A woman charged with shooting two people from behind as they left her house has been found guilty as charged on two counts of Aggravated Battery, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.
A 6-person jury returned the verdict against Alana Annette Savell around 8:40 p.m. Wednesday following a two-day trial in Bay County. Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay set sentencing for April 5. Judge Gay also ordered that Savell be held without bond pending sentencing in the 2016 case.
Prosecutors Barbara Beasley and Jacob Cook presented witnesses and evidence showing that both victims were invited guests at the Hiland Park area home the night of the shooting and were either in or near the doorway, or attempting to leave at the time they were shot from behind by the defendant.
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The victims were dating at the time and have since married. The male victim testified a group got up as if to go outside and smoke, but instead he was told they wanted him and his girlfriend to leave. He testified he was in or near the doorway trying to let his girlfriend know it was time to go when he was shot from behind in the calf by the defendant, who was inside the home. His injuries required three surgeries and a hospital stay of about two weeks.
The female victim testified she was still inside the home when she heard shots, and her then-boyfriend yelling to her that he had been shot and they needed to leave. She said as she was trying to get out of the house she saw the defendant holding a gun, pointing it toward the door. As she was trying to go through the doorway, she said she was shot from behind in the left leg and the right heel and went to the ground.
“I didn’t hear any arguing before the first gunshot,” she testified. “I don’t know what went wrong, why it went wrong. Everything was going fine and then, ‘Pop, pop, pop, pop,’ and (the male victim) yelling, ‘Let’s go, I’ve been shot.’”
Beasley and Cook called 8 witnesses for the state, including Bay County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Bill Strickland, who took a statement from the defendant; former BCSO Crime Scene Investigator Tim Adkins, who collected shell casings that matched the defendant’s gun; and the emergency room doctor who treated one of the victims.
Basford thanked the Sheriff’s Office and Florida Department of Law Enforcement for their work in investigating the case and gathering key evidence, as well as prosecutors Beasley and Ford for their presentation of it to jurors.
For additional information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.