State seeks death penalty for man accused of killing brother in St. Petersburg

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a man accused of intentionally hitting and killing his brother with a car days after his nephew was fatally shot.

St. Petersburg police arrested Tyree Jamal Gland, 34, on Feb. 29 on a charge of second-degree murder in connection with the death of his brother Taiwan Gland Sr., 35. On April 5, a grand jury indicted him on a charge of first-degree murder.

Police said the brothers got into an argument before Tyree Gland struck Gland Sr. with a Cadillac ATS on Seventh Avenue South near 12th Street in the early-morning hours of Feb. 26, then turned around and ran him over again before driving away.

A murder case must have aggravating factors to qualify for capital punishment, according to Florida law. In a filing document, the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office argued the killing was “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.”

The document also states that prosecutors can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Tyree Gland was convicted of a prior capital felony.

In an interview Friday, Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bruce Bartlett said Tyree Gland’s prior convictions in a drive-by shooting case and the violent nature of the current allegations against him merit pursuing the death penalty.

Bartlett also shed more light on what prompted the argument between the Gland brothers just before the killing.

The brothers that night had attended a memorial in the same area for Gland Sr.’s 18-year-old son, Taiwan Gland Jr., who days earlier had been fatally shot at an apartment complex a few blocks away. St. Petersburg police have not made any arrests in the case, and they ask anyone with information to call 727-893-7780 or text “SPPD” and your tip to 847-411.

Bartlett said that Tyree Gland made a comment suggesting that Gland Sr. was a bad parent and that was a factor in his son’s death. That angered Gland Sr., who got up and left. At that point, Bartlett said, Tyree Gland got into the Cadillac, went looking for his brother, ran him down and then turned around and ran over him again.

Surveillance video that captured the incident shows the first strike and Gland Sr. on the pavement with his arms in the air, appearing to make an effort to get out of the street when the Cadillac runs him over the second time, Bartlett said. The Cadillac then dragged Gland Sr. about 140 feet until he was dislodged when the car went over a speed bump.

Tyree Gland, Bartlett said, “had just got out of jail and he didn’t learn a damn thing, I guess. But it’s something that warrants 12 citizens of our community to sit down and make a decision, number one is he guilty of murder in the first degree, and number two, if he is, is he a candidate for the death penalty.”

Bartlett said his office typically consults with a victim’s family members about the decision to seek the death penalty. Bartlett was out of the office Friday and did not have details about who in the Gland family his office spoke to about the decision and what feedback prosecutors received.

“But you also have the big picture,” Bartlett said. “He’s already killed one person, a 15-year-old kid, goes to prison for that, gets out, kills his own brother. He really doesn’t value human life. ... How do we know it’s not going to happen again?”

Reached by phone Friday, the Gland brothers’ mother, Tajuana Gland-McKenzie, said she wasn’t aware that a decision had been made about pursuing the death penalty and declined further comment.

Tyree Gland was released from state prison on Dec. 6 after serving about 15 years for the 2007 fatal drive-by shooting of 15-year-old Deandre Brown in St. Petersburg. Gland, who was 17 when he was first arrested, was twice convicted on a second-degree murder charge in the case and sentenced to life, but the two convictions were overturned.

A third jury found him guilty of manslaughter, and a judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

Less than three months after his release, he would be on the run from police who wanted him in his brother’s killing.

In a Facebook post after Gland Sr.’s death, Gland-McKenzie said Tyree Gland ran over his brother, made a U-turn and then “mashed the gas pedal again over his body to finish him off.”

When the car hit Gland Sr., it sent him “eight to 10 (feet) in the air,” she wrote.

One day before Tyree Gland was arrested, police took Sebastian K. Williams, 32, into custody. Investigators said he was a passenger in the car when Tyree Gland hit his brother.

Afterward, Williams traveled with him in the Cadillac to “a known female’s house,” according to an arrest affidavit. Police say Williams helped to hide the car and arranged for a temporary place for Gland to stay.

Williams was arrested on a charge of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. Records show he was released from the Pinellas County Jail on March 2 after posting a $100,000 bond. He has pleaded not guilty through an attorney.

Times staff writers Emily Wunderlich and Lesley Cosme Torres contributed to this report.