BONIFAY – A 31-year-old Chipley man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for selling the fentanyl that led to the overdose of a 35-year-old woman in 2024, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Jastyn Patrick Green pled guilty to Manslaughter on Wednesday for the March 8, 2024, overdose death of a Bonifay woman and was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Russell Roberts.

Holmes County Chief Prosecutor Jake Cook was prepared to prove the defendant sold 10 pills, claiming they were prescription Percocet, to the victim for $10 each. The pills instead contained fentanyl. The victim died the same day. Dealers often use fentanyl as a substitute for the real drug without telling the buyer because it is less expensive and more potent.

The Holmes County Sheriff’s Office investigated the death and gathered evidence that helped lead to the first successful prosecution of a manslaughter charge in connection with a fentanyl overdose in Holmes County.

“The Holmes County Sheriff’s Office did a complete and thorough investigation that led to a successful outcome in this case,” said Cook. “Sheriff John Tate and lead investigator Johnathan Helmes spent months piecing the evidence together that enabled us to obtain justice for the victim and her family.

“While 15 years in prison won’t bring the victim back, hopefully this brings closure to the family and helps prevent drug dealers from taking another innocent life in the future.”

RELATED: Jury finds Hicks guilty of Sexual Battery

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The defendant’s sentence, the loss of life by the victim, and the suffering of friends and family drive home the dangers of fentanyl use. Because fentanyl is extremely potent, and the potency varies wildly even within a single pill, overdoses are common.

It is a gamble we do not want anyone to take, so we will continue to prosecute those who sell it just as our law enforcement partners will continue their interdiction efforts to stop it from hitting the streets.

Basford thanked the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office for its thorough investigation that included sifting through cell phone location records and messages.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

A 26-year-old Panama City native was found guilty Tuesday of sexually battering a 17-year-old girl in 2019, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Nathaniel Douglas Hicks, who was arrested in 2020 after an investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard and Bay County Sheriff’s Office, was found guilty as charged of Sexual Battery after 90 minutes of deliberation. Because the victim was over the age of 12 but under the age of 18 the crime is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark set sentencing for June 18.

Prosecutor Frank Sullivan called 6 witnesses – including one woman who testified she was the victim of a similar attack by the defendant – and presented evidence proving the defendant sexually assaulted the victim at a get-together on May 18, 2019.

“The victim was a 17-year-old girl who just wanted to hang out with some friends and instead had the worse thing in the world happen to her,” Sullivan said. “She has been scared and traumatized and has had to live with what he did to her for seven years.

“The defendant showed in his statement to the Coast Guard and again in his testimony today that he will lie repeatedly to protect himself,” Sullivan continued. “The victim showed courage and was here to testify today because what this man did to her was wrong and he should be held accountable for it.”

The evidence showed the defendant knew the victim from high school and invited her – she had two friends with her – to a small gathering outside a beach residence.

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The victim testified the group hung around outside for a while before the defendant invited her inside. She said he took her into a bedroom and had sex with her against her will, pulling off her clothes and hitting her legs as she told him no and asked him to stop repeatedly.

“I kept telling him, “Stop, stop, stop, stop,” and he just started holding me harder,” the victim testified. “ It just got to the point where I kind of just blanked out and prayed for it to just be over.”

The victim said she fled when the defendant went to the restroom and went home with her friend. She did not call the police, she testified, because she was in shock and was terrified of her family finding out. She did tell two friends but asked them to remain silent.

“I just wanted to pretend it didn’t happen and make it go away,” she testified.

But later in 2019 the Coast Guard received a report about the assault and interviewed the defendant.

In a 3-hour-long interview he initially denied knowing the victim, then denied being alone with her that night, then denied she was ever inside the house and that he never even kissed her. He eventually admitted he knew her and claimed they made out in his truck outside.

But he was adamant that nothing “sexual” happened and that he was never alone with her.

On the stand Tuesday, the defendant for the first time admitted he was in the house, in the bedroom, with the victim that night but claimed they did not have sex.

“So you lied to the Coast Guard again and again and again and you expect this jury to believe you today?” Sullivan asked.

Basford thanked the U.S. Coast Guard and Bay County Sheriff’s Office for their work on the case and the evidence they gathered to bring it to a successful resolution.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

 

MARIANNA – Three Life sentences were given to a man who killed two people while driving under the influence less than 2 years after getting a DUI in Georgia, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

David Wayne Weddle, 60, was found guilty of two counts of DUI-Manslaughter and one count of DUI with Serious Bodily Injury March 20. Circuit Court Judge Ana Maria Garcia ordered that the Life sentences be served consecutively, or one after the other.

