Alabama man on trial for 'hunting down,' killing Navarre man over child custody feud

"I promise you that at the end of this trial, you will not have one witness to tell you they saw a Jason Curtis pull the trigger" defense attorney Todd Early told a panel of Santa Rosa County jurors Tuesday.

His client, Curtis, a 55-year-old from Cullman, Alabama, began trial for first-degree premeditated murder Tuesday nearly a year after being indicted for fatally shooting 24-year-old Colby Vinson in the face with a .38-caliber Ruger at his Navarre apartment complex, all while Vinson's 4-year-old daughter sat inside of his apartment.

Just six days prior to Vinson's slaying on March 19, 2023, he had won a custody battle allowing 50% custody of his daughter between him and his ex-girlfriend Rachiel Moore, which was the triggering event in Vinson's death.

The same day a judge told Moore she had to share custody of the child, Moore texted Curtis, who is her former stepfather, about the situation, which led to a conversation about "hunting" Vinson as payback for winning custody.

"Jason Curtis makes a comment about coming down here and hunting Colby down, and Rachiel responds, 'Not much hunting. I have an address,'" Assistant State Attorney Mark Alderman told the jury. "He sends Rachiel a picture of guns, knives and a sword (and) says, 'Take your pick.'"

Alderman also said investigators found two different scraps of paper in Curtis' possession containing notes about Vinson's identifying markers such as height, weight, tattoos, hair color, car and his apartment number. Curtis allegedly received that information from Moore.

Curtis then allegedly made the five-hour trip to Navarre on March 19, 2023, the day Vinson had custody of his daughter for the first time in a year, and waited outside of his apartment until he returned. After coming home from buying groceries to spend the week with his daughter, Vinson allegedly came face to face with Curtis.

'What a human piece of trash': Navarre man shot and killed next to his 4-year-old child.

"He had walked inside with (his daughter) and the first load of groceries," Alderman said. "As he exited his apartment to retrieve the rest of his groceries, Jason Curtis approaches him and shoots him in the face with a .38-caliber Ruger."

According to Alderman, the many text messages between Curtis and Moore, the county license plate cameras that caught him entering leaving the county during the time frame of the murder, an empty .38-caliber shell casing found at Curtis' home and his police interview are all enough to convict the Alabama man of murdering Vinson.

If convicted, Curtis faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison, according to Florida law.

Moore is also awaiting trial on charges of tampering with evidence in a capital felony and accessory after the fact of a capital felony.

The trial is scheduled to continue through Thursday, at which point the jury will be allowed to deliberate.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Jason Curtis on trial for killing Navarre's Colby Vinson in 2023