NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – The sentencing trial for a man who pleaded guilty to killing a Nassau County deputy in 2021 has been postponed until at least April 2024 while the local court waits for the Florida Supreme Court to sort out questions about Florida’s new death penalty law.
Patrick McDowell, who admitted to shooting Nassau County Deputy Joshua Moyers, had been set for trial in the penalty phase in September. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
But McDowell’s attorneys filed a motion for the state’s old rule for handing down a death sentence to be in place instead of a new law that was passed back in April.
As it stands, Florida’s newly updated death penalty law requires only an 8-4 jury vote. When McDowell was initially charged and when he pleaded guilty, a jury had to be unanimous in sentencing a person to death. The attorney’s motion is for the previous law requiring a 12-0 recommendation to apply in McDowell’s case.
Judge James Daniel said in court Wednesday that it would not make sense for him to make a ruling and try the penalty phase for McDowell before the state Supreme Court weighs in on the issue of whether the new law will apply retroactively. McDowell appeared for the hearing via Zoom with his attorney.
A challenge to the new law has been filed with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and denied by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, but the Florida Supreme Court has not yet made a decision.
Court systems around the state don’t know how to proceed with death penalty cases under this new law, and until the rules are made clear, sentencing trials like McDowell’s will be put on hold.
The last thing anyone wants, Daniel said, is to go through a penalty phase and then have to do it twice.
McDowell shot Moyers twice during an early morning traffic stop on U.S. 301 on Sept. 23, 2021. Moyers, 29, died from his injuries on Sept. 26, 2021.
McDowell was arrested following a five-day manhunt and later pleaded guilty to the shooting and also to other charges stemming from that search, including injuring a police dog and eight charges of aggravated assault against law enforcement officers.
McDowell has been in jail for two years, and it could be another nine months before his death penalty sentencing goes to trial.
Moyers’ family sat in court Wednesday.
Attorney Gene Nichols said it’s a good idea to wait for the guidance because there are too many unanswered questions with the updated death penalty law.
“It’s a great question that we don’t know the answer to,” Nichols said. “If it’s procedural, you can apply it to old cases. When it’s substantive then it’s not going to apply to anything in the past, only from that day forward.”
Nichols said without these answers, everyone is in a difficult position. It freezes cases all over the state and slows down the process of families seeking justice.
“I think what he told them was the state of Florida and his office was going to continue to pursue justice no matter how long it takes,” Nichols said.
The next status conference for the case is Sept. 19.