NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – Patrick McDowell’s defense turned from character witnesses to psychological experts on Tuesday as his attorneys attempt to convince a jury not to recommend the death penalty for the man who admitted to fatally shooting Nassau County Deputy Joshua Moyers during a 2021 traffic stop.
The defense called five witnesses Tuesday to speak to McDowell’s mental health and documented Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and they said the drugs and his condition likely contributed to McDowell shooting and killing Moyers.
Veterans testified that they’ve been where McDowell was.
“I started self-medicating with drugs. Had a few run-ins with the law,” Daniel White said.
“I relapsed after three years clean and sober and got arrested for attempting to purchase narcotics,” Blayne Lannan said.
They know McDowell, who is also a military veteran, and what he did.
“This is difficult for me because I feel like that could be me sitting up there had I not made a different decision in life,” White said.
To the prosecution, what White said was key: he made a decision to get right, and they argued McDowell didn’t.
Then the defense put a pharmacologist on the stand. Speaking about McDowell’s drug use, he said he considered him a high-volume meth user.
In their cross-examination, prosecutors referred to statements McDowell made on the stand.
Dr. Daniel Buffington, a clinical pharmacologist, said McDowell told him he was having irrational non-real thoughts about his surroundings and thought Deputy Moyers was out to get him before the traffic stop.
This was part of the build-up to the defense calling psychiatrist Dr. Ryan Hall.
Hall said PTSD can lead to drug abuse, and it’s often because people self-medicate.
Before the shooting, medical records show, McDowell went to the VA twice to get help.
“I think a large part of the drug use is related to PTSD. So as a mitigating factor, did his service to the country, did his service at [private military company] Triple Canopy influence or impact his state at that day? Yes,” Hall said.
On Wednesday, another two witnesses will be called and the state will have an expert as a rebuttal witness.
Wednesday afternoon the judge and attorneys will go over the rules for jurors to follow in the charge conference and then by Thursday, we expect to hear closing arguments.
Mentors of McDowell through the Veterans Treatment Court said Monday on the stand that they blame themselves for the downfall of the military veteran, who was once a model success story of the program.
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.
The Sept. 23, 2021, fatal shooting during a traffic stop was captured on Moyers’ dash cam. Moyers, 29, died from his injuries on Sept. 26, 2021.
McDowell’s other charges stemmed from an encounter in the woods during a 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 jury must decide whether or not to recommend the death penalty for McDowell, and 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.
‘I’ll never forgive myself’
Defense testimony began last week with McDowell himself taking the stand, saying he owed Moyers’ family an apology and an explanation.
“I took the life of a man that was better than me. I’ll never forgive myself for that,” McDowell said.
McDowell said he was a coward that day and that Moyers did his job so well that the deputy knew McDowell was up to no good with “one look.” He said Moyers was polite and friendly and nothing he did provoked his actions.
McDowell also apologized to the community for the fear he created during the five-day manhunt following Moyers’ shooting.
“My family is going to be dealing with the shame from this probably forever,” he said.
During the testimony, Moyers’ family members who were in attendance became emotional and during cross-examination, McDowell gave chilling insight into his thought process during the moments before and after he shot and killed Moyers.
McDowell’s testimony was followed by testimony from his family, including his father, mother, grandmother, grandfather, ex-wife and 13-year-old son.
RELATED: ‘My deepest regrets’: Father of man accused of shooting Nassau County deputy issues statement
McDowell’s ex-wife Shauna, the mother of his teenage son, testified that she saw the effect his tours in Iraq had on him and that she suspected before he killed Moyers that McDowell was using drugs.
Marines who served with McDowell all spoke highly of him as a smart, good person who was heavily relied upon.
‘Part of me is still there’
Before the state rested last week, jurors heard emotional testimony from members of Moyers’ family, including his fiancée, brother and mother about what it was like for them Moyers died days after the shooting at the hospital.
A victim advocate read a powerful statement from Moyers’ fiancée, Ivy Carter, who said Moyers lived and breathed law enforcement and that she spent many nights not worrying about not if something would happen, but when.
Now, Carter said, she is left praying and asking God to help her get over the hatred and honor his memory.
