PANAMA CITY — A jury has convicted a local man who shot a potential customer during a drug deal gone wrong.
Sonny Eric Pierce, 29, was convicted Tuesday of aggravated battery with a firearm for a shooting in the Home Depot parking lot at 409 23rd St.
Assistant State Attorney Bob Sombathy told jurors in his opening statement that Pierce, of 179 Pelican Way, tried to gun down Jeremy R. Ducharme in June 2013 in the parking lot of the Home Depot. Ducharme had driven a man to meet Pierce and two others so the man could buy marijuana, but the deal went bad and Ducharme and his companion had to run for their lives. Pierce followed them with a .357 caliber handgun and opened fire as they tried to drive out of the lot. Ducharme was struck by two bullet fragments, but his injuries did not require medical treatment.
Pierce was found guilty of aggravated battery with a firearm and shooting into an occupied vehicle. He faces up to 50 years in prison, with a minimum mandatory of 20 years, when Circuit Judge Brantley Clark Jr. sentences him March 31.