Nassau County Deputy Joshua Moyers.
Published on April 26, 2024 at 10:33 am
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A jury on Thursday recommended that Patrick McDowell be put to death for the murder of Nassau County Deputy Joshua Moyers.
The jury voted 11 to 1 to recommend the death penalty. A new state law passed last year allows a jury to recommend death with as few as eight votes. Before the law changed, it had to be unanimous.
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McDowell is a Marine Corps veteran who was diagnosed with PTSD and a history of drug abuse. He shot Moyers during a traffic stop Sept. 23, 2021. The deputy died three days later.
McDowell was arrested Sept. 28, 2021, after a manhunt found him hiding in a bathroom at the Kirsten Higginbotham Sports Complex.
Moyer’s family was emotional Thursday after the jury’s decision.
Before the jury was brought into the courtroom, Judge James Daniel addressed the audience.
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“I know this case has been difficult,” Daniel said “Jurors are faced with a binary choice. There will either be a sentence of life without parole or eligibility for the imposition of the death penalty requiring an additional hearing before this court.”
The judge asked members of the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office and McDowell’s and Moyers’ families to respect the jury’s decision.
“I understand that I would not even begin to tell the family and loved ones of Joshua Moyers, the family of the defendant, or the members of the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, how they should or should not feel after the verdict is returned,” Daniel said.
The next step in the process is a Spencer hearing, which will be scheduled. It’s a hearing where the defense has a last chance to persuade the judge to set aside the death penalty recommendation and impose life without parole.
Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper was thankful for the jury’s decision and said the Sheriff’s Office still deals with the tragedy of Moyers’ death.
“Lord willing when this death sentence is carried out, I’ll be sitting on the front row with a box of popcorn, eagerly waiting for him to take his last breath,” Leeper said. “It just ripped the guts out of our agency, out of our employees. The dispatchers who had to hear the cries for help on the radio, the deputies who responded, who tried to save Josh’s life. That’s something to live with forever.”
The jury started deliberations Thursday afternoon. After providing detailed instructions, Judge James Daniel sent the jury to the deliberation room about 3:33 p.m.The jury said it reached a verdict around 6:30 p.m.
Before McDowell’s attorneys made their final bid Thursday to persuade a jury not to recommend the death penalty, McDowell took the stand for the second time during his sentencing trial and read a statement, asking the jury not to show him mercy.
McDowell admitted that reading the statement was against his attorney’s advice but said it was something he needed to do.
His statement said in part: “The Moyers family deserves justice. Deputy Moyers himself and his fellow officers deserve justice. I don’t want your mercy, and I definitely don’t deserve it. I can’t take away the pain I’ve caused, but I can pay for it. So make me pay for it.”
This story was produced by News4Jax, a Jacksonville Today news partner.
