Man Guilty of Opening Fire on Vehicle, Shooting 1 Occupant

Posted on July 29, 2026July 29, 2026 by Admin SA

A Panama City man who followed a car full of young adults for 5 miles after an argument in a parking lot and opened fire on their car was found guilty as charged Wednesday, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Martae Lemon Coleman, 29, was found guilty of 4 Counts of Attempted Second-Degree Murder and 1 count of Shooting into an Occupied Vehicle. Circuit Court Judge Timothy Register set sentencing for Aug. 14. The first four charges are First-Degree Felonies with up to Life sentences under Florida’s 10-20-Life law.

Prosecutors Jeff Moore and Morgan Morrell called 9 witnesses, including the victims, to prove that there was a verbal disturbance involving the defendant and a friend with the shooting victim and his friends in the parking lot of the Gold Nugget on U.S. 98 on Sept. 29, 2024. But it had ended and the victims had no idea the defendant was following their vehicle until he pulled beside them and opened fire at a Panama City Beach intersection 5 miles away.

“The verbal altercation was over, there’s only one person in this whole crowd that it wasn’t over for and that’s Mr. Coleman,” Moore said. “He’s the only person that didn’t let it go. Making bad decisions is how crimes are committed.”

Testimony and evidence from traffic cameras showed the defendant and a friend ended up at the Gold Nugget that night while celebrating Coleman’s birthday. The victims and other friends also were celebrating a birthday and ended up at the Gold Nugget.

All were leaving at closing time when a comment about wanting to see a nice car do a “burnout” turned into an argument between the defendant and the victims. The victims said the defendant lifted his shirt at one point to show he had a pistol stuck in his waistband, so they decided to leave.

Video surveillance showed the defendant leaving in a vehicle driven by a friend, followed by the victims. The defendant’s friend testified he drove the defendant away to prevent any more arguing, circled the block to make sure the victims were not following him, then dropped his friend back off at his car at the Gold Nugget.

Traffic cameras showed Coleman then headed west, as the victims had, but was not headed home. His friend was behind him, concerned that Coleman was going after the younger group. The friend following Coleman was on the phone with him, pleading with him to go home and leave the first group alone.

Instead, Coleman continued to drive faster and told his friend, who was following further behind, “I’m going to follow them home and I’m going to beat these kids’ ass,” the friend testified. The friend testified that at some point in the phone conversation Coleman changed from saying he was going to beat them to he was going to shoot them.

“He was basically like saying he was going to follow them home and beat them up, over and over,” the friend testified. “And I was just like, hey, don’t do that, we should go home. Bad idea. There’s nothing good going to come out of this.

“Toward the end of the conversation he said he was going to shoot them and I heard gunshots rattle off over the phone.”

The victims, from the Greenwood area, had no idea they were being followed and were trying to find a hotel room when they pulled up to Back Beach Road on Allison Avenue and hit the red light. There, the defendant’s car pulled beside them and opened fire without warning.

The driver was struck in the hip; other bullets hit the driver’s and passenger’s doors before the defendant fled.

Coleman took the stand and testified on his own behalf, claiming the other group had flashed a gun at him at the club and he was only following them so he could get their tag number. He claimed when he pulled up to them at the light on the beach they shot at him, but there was no evidence found of that.

Moore pointed out that if Coleman was truly scared he would not have chased the vehicle, he would have called the police. He also noted that Coleman could have gotten their tag number at any point along Front Beach Road or Allison Avenue or even taken a picture of it.

“He wasn’t done after everyone left the parking lot,” Moore said. “If he was done and he was worried about his safety, he would’ve called the police. They were shot because he was so mad at them over the words that were exchanged and he wasn’t going to let it go.”

Coleman was tracked to his home the next morning.

Basford thanked the collaborative work that night between the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, Panama City Police Department and Panama City Beach Police Department in identifying the defendant through traffic cameras and getting him into custody.

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

Man Convicted of Beating, Choking, Threatening Girlfriend Sentenced to 15 years

Posted on July 29, 2026 by Admin SA

A man found guilty of three charges related to attacking his girlfriend was sentenced to a combined 15 years in prison, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Alfredo Julio Baguer Villa, 29, of Lynn Haven, was found guilty as charged June 30 of Domestic Battery by Strangulation, Aggravated Assault (Deadly Weapon), and False Imprisonment. Circuit Court Judge Dustin Stephenson Friday sentenced him to 5 years on each count, ordering that they be served consecutively, or one after the other.

