State Attorney Glenn Hess announced that a Jackson County Grand Jury has returned an indictment for First Degree Murder against Daniel Jacob Craven, Jr., age 30, for killing his cellmate, John H. Anderson, by repeatedly stabbing him with a shank.

July 29, 2016

For Immediate Release

According to the State Attorney’s Office:

Circuit Judge Hentz McClellan sentenced Nicholas Keith Morris on Friday to 40 years in prison, followed by 10 years probation, for the murder of Morris’ fiancée. Chief Assistant State Attorney Larry Basford told McClellan that Morris, 28, of 128 Sims Ave., Apt. B, Callaway, called 911 and confessed to killing Cortney Adkinson, 27, on Nov. 17. When Bay County deputies arrived, they found Morris laying in the road outside his residence, covered in Adkinson’s blood. Inside, they found Adkinson in the bedroom with her throat slit.

Morris told investigators that he cut Adkinson’s throat while the two were in bed because voices told him to, then smothered her with his hands until she stopped moving. Adkinson died of asphyxiation. Morris pleaded no contest to second ­degree murder, waived all mental­health defenses and McClellan sentenced him along the terms of the agreement to 40 years in prison followed by 10 years on probation. A condition of his probation will be that Morris, who is schizophrenic, must stay on his medications.

Adkison’s mother, Teresa Schaffer, told McClellan that Morris would “get justice when he met his maker.” She and Inv. Stephen Jencks of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office were in the courtroom and were in agreement with the conditions of the plea.

July 28, 2016

For Immediate Release

According to the State Attorney’s Office:

A Washington County jury convicted Carl Lewis Burns on Wednesday of 10 counts of sexual battery on a child.

Assistant State Attorney Shalla Jefcoat proved to jurors during the one ­day trial that Burns, 62, of 2218 Douglas Ferry Road, Chipley, had repeatedly sexually assaulted a teenage girl from October 2012 to February 2015. The victim reported the abuse Feb. 15, 2015, to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. DNA evidence collected at the hospital confirmed the last sexual assault.

Burns was found guilty as charged of 10 counts of sexual battery on a child in custodial care. He faces up to 30 years in prison on each count when Circuit Judge Peter Mallory sentences him Sept. 12

June 23, 2016
For Immediate Release
According to the State Attorney’s Office:
A Bay County jury of four women and two men convicted Robert Tony Miniaci, 30, on Thursday of numerous counts of lewd or lascivious battery on a 15-year-old girl.

Assistant State Attorney Christa Diviney proved to jurors during the three-day trial that Miniaci, of Springfield, initially contacted the victim through social media, then engaged in sexual intercourse with her multiple times in November and December 2014.

Miniaci was found guilty as charged of five counts of lewd or lascivious battery and four counts of traveling to meet a minor to commit an unlawful sex act. He faces up to 135 years in prison when Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet sentences him July 21.

The case was investigated by the Springfield Police Department.

June 10, 2016
For Immediate Release
According to the State Attorney’s Office:
Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet on Friday sentenced Timothy Blake Keller to 20 years  in prison followed by lifetime probation for carjacking and robbing a woman at gunpoint.
Assistant State Attorney Barbara Beasley was prepared to show at trial that Keller, 58, of 651 Malaga Place, approached a woman in the Walmart parking lot in Lynn Haven Jan. 20, 2015, as she was loading items in her car. He pointed a gun at her and demanded money. The woman gave him $40 cash, but Keller forced her into her car and made her drive to a bank to withdraw another $500 – threatening to kill her if she didn’t comply.
Keller pleaded no contest May 6 to robbery with a firearm, carjacking, kidnapping and tampering with a witness. Overstreet sentenced him to 20 years in prison, with a 10-year minimum mandatory, followed by the remainder of his life on probation.

June 17, 2016
For Immediate Release
According to the State Attorney’s Office:
A Bay County jury convicted Rey Xavier Agosto Zeno on Friday of robbing a Lynn Haven Tom Thumb convenience store.

Assistant State Attorneys Christine Smallwood and Jennifer Hawkins proved to jurors during the one-day trial that Zeno, 28, of 2902 Airport Road, grabbed a handful of cash from the convenience store register the morning of March 20, 2015. A customer tried to stop him from leaving the store, but Zeno managed to get away. The clerk did get the license of his car and Lynn Haven officers stopped him later.

Smallwood filed notice with the court that she seeks to prove that Zeno is a prison releasee reoffender, meaning he committed this crime within three years of his release from prison. If Circuit Judge Brantley Clark Jr. finds him to be a prison releasee reoffender, he could sentence Zeno to 15 years in prison, which he would have to serve day-for-day. Sentencing was scheduled for July 26.

May 26, 2016
For Immediate Release
According to Glenn Hess, 14th Circuit State Attorney:

Circuit Judge Christopher Patterson sentenced a Cottondale man to 25 years in prison Thursday for molesting four little girls.

Assistant State Attorney Shalla Jefcoat was prepared to take William Jackson McCullers, 65, to trial for molesting four girls over the course of 11 years. Two of the girls were 9, one 7 and one as young as 4 when the molestation began.

On Thursday, McCullers pleaded no contest to seven counts of lewd or lascivious molestation upon a child younger than 12. Pursuant to the plea, McCullers will serve a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years in the Department of Corrections followed by a lifetime of sexual offender probation. He was designated a sexual predator. The case was investigated by Capt. Mark Collins of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by the Office of Glenn Hess, State Attorney for the 14th Judicial Circuit.

May 16, 2016
For Immediate Release
According to the State Attorney’s Office:
A Bay County jury convicted Travis Nathaniel Jones on Monday of possessing and trying to destroy three baggies of marijuana.

Assistant State Attorney Michele Lucas proved to jurors during the one-day trial that Jones, 34, of Apalachicola, tried to eat three baggies of marijuana after being stopped for a traffic infraction Aug. 26. Panama City Police Cpl. Dustin Patterson pulled over Jones at Ninth Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, but before he stopped the car he proceeded for several feet at a very slow rate and could be seen stuffing something into his mouth. When Patterson, Inv. David Harris and Inv. Darby Gay approached the car they could smell the odor of marijuana and saw particles of marijuana leaves on Jones’ lap. Jones was chewing something and officers struggled with him to remove the items from his mouth. They were able to extract a full bag of marijuana and an empty bag before Jones swallowed a third bag.

Jones was found guilty as charged of possessing marijuana, possessing drug  paraphernalia, tampering with physical evidence and resisting an officer without violence. He faces up to five years in prison when Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet sentences him June 6.

May 6, 2016
For Immediate Release
According to the State Attorney’s Office:
A Bay County jury convicted Daryl Wayne Miller on Friday of DUI.
Assistant State Attorney Brittany Forester proved to jurors that Miller, 56, of San Antonio, TX., was driving with a .161 blood alcohol level the night of Nov. 28, when he ran his Ford Focus into the back of a car stopped at the light at Wildwood Road and U.S. 98. No one was seriously injured in the crash, but officers said they could smell alcohol on Miller’s breath while talking to him about the accident.
A breath test determined that Miller was driving with more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
Miller was found guilty as charged of driving under the influence causing or contributing to injury to a person. County Judge Joe Grammer III sentenced him to four months in jail followed by eight months county probation.