Jury selection to begin in penalty phase for man who killed Nassau County deputy

ActionNewsJax.com News Staff
·1 min read
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Jury selection begins Friday morning for the man who killed a Nassau County deputy.

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Patrick McDowell pleaded guilty to killing Deputy Joshua Moyers.

Now, McDowell will face either the death penalty or life in prison, with the jury deciding his fate.

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Jury selection is expected to take 6 days starting Friday.

McDowell pleaded guilty to killing Deputy Moyers at a traffic stop in 2021. We told you in March when McDowell’s attorneys asked for his trial to be moved out of Nassau County. A judge denied that motion.

Read: Judge denies motion to move trial of Patrick McDowell, man who killed deputy, out of Nassau County

McDowell will be sentenced under a 2023 law that allows a death sentence if 8 or more of the 12 jurors recommended it. Before last year, juries had to make a unanimous recommendation.

“The one aggravating cirumstance here is, of course, this was a law enforcement officer on duty at the time, and he was engaged in his responsibility to the community when he was killed,” explained Action News Jax’s law and safety expert Dale Carson. “So, that will obviously have an impact on jurors and their decision process.”

Police captured McDowell after a 5-day search. He was found hiding in a bathroom of a concession stand at a sports complex in Callahan.

McDowell pleaded guilty last year.

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