Will it be life or death for Nassau deputy's killer? Here's everything to know about case

Nassau County Deputy Joshua Joseph Moyers "was a loving and incredible young man with a servant’s heart," a true "country boy," according to his obituary. He was 29 and soon to be married.

Patrick Renee McDowell was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from his military service and "at first he was motivated to deal with his demons ... but as time progressed, he slipped into a darker place," his father previously told the Times-Union. He was 35 driving a stolen van while on drug-offender probation when he was pulled over by Moyers and shot and killed the deputy with no warning.

This week a Nassau County jury will decide whether McDowell should get life in prison or be executed. After six days of sifting through about 1,200 prospective jurors, Friday the final jury was agreed on for McDowell's sentencing phase that begins Monday.

Here's how it got to this point.

What happened to Deputy Joshua Moyers?

About 11:45 p.m. on Sept. 23, 2021, McDowell and a female friend were on Sandy Ford Road when Moyers decided to pull over the van he was driving, the Sheriff's Office said.

The woman later told investigators that when McDowell saw the deputy's lights activated, he said, "I'm not going to jail," according to court documents. When he pulled over and gave Moyers a false name, the deputy asked him to get out of the vehicle. McDowell opted to shoot him instead, once in the face and again after he collapsed to the ground.

Moyers died a couple of days later. The Sheriff's Office said he was an organ donor and they were designated for five people including an infant.

"A hero even after death," the Sheriff's Office said.

McDowell fled briefly in the van before abandoning it and hiding under a shed with the woman. She said she convinced him to let her go and then called 911 when she was far enough away, according to court documents.

During the ensuing manhunt, officers and McDowell exchanged gunfire and he and a K-9 were wounded. But McDowell eluded authorities for several days.

How did Patrick McDowell get caught?

Hundreds of officers, agents and deputies from multiple agencies scoured the Callahan area for five days hunting McDowell, who lived in Jacksonville but was on foot. Tracking social media communication, they were led to another friend of McDowell's, 27-year-old Breiana Elizabeth Tole.

McDowell messaged her from a Facebook account telling her he was "in pretty bad shape" because he had been shot, and that "it's not looking good," according to court documents.

"I need u more now than I've ever needed another living soul," he wrote her. "... Without your help, I'm either gonna die out here from the wounds or they will kill me."

McDowell gave her a location and time to meet at the Kristen M. Higginbotham Complex next to Callahan Intermediate School, and deputies spotted her driving nearby. She turned around after seeing law enforcement vehicles but was stopped and cooperated, according to her arrest report.

Deputies, officers and agents surrounded the facility, and McDowell called out from one of the concession stand bathrooms saying he wanted to surrender, then crawled out and was taken into custody.

Tole was charged with accessory after the fact of a felony and pleaded guilty on Aug. 8, 2022, and is still awaiting sentencing, according to court records.

What did Patrick McDowell plead guilty to and when?

On March 10, 2023, McDowell put a halt to the trial by pleading guilty to first-degree murder, eight counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and one count of use of a deadly weapon on a police K-9.

Why didn't Patrick McDowell get a change of venue?

McDowell's defense team sought a change of venue for the sentencing phase due to pervasive publicity overwhelmingly negative against McDowell. They pointed out several damning statements by Sheriff Bill Leeper including: "He stuck his arm out and pulled that trigger and took a life. He was brave enough to do that, he should be brave enough to stick his arm out and take that needle of death and give up a life."

Judge James Daniel denied the motion responding that significant pretrial publicity does not require a trial to be moved out of the jurisdiction. He cited a 1977 ruling that states, "Knowledge of the incident because of its notoriety is not, in and of itself, grounds for a change of venue."

"Based on the evidence thus far, the court cannot determine if 'the general state of mind' of the residents of Nassau County 'is so infected by knowledge of the incident' that twelve impartial jurors cannot be seated in this case," the judge's ruling stated.

