Press Release:

      The Office of State Attorney Glenn Hess announced that on Thursday, September 6, 2018, Circuit Judge Michael C. Overstreet sentenced Jmond White to serve 35 years in the Florida Department of Corrections followed by life on probation after the Defendant entered an open plea to the court on the charges of Burglary of a Dwelling with Assault or Battery, Attempted Second Degree Murder and False Imprisonment. 

      On July 2, 2016, the Defendant stabbed the victim 5 times in an attempt to kill her.  The Defendant and victim had been in a romantic relationship.  When the Defendant realized the victim was involved with someone else, he hired a cab and came to the victim’s home in Mexico Beach unannounced.  The victim was home alone when the Defendant burst into her home uninvited where he then began to beat and threaten the victim in her bedroom.  The victim’s boyfriend arrived back at the home and the Defendant threatened him at the entry to the home, then closed the door locking the male outside.  The Defendant then turned on the victim and began stabbing her repeatedly about the head and neck.  The Defendant stopped stabbing her to get a bigger knife from the kitchen.  This is when the victim is able to stumble out the front door and the Defendant then fled the scene.  After the stabbing, the Defendant sent text messages to the victim’s teenage son telling him he killed the victim.  The Defendant was apprehended a short time later on Tyndall Air Force Base.  The victim suffered stab wounds to her neck, arm, side and face.     

Please contact Chief Assistant Attorney Larry Basford at 850-819-6985 with any questions.

Press Release

The Office of State Attorney Glenn Hess releases the following information:

On August 29, 2018, Jonathan Adam Jones was convicted in Jackson County, Marianna, of two counts of Lewd or Lascivious Molestation, three counts of Lewd or Lascivious Exhibition, and three counts of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.  The State established that in February 2017 the defendant touched two children in a sexual manner while providing them with alcohol and tobacco at his residence.  The defendant also exposed himself to children on two different occasions.

This case was tried by Assistant State Attorney Michelle Daffin.  The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office conducted the criminal investigation with assistance from the Child Protection Team and the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center.  Following the guilty verdicts, Judge Christopher Patterson sentenced the defendant to 45 years of incarceration in the Florida Department of Corrections.  The defendant was also designated a sexual offender.

If additional information is needed, please contact Chief Assistant Attorney Larry Basford.

Press Release

The Office of State Attorney Glenn Hess announces that on August 24, 2018, Circuit Judge Brantley Clark, Jr., sentenced Christopher Steven Chambers to 30 years in prison.  Chambers was sentenced as a Habitual Felony Offender.

Chambers was previously convicted of Vehicular Homicide on August 1, 2018, by a Bay County jury.  Evidence presented at trial demonstrated that the Defendant was traveling at 79 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour residential area when he passed cars that were stopped for a school bus.  He then ran off the road onto the shoulder, striking a utility pole and killing his passenger, Barbie Wright.

Assistant State Attorneys Alyssa Yarbrough and Jennifer Hawkins prosecuted the case with the help of the Florida Highway Patrol.

For additional information, contact Chief Assistant State Attorney Larry Basford.

Press Release

The Office of State Attorney Glenn Hess announces that on Friday, August 10, 2018, Circuit Judge Michael C. Overstreet sentenced Dijivis Paul to serve 10 years in the Department of Corrections, with the first 4 years as a mandatory minimum sentence, followed by 10 years probation.  The Defendant had entered an open plea to the court on June 8, 2018, to the crime of Leaving the Scene of a Crash Involving Death.

On September 28, 2017, Trindi Coalson, age 35, was walking on the sidewalk in the 900 block of East Avenue when the Defendant struck her with his vehicle.  The Defendant failed to stop and render aid and fled the scene at a high rate of speed and running stop signs, until two citizens stopped him and held him until police arrived.  Ms. Coalson was pronounced dead at the hospital. The case was prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney Barbara Beasley.

For additional information, contact Chief Assistant Attorney Larry Basford.

Press Release

The Office of State Attorney Glenn Hess announces that on August 8, 2018, a six-member Bay County jury found Russell Holland guilty as charged of Possession of Methamphetamine and Driving While License Suspended, Cancelled, or Revoked.

On March 14, 2018, Bay County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Simonson conducted a traffic stop on Holland.  The Deputy knew Holland’s license was suspended from a previous interaction with him earlier in the year.  During a search incident to arrest, Deputy Simonson found methamphetamine in Holland’s pocket.

The jury deliberated for about 45 minutes before returning a verdict of guilty as charged for Possession of Methamphetamine and Driving While License Suspended, Cancelled, or Revoked.  The Defendant had three prior convictions for drug offenses.  Senior Circuit Judge Allen Register sentenced Holland to 24 months in the Department of Corrections.  Assistant State Attorneys Cord Grimes and Rob Gunn prosecuted the case with the help of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

For additional information, contact Chief Assistant State Attorney Larry Basford.

Press Release

The Office of State Attorney Glenn Hess announces that on August 3, 2018, a six-member Bay County jury found Arthur Hayes guilty as charged of Burglary of a Conveyance, Escape, Grand Theft Auto, and Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer.

