PENSACOLA, Fla. (February 11, 2020) — A man from Pensacola is in custody after being accused of murder for allegedly bashing a man’s head onto the asphalt. The beating caused the victim’s brain to hemorrhage and led to the man’s death. Consequently, the 27-year-old man from Pensacola now faces indictment on second-degree murder. The victim was 35 years old when he died, according to the Pensacola News Journal. Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the attack on February 2, 2020, and the alleged victim of the attack died on February 7, 2020. The man accused of second-degree murder must post a bond worth $100,000.00 to secure his release. The bond had not been posted up to this point.
According to a summary of the arrest reports by the Pensacola News Journal, deputies found a man down on the ground and unresponsive around the 3500 block of Mobile Highway. Deputies said that the man was injured and observed cuts and bruises to his face and body. EMS transported the injured man to Baptist Hospital, suspecting that the wounds he had were superficial. But, the man’s health took a turn for the worse the next day. Hospital personnel observed that the man’s health was declining and he had a brain bleed. He expired about four days later.
The investigating law enforcement officers had a chance to interview the man who died before he passed away. The injured man informed the police that he was taking drugs with a group of men behind a building. He told investigators that the men became angry and attacked him.
Investigators continued to pursue the evidence. They found a surveillance video that showed the deceased man walking and a white pickup truck pulled up to him. At that time, the man whom police charged with murder chased the other man and caught him. The assailant allegedly slammed the head of the man who died into the ground. The alleged assailant then punched the man in the head several times, and after every strike bouncing his head off of the pavement.
Investigators found a witness who described the facts the could have led up to the attack. The witness told investigators that the alleged victim was seen in the backyard of a man who was in the white pickup truck. The alleged victim and then ran away toward Mobile Highway. The witness then claimed that a man on a bicycle who was unknown to everyone in the truck, including the man police charged. The man charged told the others in the truck that he would confront the victim. No one in the truck witnessed the attack, but the man charged allegedly admitted to hitting the victim.
Second-Degree Murder Laws in Florida
Florida statutes §782.04(b)(2) defines second-degree murder as any unlawful killing (as opposed to a homicide justified by self-defense or defense of another), which is imminently dangerous and shows the actor has a depraved mind toward human life. The state does not have to prove the accused formed the deliberate and premeditated intent to kill. A conviction for second-degree murder is a first-degree, life felony punishable by incarceration in the state’s prison for up to life or any term of years.