A man whose blood-alcohol level was 1.5 times the legal limit more than 5 hours after a fatal crash was found guilty of DUI-Manslaughter and Vehicular Homicide Friday, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.
Anthony Charles Hill Jr., 49, of Panama City, who emerged from his vehicle wearing only his boxer shorts, was estimated to have had a BAC of up to .23 at the time of the 2023 wreck. Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay ordered the defendant held without bond until his May 28 sentencing.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Mark Graham and Prosecutor Zachary VanDyke called 15 witnesses and presented evidence proving the defendant was impaired when he caused the wreck that killed Javis Whipple.
“The defendant is responsible for driving drunk, causing a wreck and killing Javis Whipple,” Graham told jurors. “He is responsible for driving recklessly.
“I agree with one thing (the defense) said: this is about getting justice for Javis Whipple’s family,” he continued. “Go back, use your common sense. Hold him accountable.”
The evidence showed the victim’s car broke down on County 22-A near Cherry Lane on the night of April 14, 2023. A friend, Colby Williams, came to help and was parked behind the victim. Both vehicles, facing north on the side of the road, had their headlights and hazard lights on.
The defendant was driving south when he crossed the centerline and hit the victim’s Challenger head-on. The Challenger flipped backward, hitting and killing the victim before coming to a rest nearly 50 feet away in a graveyard. The defendant’s car then plowed into Williams’ Elantra.
“As I turned and looked, I see a white car in my peripheral vision and it just hit Javis’ car, it was so fast,” Williams said. “I saw that he flipped Javis’ car over and hit my car and I see my friend laying on the ground. I screamed first and then called the police.”
Hill’s car was going 60 mph in the 35-mph zone.
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Williams and other witnesses said Hill got out of his car wearing only a red pair of boxer shorts and repeatedly said he did not hit the Challenger and did not know what had happened. Hill told multiple witnesses, and gave a sworn statement, that he had not had anything to drink that day. At one point he said he did not even drink.
But at trial, Hill said for the first time that while he wasn’t drinking before the wreck, he did guzzle a large amount of liquor right after the wreck because his passenger – a woman he was having an affair with – agitated him.
Hill said he and the woman had just “made out” in a nearby park but he wasn’t drinking. After the wreck, he testified, he got out and didn’t see anyone injured and returned to his car.
“That’s when I took the bottle and started drinking because she was about to drive me crazy,” said Hill, a 4-time convicted felon. “Just going on and on about her boyfriend finding out and she needed to get back to the house.”
“So now, magically, 1,106 days later, he comes forward and says, ‘I was slugging liquor after the wreck,’ ” Graham said. “I would submit that is a four-time felon lying to try and avoid accountability.”
A legal blood draw obtained with a search warrant showed the defendant’s BAC was .114 to .115 five hours and 28 minutes after the wreck. An expert in retrograde extrapolation for blood-alcohol levels testified the defendant would have had a BAC of anywhere from .14 to .23 at the time of the crash.
The only witness at the scene who testified they saw the defendant drink after the wreck was his female companion.
Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Highway Patrol for their response that night and the ensuing accident reconstruction.
For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.