On December 5, 2016, the Panama City Beach Police Department investigated a string of car burglaries that occurred at the Edgewater Condominiums and the Grand Panama Condominiums.  The PCBPD received a description of the involved vehicle, its occupants, and a partial license plate.  Early in the morning, a Beach Police Officer noticed a car with a license plate that matched the description of the one involved in the burglaries.

After approaching the car, the police officer detained the individuals, and identified one of them as the Defendant, Arthur Hayes.  Arthur Hayes was placed in the back of the patrol car after it was learned he had active warrants for his arrest.  Items from the burglarized vehicles were located in the car.  Additionally, the Defendant had in his possession a prescription medication that was taken from one of the cars at the Grand Panama.

The Defendant attempted to escape that officer’s patrol car, but was prevented from doing so.  Later while in transport to the jail, the Defendant kicked out the back window of another officer’s car and fled on foot before stealing a Jeep Wrangler from a parking lot.

The Panama City Police Department spotted the Defendant and when the officers attempted to arrest him, he kicked one of the officers in the chest and, again, fled on foot.  Ultimately, the Panama City Police Department caught the Defendant hiding in an apartment building.

The jury deliberated for about thirty minutes before returning a verdict of Guilty as Charged on all counts.  Circuit Judge Brantley Clark, Jr. sentenced the Defendant to ten years in the Department of Corrections.  Assistant State Attorney Cord Grimes prosecuted the case with the help of the Panama City Beach Police Department and the Panama City Police Department.

For additional information contact Chief Assistant State Attorney Larry Basford.

Press Release

The Office of State Attorney Glenn Hess announces that on August 7, 2018, Circuit Judge Allen Register sentenced Andrew Allen Pace to life in prison, with an additional 20 years, to run concurrent.  He was designated a Sexual Predator.  Pace was previously convicted by a Bay County jury on July 11, 2018, of Sexual Battery Under Specified Circumstances, Sexual Battery with Certain Minors, and False Imprisonment.

Evidence presented at trial showed that on May 20, 2016, Andrew Allan Pace invited the victim, a 16-year-old boy, to lunch before providing him with a shot of alcohol that left the victim incapacitated to resist Pace’s advances.  The victim regained consciousness around 7:30 p.m. Pace had tied him to his bed and was raping him.  The victim was able to break free from the restraints and fled Pace’s home into the arms of neighbors who called 9-1-1.

Bay County Sheriff’s Office arrived on scene and immediately began an investigation that led to the arrest of Pace on May 21, 2016.  Neighbors testified the victim came running from Pace’s house, naked, terrified and in pain, begging for them to hide him from the man in the white Lincoln. DNA evidence corroborated the victim’s testimony.

The jury deliberated for a little over two hours before returning a verdict of guilty as charged on all counts.  Assistant State Attorneys Jennifer Hawkins and Alyssa Yarbrough prosecuted the case with the help of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

For additional information, contact Chief Assistant State Attorney Larry Basford.

Press Release

The Office of State Attorney Glenn Hess announces that on August 1, 2018, a six-member Bay County jury found Christopher Steven Chambers guilty as charged of Vehicular Homicide.

Evidence presented at trial demonstrated that on April 8, 2016, the Defendant was in a hurry to get to a house on Sherman Avenue to retrieve belongings that his passenger, Barbie Wright, had given away earlier while he was incarcerated in jail.  The Defendant was driving 79 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour residential area on a Friday afternoon.  He passed cars that were stopped for a school bus and then ran off the road onto the shoulder, striking a utility pole with the passenger side of his Nissan Versa before coming to a stop on the roof of the car.

A resident from the neighborhood was the first scene.  She testified that she saw the Defendant’s car pass her house going between 60-70 miles per hour before she heard the crash and ran outside to assist.  Firefighters and Paramedics used the jaws of life to get the Defendant out of the vehicle.  When they were finally able to access the passenger, she was deceased.

The Florida Highway Patrol responded to the scene and worked the crash and death investigation.  As the investigation unfolded, the Florida Highway Patrol learned from the Defendant that he was driving the car that day, that his brakes were working, and that he was in a hurry to get to a residence on Sherman Avenue before the occupant left the area.  The investigation revealed that, based on the crush damage to the car and the indication of braking on the shoulder of the road, the Defendant was traveling at 79 miles per hour when he ran off the road and crashed his car into a utility pole, killing his passenger, Barbie Wright.

The jury deliberated for a little over an hour before returning a verdict of guilty as charged.  Circuit Judge Brantley Clark, Jr., will sentence the Defendant on August 21, 2018.  The Defendant is facing up to 30 years in prison if Judge Clark determines he should be sentenced as a Habitual Felony Offender because of his prior felony convictions.  Assistant State Attorneys Alyssa Yarbrough and Jennifer Hawkins prosecuted the case with the help of the Florida Highway Patrol.

For additional information, contact Chief Assistant State Attorney Larry Basford.

The Office of State Attorney Glenn Hess announces the following job opportunity.  Copy and paste the link below into your browser.

Entry-Level Assistant State Attorney:

https://jobs.myflorida.com/job/PANAMA-CITY-STATE-ATTORNEY'S-OFFICE%2C-14TH-CIRCUIT-ASSISTANT-STATE-ATTORNEY-21013642-FL-32402/494378600/

Please follow the directions in the job posting to apply.  Applications are not accepted through the PeopleFirst electronic system and will not be considered unless submitted as directed.