A man who fired two shots in a bar after being punched in the head, striking and killing an innocent bystander in 2021, was found guilty of multiple charges Wednesday night, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Deerik Marquis Bell, 38, of Panama City, was found guilty of Manslaughter with a Firearm, Attempted Second-Degree Murder with a Firearm, and Felon in Possession of a Firearm by a jury after about three hours of deliberation Wednesday night. He was charged in the Sept. 3, 2021, shooting death of Tracy Eckman at the Outrigger Lounge, 1623 15^th St.

Manslaughter with a Firearm and Attempted Second-Degree Murder are both First-Degree felonies. Bell faces a maximum of Life in prison on the first two charges – the first for being a Habitual Felony Offender and on the second for being a Prison Releasee Reoffender. He faces a maximum of 30 years on the third charge as a Habitual Felony Offender.

Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay set sentencing for May 15.

Major Crimes Prosecutor Peter Overstreet and Assistant State Attorney Frank Sullivan called about a dozen witnesses and presented evidence showing that the defendant had ongoing friction with LeQuentin Williams over a woman that came to a head when Williams spotted the defendant in the bar that night.

Evidence, including security footage from the bar, showed that Williams ran up and punched Bell in the head. Bell, who has 16 prior felony convictions and was last released from prison in March 2021, ducked from a second punch while pulling a pistol and firing two shots in the crowded bar.

One shot hit Eckman, who had been playing darts and had no involvement with the other men. The second hit the back of a chair a woman was sitting in but did not injure her. The video showed Eckman saying he had been hit. The bullet severed an artery and he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The defendant fled the scene and was captured about 5 months later.

“No one’s asking you to like LeQuentin Williams,” Overstreet told jurors in his closing argument. “But what is being asked of you is to follow the law … to announce with your verdict that it is not OK for a convicted felon to be punched in the head one time and pull out a gun and begin shooting.”

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Sullivan told jurors Bell acted with “complete indifference to everybody on the other end of that firearm when he fired,” and should be held accountable.Basford thanked the Panama City Police Department and case agent Cpl. Matthew Kelly for their work on the case.For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850–381–7454.

Life in prison was ordered Monday for a man convicted last month of 25 counts of Possession of Sexual Performance of a Child, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Arthur O. Sauls, 71, was found guilty of all charges Feb. 27 after Bay County Chief Prosecutor Mark Graham presented evidence and witnesses proving the defendant was in possession of child porn, some involving very young children. Additionally, jurors agreed that Graham proved that more than 10 of the images contained either a child under the age of 5, a child involved in sadomasochistic acts, or sexual battery. That enhanced the crimes to Second-Degree Felonies with a stiffer penalty.

Circuit Court Judge Timothy Register Monday ordered Sauls to serve Life on each charge, with the sentences running concurrently, or at the same time. The defendant was also designated a Sexual Offender.

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The Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigation began in May, 2023, when Inv. Jacob Roberts received information the defendant was in possession of child pornography and ultimately traveled to the defendant’s Harrison Avenue apartment. The defendant gave deputies his phone, admitting the pictures on it were his.

“They found multiple images and searches for websites that Inv. Roberts knew to be related to child pornography,” Graham said at trial. “They found pornographic images of juveniles, and when we say juveniles in this case, we are talking about some children under 5 years of age.“

Basford again thanked the BCSO for its work on the case.

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

A judge sentenced a man to 20 years in prison Friday for leaving the scene after he struck and killed a 4-year-old child in a beach parking lot in 2022, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Kenneth Ray Martinez, 65, of Panama City Beach, was found guilty Jan. 19 of Leaving the Scene of a Crash Involving Death. Prosecutor Peter Overstreet read prepared statements from the 4-year-old victim’s parents, who were participating via Zoom. The child’s grandmother spoke as well.

The 4-year-old victim was killed instantly March 29, 2022, when the defendant’s truck struck her in front of her family and a large number of people in front of Publix on the beach. The defendant, the evidence showed, fled the scene, washed the evidence off his truck and hid in his apartment. When Panama City Beach police tracked him down a short time later he refused to answer the door for over 30 minutes.

Overstreet told Circuit Judge Shonna Young Gay during sentencing that the defendant striking the child was not the action that resulted in his arrest. But he said leaving the scene of the death – a first-degree felony in Florida – and his subsequent actions were “egregious.”

“What was intentional was his choice to leave the scene,” Overstreet said. “He did not care enough to even stop in a parking lot full of people in Panama City Beach during Spring Break in March. He made a decision to leave a 4-year-old child like it was nothing. Like it was nothing.”

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In his statement, the victim’s father said words cannot describe the pain and agony suffered by the family both by the loss and by being witnesses to it. He described his heart as “crushed, shattered, pulverized.” He said he is not the same man he was before the loss, and is facing surgery and a long recovery made worse by the loss.