“This sentence sends a message that victims of domestic violence are taken seriously when they come forward,” Prosecutor Christopher Walters said. “With their help we can continue to hold their abusers accountable.”

At trial, Lynn Haven Police Department Officer Tyler Buckalew testified he was on duty March 30, 2025, when he was dispatched to a domestic disturbance. He said he found the victim walking some distance from her residence because she had fled in fear after being choked and threatened with a knife.

“She was clearly frightened,” Buckalew testified. “She fled because she wasn’t safe.”

The victim said the defendant got angry in the bathroom that day and punched her in the face. He was initially blocking her from leaving the bathroom but she got out when he showered.

The victim said the defendant choked her and used a pocketknife to stab the air mattress near her head twice while threatening her. “I thought he was going to kill me,” she said.

After she escaped, the defendant left. Police arrested him on a warrant three weeks later.

Basford thanked the Lynn Haven Police Department for its handling of the call that night and ensuing investigation.

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

Calhoun Sentenced to Death in 2010 Murder of Mia Brown

Posted on July 24, 2026 by Admin SA

State Attorney Larry Basford, left, and Prosecutor Peter Overstreet at Friday’s sentencing

For the second time, Johnny Mack “Skeeto” Calhoun was sentenced to death Friday for the brutal murder of Holmes County resident Mia Brown in 2010, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

As prosecutors, defense attorneys, and members of the victim’s family watched, Chief Circuit Court Judge Christopher Patterson said he had reviewed all materials submitted and the arguments made by both sides. He then ordered Calhoun be put to death by lethal injection.

It is the second time Calhoun has been sentenced to death by Patterson for kidnapping Brown, keeping her in the trunk of his car overnight, and then burning her alive in it the following day. The first was in 2012, but the defendant was given a new sentencing hearing following a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling affecting cases across the state. The jury at the new sentencing recommended death by a 9-3 vote in April.

“Justice in this case has been a long time in coming,” Basford said following sentencing “Now, 5,698 days have passed since Mia Brown was burned alive in her car by the defendant. This was a very cruel and horrific murder.”

Chief Circuit Court Judge Christopher Patterson announces the sentence.

Basford noted that this is the second time a jury as recommended death for Calhoun, the second time Judge Patterson has ordered the death sentence for him, and he has faith the Florida Supreme Court for the second time will affirm the sentence.

“When all is said and done, the defendant will be strapped to a gurney, a needle will be placed in his arm, he will be injected with a lethal dose of chemicals, and he will draw his last breath,” Basford said.

State Attorney Larry Basford, right, and Prosecutor Peter Overstreet, left, speak to members of the victims’ family.

Basford and Prosecutor Peter Overstreet presented nearly 20 witnesses and evidence at the sentencing phase in April proving the victim was kidnapped, bound, gagged, and burned alive in her car in December 2010.

Basford and Overstreet proved the murder met two of the aggravating factors required by law: it was committed during a kidnapping that facilitated the murder, and it was cold, calculated and premeditated.

Basford thanked the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for their work and collaboration on the original case.

In Friday’s 15-page sentencing order, Chief Judge Patterson outlined the facts and history of the case as well as the aggravating and mitigating factors.

“The Defendant is eligible for a sentence of death, and a careful review of the aggravating factors determined to exist beyond a reasonable doubt, which far outweigh the mitigating circumstances, established by a greater weight of the evidence, makes clear that a sentence of death is the only appropriate penalty in the present case,” Patterson wrote.

Basford thanked the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Department of Law Enforcement for their handling of the case. He especially thanked the victim’s family “for their patience and faith.”

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

Life Sentence for Drug Trafficker, Repeat Offender

Posted on July 23, 2026July 23, 2026 by Admin SA

A conviction for Trafficking in Methamphetamine (more than 14 grams) coupled with a lengthy criminal history combined to land Alphanso Frederick Hall a Life sentence Thursday, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Hall, 40, of Panama City Beach, was found guilty of the trafficking charge and Unlawful Use of a 2-Way Communication Device June 30. That trafficking charge is a First-Degree Felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

But Prosecutor Frank Sullivan successfully argued to have Hall sentenced as a Habitual Felony Offender based on previous convictions of Trafficking in Cocaine (2007 and 2013), Grand Theft of a Motor Vehicle (2007 and 2013) and other charges. Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark agreed, which under Florida law upgraded the maximum punishment to a Life felony.

