NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – With a jury seated last week, the sentencing trial for the man who pleaded guilty to killing a Nassau County deputy moved forward on Monday with opening statements from the prosecution.
The court screened roughly 1,200 Nassau County residents over six days to seat a jury for the sentencing trial, which will decide whether Patrick McDowell will be sentenced to death for killing Deputy Joshua Moyers during a traffic stop in September 2021.
Judge James Daniel decided earlier this month that Florida’s current death penalty recommendation rules would apply in the case, meaning prosecutors only need eight jurors to agree to recommend the death penalty.
McDowell’s mental health and documented Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are expected to be front and center during the sentencing trial.
Testimony began with the first deputy on the scene after Moyers was shot. During his testimony, prosecutors played the dash cam video from Moyers’ patrol car that showed the moments leading up to the violent encounter, the shooting and the aftermath as fellow deputies rushed to assist Moyers.
The deputy told the court it wasn’t common for Deputy Moyers to ask for assistance on these calls.
This made the deputy want to get to Moyers fast, and at one point he drove 136 mph just to get to him – almost like he knew something was wrong.
When he arrived, he found his friend and mentor, lying on the ground, shot in the face.
McDowell shot Moyers twice during an early morning traffic stop on US 301 on Sept. 23, 2021. Moyers, 29, died from his injuries on Sept. 26, 2021.
Noelle Gale, the woman who was in the van with McDowell when Moyers pulled him over, also testified Monday morning.
“He thought the cop was calling for backup and didn’t want to go back to jail,” Gale said. “He said he was going to run from the cop.”
Then Moyers turned on his lights, and Gale said McDowell said nothing else to her.
She also testified she didn’t know there was a gun in the car until he pulled it out and shot the deputy.
“I asked him why he did that – he told me it was either him or the cop – I was freaking out and he just kept telling he was sorry,” Gale said. “I was yelling at him.”
Gale said McDowell grabbed her by the arm, they ran into a wooded area, and she told him she wanted to go back. He let her go, and she called 911.
The defense argued the drugs were her idea and that McDowell let her go willingly. They also mentioned how she is currently facing a drug possession charge.
Body camera video from JSO K9 Chaos’s handler, Officer Dale Cullen, was also shown in court Monday. The video shows he let Chaos go when he realizes, he may have found something.
“Two gunshots rang out, heard Chaos yell, thinking Chaos’ been hit, and I returned fire 18 rounds to what I thought was gunshots coming toward me,” Cullen said.
The defense argued there was only the woods between McDowell and the officers, and McDowell could’ve seen the flashlights at some point.
Cullen said they sent Chaos in first – to take one for the team – knowing an officer had just been shot, and that he returned fire to save his life and the life of the other officers.
McDowell pleaded guilty a little over a year ago to first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, injuring a police dog and eight counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.
McDowell’s other charges stemmed from an encounter in the woods during the manhunt, which ended after five days when McDowell was found hiding out in a bathroom building at the Kirsten Higginbotham Sports Complex on Sept. 28, 2021.
The traffic stop
According to McDowell’s arrest affidavit, he told a woman who was in the van with him when Moyers pulled him over: “It’s either me or him.”
McDowell told the woman when he saw Moyers’ lights that he wasn’t going to stop: “I’m not going to jail.”
But McDowell did eventually stop, pulling off US 301 onto Sandy Ford Road, and stopping just short of the railroad tracks — a decision that would later prove fateful for Moyers.
According to the reports, McDowell gave Moyers a false name and didn’t have a driver’s license. Moyers also learned the tag on the burgundy-colored minivan belonged to a different vehicle. Investigators later learned the vehicle had been stolen from Jacksonville.
The woman with McDowell told investigators later that when Moyers approached the van asking for their IDs, McDowell reached behind his seat for his handgun. Moyers asked McDowell if there was a gun inside the van, and he said no.
The woman told an FDLE agent that when Moyers asked for their IDs, she showed Moyers a photo of it on her phone, and McDowell handed over what she thought was an ID.
Just then, the railroad crossing arms activated with the bells ringing and lights flashing. Moyers turned to look at the crossing arms for just a moment, and when he turned back, McDowell had a gun in his face — and pulled the trigger, shooting Moyers just below his eye, investigators said.
Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said McDowell fired again and hit Moyers in the back as the deputy fell to the ground. Then he slammed on the gas and sped through the railroad crossing just as the arms were coming down, investigators said.
The encounter was captured on dashcam video from Moyers’ patrol car.
WATCH: Recording of Nassau County Deputy Joshua Moyers pulling over Patrick McDowell
Leeper said the backup deputy that Moyers had called for arrived about 30 seconds later and found him lying in the road.
That’s when the “Officer Down” call went out.
The aftermath
Moyers had been shot in the face and back and wasn’t breathing.
The first four deputies to arrive at the scene after the Officer Down call took turns with Deputy Barnes, administering CPR to Moyers until paramedics arrived.
RELATED: Traffic stop to trauma scene: Desperate efforts to save Deputy Joshua Moyers revealed in reports
Deputy Hall said he ran back to his patrol vehicle at one point, frantically throwing things from the trunk to get out an AED and other medical supplies. Deputy Cone said once they had the AED, he cut Moyers’ shirt open so the AED pads could be applied.
Once paramedics arrived, Hall directed them to Moyers, explaining his injuries, and then the deputies helped move Moyers onto the stretcher.
Deputy Holmberg, who had also been helping with CPR at the scene, gave the ambulance an emergency escort to prevent delays in arriving at UF Health Jacksonville’s trauma center.
Despite their efforts, Moyers’ injuries were too severe. He died days later at the hospital.
The manhunt
The woman in the van with McDowell said he yelled, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I had to! I had to!,” as he sped away from the shooting scene, and the woman answered, “No you didn’t!” and demanded to be let out of the van.
She said McDowell drove a short distance away and told her they had to hide. She said once out of the van, she ran back toward deputies, and he ran the other way -- sparking a five-day manhunt.
Records show McDowell served in the U.S. Marines, and a former colleague described him as a “survivalist” and trained shooter.
In a video released as part of discovery material in the case, K-9 Chaos can be seen picking up McDowell’s trail in the woods in the hours after the shooting. After the dog starts barking, gunshots can be heard and the dog yelps in pain. Multiple officers then fire their rifles in unison into the darkness.
This encounter is what led to McDowell’s injuring a police dog charge and the eight counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.
But McDowell remained on the run for days and hundreds of law enforcement personnel searched for him in the Nassau County woods.
More than 200 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers had focused their search efforts on a 5-square-mile perimeter southwest of Callahan while a statewide Blue Alert was out for McDowell.
Also included in the evidence were texts back and forth from McDowell and his mother while he was on the run and interviews with McDowell’s girlfriend, Brieana Tole, who tried to help McDowell escape capture. She is not the woman who was in the van with him during the shooting.
Tole later pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact after she was accused of driving to the sports complex where McDowell was hiding out in an attempt to get him out of the area and escape arrest, according to an arrest report.
Despite dozens of shots fired in the woods by law enforcement during the early encounter, McDowell was found days later at the Callahan sports complex with only two minor flesh wounds.
The capture
In drone video of McDowell’s capture at the Kirsten Higginbotham Sports Complex off Ball Park Road, McDowell can be seen crawling out of a concession stand and then being subdued by K-9 Huk.
Moyers’ handcuffs were used to arrest McDowell, Leeper noted.
McDowell was treated for a dog bite wound and then transported to UF Health Jacksonville in a Nassau County rescue accompanied by several deputies in cruisers.
After McDowell’s arrest, his father, Richard, issued a statement to News4JAX.
“I would like to say that I’m glad no one else got hurt and I hope that it will help Deputy Moyers’ family knowing he’s not still at large,” Richard McDowell said.
RELATED: ‘My deepest regrets’: Father of man accused of shooting Nassau County deputy issues statement
He also said his son was diagnosed with PTSD, depression and other ailments and “turned to drugs” but had been through Veterans Treatment Court and “was doing very well” until the COVID lockdown.
“I had resigned myself to the fact that he might overdose or take his own life,” Richard McDowell wrote. “I never dreamed he would take someone else’s life.”