Press Release

The Office of the State Attorney Glenn Hess announced that a Circuit Court jury deliberated approximately 35 minutes before finding the defendant Keith McCray a/k/a K-Dog, guilty as charged of Robbery with a Firearm, Attempted Robbery with a Firearm, and Attempted Felony Murder with a Firearm.

Assistant State Attorneys Devin Collier and Bob Pell presented nine witnesses during the trial to establish that the victims, in response to a Craigslist ad for furniture, were robbed at gun point at the 13th Street apartments on Frankford Avenue.  The case was investigated by Tony Phinney with the Panama City Police Department.  Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet adjudged the defendant guilty and ordered a Presentence Sentencing Report, and scheduled sentencing for October 6, 2016.  Since the jury found the defendant used a firearm during the commission of these felonies, he will be subject to sentencing under the 10-20 Life law.

Prior to trial, the three co-defendants pled guilty as charged and are serving sentences ranging from eight to 20 years.

Press Release

The Office of State Attorney Glenn Hess announces that on September 8, 2016, Jason Cantrell entered a plea to the charge of Accessory After the Fact to Second Degree Murder.

The Honorable Michael C. Overstreet sentenced Cantrell to 9 years in prison. Mr. Cantrell’s charges stemmed from his role in events that followed the October 19, 2015 murder of Mr. Clifford Lewis by Melissa Kennedy. Assistant State Attorney Bob Sombathy was prepared to prove that a few days after acquiring the handgun from Cantrell, Kennedy shot and killed her boyfriend, Clifford Lewis, in his home.  Evidence showed that Kennedy was upset that Lewis was preparing to evict her out of his house.  After the murder, Jason Cantrell retrieved the handgun from Kennedy, partially disassembled it, and hid it in his storage shed.  Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigators Wade Boan and David Sullivan conducted an investigation which ultimately led to obtaining a search warrant for Cantrell’s storage shed where the handgun was recovered.  Ballistics testing confirmed that the handgun hidden by Cantrell was the same handgun used by Melissa Kennedy to murder Clifford Lewis.

On July 28, 2016, Melissa Kennedy was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the charge of Second Degree Murder with a Firearm.  Kennedy is 43 years old.

Aug. 24, 2016

For Immediate Release

The Office of State Attorney Glenn Hess announced that the First District Court of Appeals upheld the life sentence of a Fountain man convicted of molesting a child for more than three years.

Last October, a jury convicted Raymond Scott Beck as charged of three counts of sexual battery on a child younger than 12 and two counts of sexual battery of a child 12 years old or older and two counts of soliciting a child to engage in an act which would constitute sexual battery. On Nov. 5, Circuit Judge Hentz McClellan sentenced Beck to life in prison.

Beck had appealed Judge McClellan’s decision to allow other victims to testify about Beck’s abuse upon them. However, on Monday, Chief Judge L.Clayton Roberts, Judge T. Kent Wetherell II and Judge Ross L. Bilbrey affirmed Beck’s conviction and sentence without comment.

PRESS RELEASE

On July 28, 2016, Melissa Kennedy entered a guilty plea to the charge of Second Degree Murder with a Firearm for the killing of Clifford Lewis which occurred on October 19, 2015. Judge Michael Overstreet sentenced Ms. Kennedy to a mandatory 40 years in prison pursuant to the 10-20-Life law.

Under the 10-20-Life law, Ms. Kennedy must serve this 40 year sentence day to day, with no gain time or early release. Ms. Kennedy is 42 years old and will not be eligible for release until, and unless she reaches the age of 82.

Mr. Lewis’ daughters were supportive of the sentence and expect it will amount to a life sentence for their father’s killer. Because Ms. Kennedy pled guilty, she waives any right to appeal the sentence.

Assistant State Attorney Bob Sombathy was please that the Lewis family will finally have some closure to this stressful ordeal, “I expect that this will amount to a life sentence for this defendant, and for her to forfeit her right to appeal will give the Lewis family some peace of mind.”

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.