Clearwater Criminal Defense Law Blog

Hillsborough County prosecutors announced last week that they will seek the death penalty for a man accused of killing his girlfriend and daughter and seriously injuring their son.Ronnie Oneal III stands accused of killing Kenyatta Barron and their 9-year-old daughter on March 19. Though they say he also attempted to take the life of their 8-year-old son, he survived after a lengthy hospital stay.Oneal pled not guilty to the charges, which include two counts of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree arson, and resisting an officer without violence. He has since...

A Pinellas County Sheriff's deputy avoided prison time after pleading guilty to attempted manslaughter last week.Timothy G. Virden was sentenced to three years of probation last week after entering his guilty plea in connection with a shooting in a December 2015 traffic stop that resulted in his termination. According to the state, Virden was one of several deputies involved in a traffic stop near John's Pass Village involving a woman suspected of drunk driving.Per the record, the woman's boyfriend, namely Dylan Tompkins-Holmes, was also present on the scene and advised her not to...

A Jacksonville man was sentenced to pay the ultimate price last week after a Duval County jury convicted him of rape and murder.In February, Donald James Smith was convicted in the 2013 rape and murder of Cherish Perrywinkle, an 8-year-old girl authorities say Smith lured away from her mother with the promise of buying her a cheeseburger.The jury took just a quarter of an hour to convict Smith, who had been known to the state as a sex offender for many years. Smith had been out of custody less than a month before allegedly carrying out the acts for which he is now heading to Death...

Previously in jail for unrelated drug charges, a Tampa man was re-arrested last week and charged with murder in connection with the death of an Osceola County woman.Tampa police say James Leon "Bo" Jackson is the culprit responsible for the September death of Diana Blumenberg Medina. Though details are sparse, authorities say the 68-year-old Jackson knew Medina, who was 33 years his junior, at the time of her death.According to medical examiners, Medina met her death due to upper body trauma, suffering a litany of stab wounds prior to her fatal strangulation. Her body was found near Just...

DNA evidence was the key that unlocked the door of a Florida prison cell for a man who served 17 years for a murder he maintains he didn't commit.Last Tuesday evening Dwight "D.D." DuBose was released from Hillsborough County Jail to breathe the first free breath he's drawn since his 2001 arrest for the murder of Fred Mobley Jr. The events started with the discovery of his lifeless body in mid-February of that year in an area widely known to be a haven for illicit drug sales.Upon investigation, Hillsborough County authorities determined that Mobley was strangled, but no evidence at the scene...

Hillsborough County authorities say a drug deal gone wrong led to a fatal shooting earlier this month for which a Riverview man is now facing murder charges.Deputies say social media connected Samuel Shane Morrissey, Jr. and Grover Willis on April 15. Willis was in the market for cannabis, and Morrissey was willing to sell him a quantity, they allege, and the pair arranged a meeting to conduct the sale at a Brandon filling station.Detectives say Morrissey later admitted to them that he brought a firearm to the meeting in addition to cannabis. They say he told them that, upon exchanging the...

A Tampa man who was a minor when he allegedly killed a classmate will spend the rest of his natural life in a Florida prison after a Hillsborough County jury found him guilty of first-degree murder.Tampa authorities say the problems began when David Alexander Brunson was the victim of a stolen cellphone and a small quantity of cannabis at a house party in June 2015. Brunson, who was 17 years old at the time, came to believe that the items were stolen by classmate Eion Gustitis. Unfortunately for both, the assumption was incorrect.Operating on the assumption, Brunson allegedly devised a plan...