on its left side. Several passengers were ejected from the vehicle, FHP said.

The driver and passenger Kayla Green, 11, of DeFuniak Springs, received minor injuries and were taken to Northwest Florida Community.

Other passengers who were injured and taken to Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System in either serious or critical condition were Taquita Davis, 32, Deshaunna Glenn, 33, Akyra Eiland, 30, and Dorothy Turner, 55, all from DeFuniak Springs.

According to FHP, of those injured or killed, only the driver was wearing a seatbelt.