NewsLine staff
The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for Patrick McDowell, who shot and killed Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Joshua Moyers during a traffic stop in 2021. The court issued its ruling July 16 in a per curiam opinion, McDowell v. State, No. SC2024-1148.
McDowell argued that a 2023 change to state law, which allows a jury to recommend death without a unanimous vote, should not have applied to his case because the law was passed after his crime. The court disagreed, ruling the law was already in effect before McDowell was sentenced.
McDowell also argued jurors should not have heard emotional victim impact testimony from Moyers’ family. The court rejected that argument too, ruling such testimony is limited by law to describing the victim’s uniqueness and the loss to the community.
McDowell pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, injuring a police canine and eight counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. A jury recommended a death sentence by a vote of 11 to 1, and a circuit judge sentenced McDowell to death.
According to the opinion, McDowell and a friend were driving a stolen van near Callahan when Deputy Moyers, on duty in a marked patrol car, initiated a traffic stop. As Moyers asked McDowell to step out of the van, McDowell fired a concealed handgun at close range, striking Moyers in the face. McDowell then fired two more shots into Moyers’ back as he lay in the road. McDowell fled the scene and was captured five days later, following a manhunt.
Justice Jorge Labarga agreed with the outcome but wrote separately. In his opinion, he repeated his longstanding view that Florida is an outlier among states that impose the death penalty.
Breiana Tole, who pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact for helping McDowell evade capture, was previously sentenced to three years in prison followed by three years of probation.
McDowell remains on death row.