What does the jury verdict have to be to sentence Patrick McDowell to death?

When McDowell shot Moyers on Sept. 23, 2021 and pleaded guilty two years later, a death sentence required a unanimous jury recommendation. However, and as the judge noted to McDowell at the time, the state was considering legislation to change the statute to only needing an 8-4 majority. The governor about a month later signed that amendment into law.

The judge considered multiple arguments whether McDowell's jury should be afforded the majority standard or unanimous. On April 3 Daniel ruled that jurors will not have to be unanimous in their recommendation of a potential death penalty.

The judge cited the State v. Victorino case that involved similar ex post facto concerns in the resentencing for the 2004 so-called Xbox murders in Deltona. When the resentencing began in 2023, the law still required a unanimous jury, but the new standards were passed on the day the jurors were sworn.

The 5th District Court of Appeal sided with allowing the 8-4 majority vote guidelines, stating the new law merely altered the methods employed in determining whether the death penalty can be imposed. The change "neither alters the definition of criminal conduct nor increases the penalty by which the crime of first-degree murder is punishable ... it does not constitute an ex post facto law."

Daniel deemed "There is no meaningful factual distinction between the instant case and Victorino."

Who will be testifying in Patrick McDowell's sentencing phase?

The defense has scheduled several people to testify for McDowell during the sentencing phase. Among them are his 13-year-old son, fellow Marines he served with in Iraq, friends, former security co-workers and a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs doctor who evaluated him for post-traumatic stress disorder.

What else is known about Patrick McDowell?

In hundreds of documents obtained in the case, law enforcement interviews with McDowell's family and friends reveal some insight about his past.

His brother, Timothy Jones, who is also an FBI agent, stated that McDowell had been combat-deployed to Iraq in 2009 as a U.S. Marine and was honorably discharged in 2010 or 2011.

McDowell worked for a private security firm as personal security for dignitaries and others in Iraq for about a year. Coming home, he sought help from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and was put on anti-psychotic medications at one time, his brother said.

During one VA session, the counselor told him that the friends he had lost in Iraq were dead and "he needed to get over it," one of the reports said. "McDowell attacked the counselor and was banned from the property thereafter. This occurred prior to 2012."

The brother said McDowell then began using cocaine, progressing to heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine.

"Jones described McDowell as being highly aggressive, even prior to his drug use," the report said. "McDowell is a hunter and fisherman and is comfortable with Florida swamps. Jones has never seen McDowell scared of anything or anyone. He has an aggressive demeanor."

Nassau County manhunt ends: New video shows Patrick McDowell, accused of killing deputy, inching out of hiding to surrender

If he is backed into a corner, Jones said his brother "will not surrender." But he told the agent he did not think his brother was the type of person to shoot a police officer either.

McDowell also had been in contact with his mother over the previous month about trying to get straightened out.

In a Florida Department of Law Enforcement interview, another friend and former co-worker provided more insight into McDowell's training, addictions and frame of mind.

Patrick Fowler said they worked for the same security company, State Protective Group, where they trained in munitions, survival, target acquisition, weapon retention, disarming, force on force and medical. He said they trained with AR platform rifles, shotguns and handguns, but that McDowell also did additional private training to include long-range and moving-target shooting.

He also said McDowell was contracted by security company Triple Canopy with additional training as well as overseas contract work in Iraq in 2012.

Fowler advised he has only seen McDowell in person a few times in the past 10 years but kept up with him over the phone.

When he met with him on Aug. 31, 2021, he said McDowell appeared to be under the influence of drugs and confirmed he was using methamphetamines and pain pills. Fowler said he looked "very sickly, malnourished, fidgety and just not himself."

McDowell told him he was out of work, homeless and living out of a stolen van. So Fowler said he offered to get him into a hotel and a drug rehabilitation facility. McDowell agreed and was supposed to turn in a handgun in his possession before getting admitted. But then he never showed.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Death penalty sentencing phase begins for Nassau County deputy killer