He said his wife was about 22 weeks pregnant at the time with a boy who was delivered prematreuly at 32 weeks.

“Our daughter was our princess and our prince was on the way,” he said. “On March 29, 2022, that ended” because of a “man who didn’t care.”

His wife, the victim’s mother, said her life will never be the same, she cries daily, and the family will suffer for the rest of their lives.

“I’ve never cried so hard for so much in my life,” she said. “I still cry at night and sometimes I cry myself to sleep … I am not the same person I was.”

Overstreet told Judge Gay this was a case that affected the entire community and asked her to consider the family’s suffering, the defendant’s testimony that did not match the facts during trial, and his lack of remorse prior to sentencing.

“He was willing to lie about just anything he could and that again shows his character, and, as I told the jury, his strained relationship with the truth,” he said.

Basford thanked the Panama City Beach Police Department, the multiple agencies that assisted in the search for the defendant and the ensuing investigation, and the multiple State Attorney’s Office personnel who dedicated themselves to the case for their work in seeking justice for the victim’s family.

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

A Bay County jury took about 14 minutes Thursday to find a Panama City man guilty as charged of Trafficking Methamphetamine.

Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark sentenced to Eldon E. Nix Jr., 59, to 12 years in prison. Since the defendant was found guilty of having more than 28 grams of the drug, Judge Clark also fined the defendant $100,000 under Florida’s enhanced drug trafficking laws, which also require the defendant to spend a minimum/mandatory 7 years in prison.

Prosecutor Frank Sullivan told jurors in the half-day trial that it was not a complicated case: Panama City police conducting a lawful search of the defendant and a black bag found him in possession of about 38 grams of methamphetamine on July 26, 2022.

“That is all this case is about,” Sullivan told jurors. “You only need to focus on the evidence that was presented regarding the methamphetamine he possessed.”

Sullivan and co-Prosecutor JP Ferreira called two witnesses: Panama City Police Capt. Kris Shaw and Florida Department of Law Enforcement analyst Sam Catalani.

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Shaw testified police had developed information that the defendant was in possession of a large amount of methamphetamine. They spotted him on a bicycle in the 3700 block of West 22^nd Street and detected the odor of marijuana from the defendant. A search of a black bag on the front of the bike turned up multiple baggies of methamphetamine. Catalani testified the substance was methamphetamine.

Basford thanked Panama City police for their proactive investigation that led to the seizure before the drugs could be sold at the street level.

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

A Central Florida man found guilty Tuesday of performing post-hurricane repairs while falsely claiming to hold a contractor’s license was put on probation and ordered to make restitution, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark found Jack Arnold Yandle, III, 43, guilty of Engaging in Contracting Without a License During a State of Emergency at the end of his one-day bench trial. Clark gave the defendant 5 years’ probation for the third-degree felony and ordered him to pay $42,470.23 in restitution to the victim. A bench trial means the judge hears the case instead of a jury and renders a verdict.

“When people come into our community and take advantage of our residents by performing work without being licensed, we are going to hold them accountable,” said Prosecutor Morgan McAfee. “We take contracting without a license seriously, particularly in the wake of Hurricane Michael.”

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Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 hurricane, struck Oct. 10, 2018. The defendant, claiming to hold a contractor’s license, was hired by a Callaway homeowner for a series of repairs including the roof, replacing doors, and replacing windows – all of which require a contractor’s license.

The victim later contacted the Bay County Sheriff’s Office to report the defendant performed some of the work improperly, then left without completing the job.

An investigation showed the defendant had never held a contractor’s license in Florida.

Basford said the case is a reminder that anyone hiring someone to do work that requires a contractor’s license should verify they hold a license. It only takes minutes online with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, or through the DBPR’s smart phone app. The website is www.myfloridalicense.com/wl11.asp.

Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for its work on the case.

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

A Bay County jury deliberated for 45 minutes Tuesday before finding a 71-year-old man guilty as charged of 25 counts of Possession of Sexual Performance of a Child, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

The charges were enhanced to Second-Degree Felonies because jurors also agreed with Bay County chief prosecutor Mark Graham that more than 10 of the images contained either a child under the age of 5, a child involved in sadomasochistic acts, or sexual battery.

Circuit Court Judge Timothy Register set Arthur O. Sauls’ sentencing for March 11. Each of the enhanced charges is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Graham presented evidence and witnesses from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office case showing that in May 2023, Inv. Jacob Roberts received information the defendant had images of child pornography on his phone. Roberts and another deputy went to the defendant’s apartment at 24 Harrison Ave., and told him why they were there.