“This defendant did not take responsibility for his actions and repeatedly made choices – drinking more than a 12-pack daily by his own admission – that put the public in danger,” said Assistant Chief 14th Judicial Circuit Prosecutor Mark Graham.

“His actions killed two innocent women, and seriously injured a third victim, who should not have had to worry about someone running a stop sign without even attempting to stop and plowing into their car.

“This sentence sends a strong message about the dangers and repercussions of driving under the influence and puts this defendant where he belongs – in prison for the rest of his life.”

RELATED: Weddle guilty of 2 counts DUI-Manslaughter

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During the trial, Graham presented witnesses and testimony proving the defendant was driving south on El Bethel Church Road toward Hwy. 90 around 2 p.m. on Sept. 5, 2021. The victims were westbound on Hwy. 90 in a Cadillac approaching the intersection. A third vehicle, a Jeep, was eastbound on Hwy. 90 approaching the intersection.

Witnesses and Florida Highway Patrol Trooper L. Battle said Weddle ran the stop sign and struck the passenger’s side of the Cadillac hard enough to push it into eastbound lane, where it hit the Jeep. The impact killed both women in the Cadillac. The Jeep caught fire. Its driver, who had two broken legs, escaped but collapsed.

An expert testified blood drawn about 2 hours after the crash showed his BAC was somewhere between .11 and .15 at the time of the crash. The defendant testified he had no memory of the wreck.

Basford thanked the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Highway Patrol, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement for their work on the case.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mailto:mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

An impaired woman headed to the beach for the sunrise when she crossed the centerline on 15^th Street and hit a work-bound man head-on, killing him, was sentenced to 13 years in prison Monday, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Kourtney Sage Hofheinz, 33, of Bristol, was found guilty March 12 of DUI-Manslaughter.

In levying the sentence – Florida Statutes call for a minimum-mandatory 4 years in prison and up to 15 years – Circuit Court Judge Dustin Stephenson agreed with Prosecutor Peter Overstreet that the defendant did not qualify for a “downward departure,” or reduced sentence.

“This wasn’t some isolated incident,” Overstreet said, noting the defendant was first arrested for DUI in 2008. “Then, a mere four days prior to killing Mr. Kerr, she was arrested for DUI. She has a problem.

“Her problems, her mistake, cost someone their life,” he said. “Mr. Kerr shouldn’t have had to worry that someone was going to come across from the other side of the road and smash into him.”

RELATED: Hofheinz guilty in “horrific” death

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Judge Stephenson agreed the defendant did not qualify for a downward departure. He said the defendant was “not a monster,” but there had to be consequences for her actions.

“Forgiveness is available,” Stephenson told the defendant. “But please understand forgiveness is not mine to give. That’s bigger than me, accountability is my job on this side of heaven and that’s where my focus is today.”

Stephenson then sentenced Hofheinz to 13 years in prison.

“I know this is a significant sentence,” the judge told the defendant. “I will carry the weight of the sentence; you will carry the weight of the consequences.”

Overstreet proved at trial that on July 5, 2024, around 4 a.m. the defendant was driving west on 15^th Street near Beck Avenue with a blood-alcohol level of .124, well over the legal limit of .08. Evidence and testimony showed the defendant crossed the center median, hitting Kerr’s eastbound sedan head-on in what was described as a “horrific” collision. Kerr died at the scene.

Basford thanked the Panama City Police Department for its thorough investigation that helped lead to a guilty verdict.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

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.

 

A Louisiana man who was part of a 4-person burglary crew that stole more than $100,000 in collectible baseball cards from a Panama City business in 2023 was found guilty of Grand Theft Over $100,000 Wednesday, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Christopher Develle Brown, 40, was found guilty of Grand Theft over $100,000. The charge is a first-degree-felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay set sentencing for June 4.

“Thirty-five years of work and more than $100,000 disappeared on the night of Feb. 16, 2023, when this defendant helped break into this store and steal these cards,” Prosecutor Zachary VanDyke said. “They were in and out in less than 3 minutes. Three minutes, and 35 years’ worth of work – gone.”

The jury needed 78 minutes to reach its verdict after prosecutor VanDyke presented the case. VanDyke said Brown was one of four people involved.