The defendant most recently served a 54-month prison sentence on drug charges. He was released April 1, 2024. The current Trafficking offense occurred Feb. 18, 2025, less than a year later.

“The defendant has shown no interest in following the law while continuing to deliver drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine onto our streets over the last 20 years,” Sullivan said. “His criminal history shows that when he is released from prison he eventually gets caught poisoning our community again.

“There will be no more chances for Mr. Hall.”

In the latest case, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Division had the defendant under surveillance as part of an undercover operation. Sullivan presented witnesses and evidence proving investigators used a confidential informant to set up a controlled drug buy for Feb. 18, 2025.

When investigators arrested the defendant he was in possession of 5 separate baggies of methamphetamine. Each of the baggies held just over 3 grams of meth – often sold as an “8-ball.”

Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for its investigation that helped bring the case to a successful conclusion.

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

JURY: Pittman Stabbed Boyfriend to Death

Posted on July 23, 2026July 23, 2026 by Admin SA

A Panama City man was found guilty as charged Wednesday of Second-Degree Murder in the July 18, 2023 stabbing death of his boyfriend at a Springfield convenience store, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Calvin Lovelle Pittman, 47, of Panama City, was found guilty of Second-Degree Murder and Destruction or Tampering with Physical Evidence after about 45 minutes of deliberation. Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay set sentencing for Sept. 11. The murder charge is a First-Degree Felony punishable by up to Life in prison.

Prosecutor Peter Overstreet called about a dozen witnesses and presented physical evidence in the 2-day trial proving Pittman stabbed Phillip S. Harvey, 20, in the side while the two were arguing in Harvey’s car July 18, 2023. The victim suffered a large, 4-inch-deep gash to his lower left abdomen before exiting the car and stumbling about 20 feet where he collapsed.

A key piece of evidence came from the victim himself. As hospital workers tried to stabilize him for emergency surgery that day, he told two nurses that he was stabbed by Pittman during an argument.

“Mr. Harvey did nothing wrong to deserve this, but as he fought for his life on the way to surgery that day, he did something very right: he was able to identify his attacker by name,” Overstreet said. “He knew his life was in danger and he made very sure that the authorities would know it was Calvin Pittman who did this. He played a large part in bringing his killer to justice.”

“We are grateful the jurors saw this case for what it was, looked at the evidence, and concluded Mr. Harvey was telling the truth.”

Two nurses on duty that day testified the victim identified his attacker. They both also testified he asked them if he was “going to see his mom,” who passed away two years earlier.

One said the victim, suffering from a deep stab wound that went through his spleen and kidney, also asked her if he was going to see his mom as she helped get him ready for surgery.

“He said his boyfriend Calvin Pittman stabbed him during an argument,” she testified. “He told me he knew he was going to see his momma now. They put him under for the surgery and he bled out.”

Prosecutor Morgan Morrell, far left, questions a witness.

Overstreet said the victim’s identification of the killer came with no doubt.

“I submit to you when a man is dying … I don’t think he’s going to somehow fantasize and misrepresent something,” Overstreet said. “He was afraid he was going to die and he wanted his killer caught.”

Surveillance video showed the victim’s car pull up to the gas pumps of a Springfield convenience store the evening of July 18, 2023. Witnesses said there was no disturbance or shouting that drew their attention at first. But 39 seconds after arriving the defendant gets out, and 2 seconds after that the driver gets out clutching his side. He can be seen stumbling away but after 9 seconds collapses.

The passenger, identified as Calvin Pittman, is seen leaving the car and going to the victim, bending over him for a brief period. Seconds after the clerk arrived and began administering first aid, the defendant calmly walked back to the car and 20 seconds later was driving away.

“The defense would have you believe he was rendering aid, he was not,” Overstreet said. “He was essentially covering up what he had done. He didn’t do anything, he didn’t say anything, and when all eyes were on the victim what did Calvin Pittman do? He calmly walked away, shut the passenger’s door … and fled because he did not want to get caught for what he had done.”

Pittman was caught the next day in Panama City by police following “pings” emitted by a T-Mobile device in the vehicle. The defendant had parked it among some other cars hidden by houses and a fence, not visible from the roadway.

Basford thanked the Springfield Police Department, Panama City Police Department and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for their work on the investigation.

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