The defendant let the deputies see his phone and told him they likely were going to find images “that shouldn’t be there.“

“They found multiple images and searches for websites that Inv. Roberts knew to be related to child pornography,” Graham said. “They found pornographic images of juveniles, and when we say juveniles in this case, we are talking about some children under 5 years of age.“

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Investigator Roberts testified the defendant, admitted the phone and the images on them were his. The defendant was arrested that day.

Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriffs Office for its work and for obtaining corroborating evidence through search warrants.

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

A 17-year-old found guilty Wednesday of chasing down and stabbing to death another teen after a drug deal turned violent is set for sentencing March 21, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

A jury took about 25 minutes to find Savien Thaniel Craven, of Panama City, guilty as charged of Second Degree Murder in the Dec. 5, 2021, stabbing death of Jacob Revis, 14, of Panama City. Circuit Court Judge Dustin Stephenson ordered a presentencing investigation.

Prosecutor Peter Overstreet called 16 witnesses during the two-day trial proving that Craven chased down and stabbed the victim to death after a small amount of marijuana was stolen from him during a drug deal at a Lynn Haven park.

In all, four juveniles were involved in the planned theft of the marijuana and the three survivors are awaiting trial for their roles. One of them also faces a murder charge under Florida’s Felony Murder Law because he helped plan and participated in the robbery that led to the victim’s death.

“This case shows the abundant dangers involved in the use and purchase of any illegal narcotic,” Overstreet said after the verdict. “Five families’ lives are changed forever and one life was lost, which is why we continue to work with our law enforcement partners to remove illegal drugs from our streets, prosecute those who sell them, and keep them out of the hands of our children.”

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According to witnesses and the testimony Overstreet presented to the 6 jurors, the victim and three friends wanted some marijuana and decided to rob Craven. The defendant met with the victim and another juvenile in the restroom of a Lynn Haven park after they said they wanted to inspect the marijuana prior to buying it. Two female accomplices were waiting in a nearby vehicle.

Testimony showed a scuffle broke out during the robbery attempt and one juvenile, who survived, was stabbed multiple times by the defendant in the restroom. Revis ran away and made it about 110 yards with Craven chasing him before tripping and falling in a ditch.

Witnesses gave statements to police and testified to seeing the foot chase. One said he saw the defendant on top of the victim in the ditch, and then saw him get up with a knife, and believed the victim was stabbed in the ditch. Another saw the defendant on top of the victim making a stabbing motion before getting up with a knife. He died at the hospital.

Overstreet’s case was bolstered by video from nearby security cameras and Lynn Haven police body cameras

Basford thanked the Lynn Haven Police Department for its thorough investigation, and the witnesses who came forward to testify.

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

A Lynn Haven man who fled a traffic stop at speeds topping 120 mph was sentenced to 8 years in prison Thursday after being found guilty at trial, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

A jury deliberated just over 20 minutes Thursday before finding Lee Forzon Baker, 38, guilty as charged of Fleeing or Attempting to Elude (High Speed Reckless), Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of Cocaine, and misdemeanor Possession of Marijuana.

Prosecutor JP Ferreira asked for prison time, telling Circuit Judge Brantley Clark that Baker endangered the public during the chase, and that pursuing officers showed great restraint at the end. He also provided evidence the defendant has 8 previous felony convictions.

“Actions speak louder than words. It was Mr. Baker’s actions that turned a traffic infraction into the criminal case that we are here for today,” Ferreira told jurors during his closing arguments. “The reason he was fleeing is he knew what he was carrying in the back of the car, he knew he had those drugs.”

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After announcing his sentence, Judge Clark addressed the officers – Springfield Police Officer Justin Elkins and Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputy Robert Hires – who took the defendant into custody after he wrecked. Testimony showed the officers had their weapons drawn and were ordering the defendant to remain on the ground, but he ignored them and climbed back into his vehicle. The officers were able to remove him from the vehicle without injury.

“I will say one thing,” Clark said after directing attention to the officers. “It would be a good thing if every law enforcement officer showed the restraint that these officers in this case showed. It could have ended differently.”

Ferreira and co-prosecutor Frank Sullivan called Elkins, Hires and a Florida Department of Law Enforcement analyst as witnesses. Ferreira also entered body cam and in-car video from police that proved the defendant was pulled over by Springfield Police Officer Justin Elkins on Oct. 7, 2023.

The evidence showed the defendant was driving a Dodge sedan out of a mobile home park on North Everitt Avenue when Elkins pulled him over for failing to stop at the stop sign. Fifty seconds later as Elkins was ordering the defendant out of the vehicle, he fled. The pursuit led across U.S. 231 at speeds topping 120 mph before the defendant crashed into a ditch, and then back onto the roadway missing a wheel. He came to a stop a short distance away.

Basford thanked the Springfield Police Department for its proactive actions, and Officer Elkins and Deputy Hires for their actions during the pursuit.