A second defendant, Leon Rowe, Jr., has already been convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. A third defendant agreed to a plea in exchange for his testimony against the others. The fourth defendant has not been located.

The group is believed to be involved in a series of similar burglaries stretching from Florida to Louisiana.

In the Panama City Police Department case, the defendants took hundreds of collector’s cards ranging from a 1955 Sandy Koufax ($4,500) and 1963 Pete Rose ($4,000), to a 1954 Hank Aaron ($4,000) and a 1948 American Association Babe Ruth ($3,000). The collection included 65 Mickey Mantles, 34 Hank Aarons, 11 Whitey Fords, and cards from Tom Seaver, Roger Maris, Nolan Ryan, and Johnny Bench.

RELATED: 1st Baseball Card defendant sentenced to 10 years

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VanDyke called three witnesses: the cooperating codefendant, Bay County Sheriffs Office Lt. Nicholas Hall, and the victim who had been collecting the cards much of his life.

Key evidence was video surveillance that showed four men smashing through the glass front door, smashing glass showcases inside, and fleeing with bags full of cards within three minutes.

Basford thanked the law enforcement network across the Gulf Coast that collaborated in connecting the cases, and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for its work on a similar case that assisted the Panama City Police Department’s case.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

A Holmes County jury recommended 9-3 Friday afternoon that Johnny Mack “Skeeto” Calhoun be put to death for the 2010 kidnapping and murder of Mia Brown, announced State Attorney Larry Basford.

The jury’s vote came after a little more than two hours of deliberation and eight days of testimony.

Basford and Prosecutor Peter Overstreet presented nearly 20 witnesses and evidence that the death penalty was the proper sentence. The victim was kidnapped, bound, gagged, and burned alive in her car in December 2010. Chief Circuit Court Judge Christopher Patterson will set a sentencing date.

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Calhoun was previously found guilty and sentenced to death in 2012, but his was one of many Florida cases sent back for new sentencings following a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Basford and Overstreet proved the murder met three aggravating factors required by law: it was committed during a kidnapping that facilitated the murder, it was particularly heinous, atrocious or cruel, and it was cold, calculated and premeditated. The jury unanimously agreed that all of the aggravating factors had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sixteen family members and friends wrote victim impact letters describing how the murder affected their lives. The victim’s mother, father and three siblings addressed the jurors in person.

“I still have dreams where Mia is perfect and whole, and I ask her where she has been and she always says she’s been here all along,” said the victim’s youngest sister. “I wake up to the disappointment that I can’t touch her and see her blue eyes twinkling back at me. But I know my dreams are real and she is with me and our family.

“And she is ready for justice.“

Basford thanked the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office for their work and collaboration on the original case.

For more information or questions contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov or call 850-381-7454.

A man convicted of trafficking in enough fentanyl to kill every person living in Bay County was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday and fined $500,000, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Luchen Jerome Daley, 33, known as “The Jamaican,” was found guilty of Trafficking in Fentanyl (more than 28 grams) Feb. 25, the highest level of fentanyl trafficking addressed by statute. A jury needed 24 minutes to find him guilty after Prosecutor Morgan Morrell presented the State’s case.

Monday, Circuit Court Judge Timothy Register delivered the sentence, which includes the first 25 years being minimum/mandatory.

“We rarely see fentanyl in this quantity – 485 grams, almost half a kilo,” Prosecutor Morgan Morrell said after the trial. “In its proper form it could have supplied a medical dosage to every person in the 14^th Judicial Circuit. On the street, it was enough to cause more than 200,000 overdoses.

“Thanks to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, its work with our office, and this sentence, it will be a very long time before this defendant can poison our streets.”

Daley was arrested Feb. 7, 2025, by Bay County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Division investigators after he ran away when they tried to serve a search warrant on his apartment.

RELATED: 14 years for Vehicular Homicide

RELATED: Sansone guilty of Aggravated Stalking

In the defendant’s bedroom – which had an air mattress, mail addressed to him, and his passport – they found a black backpack. Inside the backpack they found a large “pressed brick” of fentanyl and numerous pill capsules containing fentanyl.

Basford thanked the BCSO and its SID for its proactive work in making a case and preventing such a large quantity of potent drugs from making it onto the streets.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

A 30-year-old Westville man was sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday for the 2023 death of a woman in a head-on collision in Holmes County, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

William Allen Meeks pled guilty to Vehicular Homicide on Feb. 18. It was an open plea, meaning Circuit Court Judge Devin Collier would decide the sentence. The only agreement was that it would be a minimum of 6 years and up to the maximum 15 years in prison.