Moyers’ brother, Jordan, was visibly angry on the stand, and his testimony brought tears to some jurors’ eyes.
Jordan Moyers spoke about his profound grief and about how the loss affected more than his family.
“When Josh was murdered, this community lost a great cop, a civil servant who cared for people, for his community, and for making it a better place. I’m not the only one sharing in this loss. And when Josh was murdered, I lost my brother and it has torn every aspect of my life into shreds,” Jordan Moyers said.
Victim impact statements ended with Moyers’ mother Brenda, who talked about their special bond and how he had so much more to live for.
“He deserved so much more,” she said. “It’s a horrible nightmare as parents as our child was brutally murdered while he protected the community he loved and called home.”
Dramatic video
Prosecution testimony last week began with the jury being shown dash cam video of the Sept. 23, 2021, traffic stop off U.S. 301 that ended in Moyers’ murder -- as the first deputy on the scene testified about what he saw.
Deputy Barnes told the court it wasn’t common for Moyers to ask for assistance on these calls, which made him want to get to Moyers fast when he got the call for backup.
At one point, the deputy said, he was driving 136 mph just to get to Moyers -- almost like he knew something was wrong.
RELATED: Traffic stop to trauma scene: Desperate efforts to save Deputy Joshua Moyers revealed in reports
When he arrived, he found his friend and mentor lying on the ground, shot in the face.
Testimony from McDowell and Noelle Gale -- the woman in the van with McDowell -- and the video shown to jurors painted a vivid picture for jurors of what happened that night.
When Moyers tried to pull McDowell over after following him from a nearby gas station, McDowell told Gale he wasn’t going to stop.
“I’m not going to jail,” he told her.
But McDowell did eventually stop for Moyers, pulling off U.S. 301 onto Sandy Ford Road, and stopping just short of the railroad tracks.
McDowell said he gave Moyers a false name because he had warrants out for his arrest.
Gale said that when Moyers approached the van asking for their IDs, McDowell reached behind his seat for his handgun but then told Moyers there were no guns in the van when the deputy asked.
Moyers learned the tag on the burgundy-colored minivan belonged to a different vehicle, and investigators later learned the vehicle had been stolen from Jacksonville.
Right after McDowell handed over what Gale thought was an ID, the railroad crossing arms suddenly activated with bells ringing and lights flashing.
The video shows Moyers turn to look at the crossing arms for a split second, and when he turned back, McDowell had a gun in his face — and pulled the trigger, shooting Moyers just below his eye.
The video from Moyers’ dash cam shows McDowell quickly leaning out of the van and firing again at Moyers, hitting him in the back. Then he slams on the gas and speeds through the railroad crossing as the arms come down.
WATCH: Recording of Nassau County Deputy Joshua Moyers pulling over Patrick McDowell
Barnes arrived about 30 seconds later and found Moyers lying in the road. His frantic “Officer Down” down call can be heard on Moyers’ dash cam video.
The manhunt
When Gale testified last week, she repeated what she told investigators earlier.
“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.”
Gale testified that after McDowell shot the deputy and drove away, she told him she wanted out and he 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. McDowell ran the other way, sparking what proved to be a five-day manhunt.
More than 200 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers searched for days for McDowell in the Nassau County woods.
Body camera video from Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office K-9 Chaos’ handler, Officer Dale Cullen, was also shown in court last week. The video shows K-9 Chaos picking up McDowell’s trail in the woods in the hours after the shooting.
Cullen lets Chaos go when he realizes the dog might have found something in the woods. And then Chaos starts barking.
“Two gunshots rang out. Heard Chaos yelp. Thinking Chaos’ been hit, and I returned fire -- 18 rounds to what I thought was gunshots coming toward me,” Cullen said.
Multiple officers joined Cullen and fired their rifles 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.
The capture
McDowell’s friend, Brieana Tole, who tried to help McDowell escape capture, 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 the dozens of shots fired in the woods by law enforcement during the encounter with K-9 Chaos, when McDowell was found days later, he had only two minor flesh wounds.
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.
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.
When McDowell was arrested, deputies used Moyers’ handcuffs, Nassau County Sherrif Bill Leeper noted.
