PANAMA CITY — Prosecutors in the 14th Judicial Circuit will seek the death penalty for triple-homicide suspect Derrick Ray Thompson, according to court documents.
The State Attorney’s Office filed notices Tuesday saying that, if convicted, they will seek capital punishment for Thompson, who is accused of the July 21 killing of 66-year-old former BCSO officer and businessman Allen Johnson. The state also filed a notice of aggravating circumstances it will have to prove for jurors to levy death upon Thompson, which includes proving the alleged murder was “cold, calculated and premeditated.”
Prosecutors in Santa Rosa County also are exploring the death penalty against Thompson and have recently indicted Thompson for the fatal shootings of Milton residents Steven Zackowski, 60, and Debra Zackowski, 59, on July 19.
However, since the incidents are two separate crimes, the 14th Judicial Circuit’s decision to seek Thompson’s death does not influence the likelihood of Santa Rosa County’s pursuit of capital punishment.
Thompson, a 41-year-old Pensacola resident, was considered a person of interest in the Zackowski slayings when investigators found Johnson in his Lynn Haven home with a single gunshot wound to the back of the head and a spent .380 caliber casing beside his body.
The truck Thompson was believed to be driving following the first killings was found at the scene.
State attorneys are not allowed to discuss an ongoing case. But law enforcement agencies have released evidence that indicated Thompson was motivated by a quest for prescription narcotics and planned to amass a cache following the Zackowski slayings.
Thompson stayed overnight in a Chipley motel where he borrowed a phone from the motel clerk and called Johnson to ask if he could come to his home on Wilson Avenue to borrow money. Before fleeing the state to a Troy, Ala., hunting lodge, Thompson used money and a cellphone he allegedly stole from Johnson to buy numerous prescription narcotics from someone in Panama City, investigators reported.
He then confessed to the three homicides during his capture, investigators said, but has recently pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Thompson is being held without bond in the Bay County Jail but could be transported over county lines for court proceedings in each of the cases.
A trial date has not been set.