Prosecutor Peter Overstreet asked for an upper-end sentence for the death that resulted from the violent Dec. 19, 2023, head-on collision on Coursey Road. The evidence proved the defendant was driving 62 mph in a 35-mph zone then floored the accelerator as he approached a “crest” in the road. He was going 66 mph, his vehicle heading into the opposite lane and his front tires losing grip with the road, when he hit the 27-year-old victim head-on.

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“The decisions that the Defendant made that evening put many people at risk due to his reckless driving,” Overstreet said. “Sadly, the victim ultimately ended up dying due to those very decisions the Defendant made.

“Cases like this should be a reminder that we all share the road and that our choices have very real consequences,” he continued.

At Wednesday’s sentencing, Victim Advocate Nancy Williams read a letter to the court from the victim’s mother. She wrote that when she was told her daughter had died it “felt like everything inside me was ripped out of my chest.” She wrote about the lifetime of pain the victim’s children and husband will endure.

“I pray you use your time in jail to think about and reflect on what you have done,” she wrote. “Think about the pain and suffering you have brought upon my family. I pray we get justice here today and I know one day I will have to forgive you in order to make it to heaven to see my daughter again.

“But today is not that day.”

Meeks was driving west on Coursey Road in a Honda Insight when he hit the victim’s Honda Accord, destroying the front ends of both vehicles. He was arrested after an investigation that included data extracted from his car that showed exactly when and how hard he accelerated.

Basford thanked the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Highway Patrol for their response and work on the investigation.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

 

 

A man who repeatedly messaged and phoned his girlfriend and another couple that he was on his way to harm them was found guilty of multiple charges Friday, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Daniel Paul Sansone, 26, from New Hampshire, was found guilty Friday of 3 counts of Aggravated Stalking, 3 counts of Written Threats to Kill or do Bodily Injury, and 1 count of Domestic Battery. A jury deliberated 8 minutes before returning its verdict. Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay set sentencing for April 10.

Sansone was arrested July 21, 2024, by Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies after his girlfriend called to report he had battered her, left the residence where they were staying with another couple, and was claiming to be on his way back to cause them harm if anyone interfered.

Prosecutor Morgan McAfee called four witnesses and showed jurors evidence that included some of the threatening messages the defendant was sending his girlfriend and the other couple as he warned them he was headed back to the home.

“I will 100 percent kill her,” McAfee quoted from one of the defendant’s messages that night. “That was one of the many messages that Daniel Sansone sent as he committed the crimes of aggravated stalking and written threats.”

Testimony proved the defendant and the victim were a long-time couple who had traveled here from New Hampshire. They met a woman and her fiancée and the four decided to hang out at their home. They invited the defendant and his girlfriend, who were living out of their car, to stay the night.

The victim testified that she and the defendant had an argument the first day while driving down the beach and he threw her phone at the window and hit her. The next day, she said, he suddenly decided he wanted to leave. He tried to force her to go with him, but she broke free from him by climbing out the car window and he took the car and all their belongings.

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The defendant then began what would be an hour-long back-and-forth Snapchat messages between him, his girlfriend, the local woman and her fiancée. The victim wanted her belongings back, but the defendant repeatedly threatened them, at one point saying it was ironic that the bullets he had were paid for with his girlfriend’s money account.

He warned others to stay out of his way, or they would become “collateral damage.”

“They began to become afraid, concerned for their safety,” McAfee said. “This man knows where they are, knows where they live. They end up going to the Callaway Bay County Sheriff’s Office Substation out of fear so that would have somewhere to be safe and where someone could help them.”

As deputies flooded the area searching for the defendant, the victims let him know they had called law enforcement, and he said that was fine.

“I want this to blow up,” he messaged. “And I want to drag everyone down with me. You’re doing what I want. I want to get shot by the cops tonight.”

He also said he meant what he said in the previous messages.

“There’s no veiled threat,” he wrote. “I will 100% kill her.”

Deputies spotted the defendant’s car and took him into custody.

The victim said her life changed that night and she was convinced he was going to kill her.

“It still affects me to this day and I don’t think it’s ever going to stop,” she testified. “I keep my life very private now … I’m afraid to leave the house, scared for my son, afraid to do the things that normal people do.”

Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for its swift work in apprehending the defendant before anyone was harmed.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.