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

A Fountain man already designated a sexual predator for an earlier conviction was found guilty Wednesday of sexually abusing a child over a period of years and was given multiple life
sentences, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Jeffrey Alan Kahm, 58, was found guilty Wednesday of three counts of Sexual Battery on a Person Less Than 12 Years of Age, and two counts of Lewd or Lascivious Molestation. Circuit
Court Judge Brantley Clark gave Kahm Life sentences on each of the three sexual battery charges, to run concurrent. He also sentenced the defendant to Life on each of the two
molestation charges and ordered them to run consecutive to the first sentences.

Kahn was sent to prison in 1997 and designated a Sexual Predator for a South Florida Lewd and Lascivious Indecent Assault on a Child Under the Age of 16. He committed the Bay County
crimes against a pre-teen girl between 2018 and 2020. The Bay County Sheriff’s Office arrested him in 2021 after the attacks were disclosed.

“He had been to prison before for sexually abusing a child,” Prosecutor Frank Sullivan said after sentencing. “When you commit a crime like that in Bay County, we are going to do our best to
make sure you never have a chance to victimize another child. This defendant will not.”

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Sullivan also said the case is an example that even when victims do not immediately disclose the crimes against them, law enforcement and child protection agencies can still take action and
prosecutors will pursue the cases in court.

The victim in this case, who was interviewed at the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center after disclosing the abuse, also testified at trial. The jury deliberated for just over an hour before
finding the defendant guilty as charged.

Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for its continued pursuit of sex offenders and the GCCAC for its work interviewing the victim and helping gather the information needed to
build a case.

For additional information contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov or (850) 381-7454.

A convicted killer who shot a fellow Mosley High student more than a dozen times in 1994 has lost his request for a reduced sentence, State Attorney Larry Basford announced Friday.

Circuit Court Judge Ana Maria Garcia ordered that Thomas Robert McGill, 46, will continue to serve a 50-year sentence from his 1996 conviction for Murder in the First Degree and Armed Robbery in the 1994 shooting death of Torrey King. The defendant planned to rob King of steroids and shot him at least 13 times with two different pistols after his truck became stuck in the mud.

The defendant hid the body in the woods, found friends to help get his truck freed, then later  returned and took the body to another location where he set it on fire. The defendant was 17 ½ at the time, King was 18.

“This was a brutal murder of a teenager, Torrey King, by his classmate in 1994,” Basford said. “Words cannot adequately describe the devastation it caused his family. I have spoken to them and they were relieved to learn that Judge Garcia refused to reduce the 50 year sentence that was previously imposed at the Defendant’s resentencing hearing in 2017. I pray this will bring them some peace.”

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The defendant was convicted of killing the victim in a wooded area off North Bear Creek Road the day after Christmas, Dec. 26, 1994. King was a passenger in the truck when it got stuck in the mud. The defendant, who had planned to rob King, shot him multiple times with a.22-caliber pistol after they exited the vehicle. When that weapon jammed, the defendant grabbed a .380-caliber pistol and continued shooting the victim.

The defendant was tried, found guilty and sentenced to Life in prison in 1996.

Later U.S. Supreme Court rulings changed the law on how offenders who commit capital or life felonies while they are juveniles should be sentenced. In 2014 Florida instituted a new sentencing framework for such cases. McGill appealed his life sentence based on that and in 2017 it was reduced to 50 years.

The same changes in Florida law state that a juvenile who commits a homicide and is convicted of murder is entitled to a review of his or her sentence after 25 years. The purpose is to determine if the juvenile offender “has been rehabilitated and is reasonably believed to be fit to reenter society.”

McGill’s Sentence Review Hearing was held Dec. 15, 2021, and he was seeking a reduction in sentence.

Judge Garcia, in rejecting that request, wrote, “The evidence in the present case suggests that Thomas McGill was not the juvenile offender the nation’s highest judicial officers had in mind when rendering their decisions” on sentencing juveniles.

Garcia noted the defendant was not influenced negatively by his surroundings or upbringing, did not commit the murder in an impulsive manner but rather did it in a “thoughtful, calculated and premeditated” manner, was not remorseful when caught, and was only 6 months from turning 18.

Garcia also had “significant concerns about the convenient timing of the Defendant’s demonstration of remorse.” McGill for decades maintained he acted in self-defense, only accepting responsibility shortly before his 2017 resentencing – 23 years after the murder.

“First, it remains unclear when – or, candidly, whether – the Defendant began to experience true remorse,” Garcia wrote, adding, “As the Court noted in its June 2017 sentencing order, the timing of the Defendant’s acknowledgement was – and remains – suspect.”

Basford thanked the victim’s parents and brother, who testified at the hearing, along with all involved with the lengthy process.

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