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Man Claims Self Defense, Found Not Guilty In Cantonment Murder
September 4, 2022
Jonathon Taylor Hobbs of Cantonment walked out of the Escambia County Jail Saturday a free man, following his acquittal on a first-degree premeditated murder
Hobbs, 29 was accused of the shooting death of 35-year old Danny Blackmon, Jr., on February 1, 2021. He would have faced up to life in prison if the jury had convicted him.
During his trial, Hobbs claimed he shot Blackmon in self defense on Lawson Lane off Jacks Branch Road.
Hobbs was with a female friend who was trying to get her then 18-year old daughter away from Blackmon. The woman believed Blackmon was holding her against her will, but she testified that was not correct.
Hobbs testified that Blackmon approached him in an aggressive manner, threatening to kill him and his female friend.
“He took three steps coming at me, pulling something out of his pocket,” Hobbs said in court. “It was a black object. I thought it was a gun. but it wasn’t. It turned out to be a phone. I raised my gun, and I blacked out. I believe I was in shock, and I just shot. That’s all I did.”
Blackmon was shot five times, including once when he was already on the ground, according to prosecutors.
A jury deliberated several hours before returning the not guilty verdict.
Comments
22 Responses to “Man Claims Self Defense, Found Not Guilty In Cantonment Murder”
For those of you commenting on how many times he was shot: I was taught that if you have to use your weapon, empty it at the target. Otherwise, if he is just wounded he may be able to use your own gun against you if it is still loaded.
regarding this comment: “Good for him. He had someone in front of him on property the victim did not belong on and came at Hobbs in a threatening manner, reaching into his pocket, I would have done the exact same thing. As for “he shot him 5x” I’d empty the gun too… I was told by a long time stand-up LEO that if I had to shoot someone on my property, empty the gun on them and dead man can’t testify against you. Case in point.”
Danny was literally on the street leading to his home. Jonathan and Dawn hunted him down and slammed into his car causing him to get out if his car. They were aggressive the whole time, never Danny.
When I took my CC class, one instructor emphasized several times, “if you’re ever involved in a gun related incident, call 911, give them your name, the address and report that there has been an injury with a gun, send an ambulance and sheriff.” Then, hang up immediately. Say no more. You’re not obligated to stay on the 911 line and keep talking. Call your lawyer and don’t speak until your counsel is with you.
@mnon “As for “he shot him 5x” I’d empty the gun too… I was told by a long time stand-up LEO that if I had to shoot someone on my property, empty the gun on them and dead man can’t testify against you. Case in point.”
??? This what I suspected was the often the reason for the “shoot to kill mindset”. Not so much as neutralize the threat, but to avoid anyone knowing what happened. I guess we now hear it secondhand from the horse’s mouth.
I believe in the trial by jury system!
I’ll also believe he barely got by with this one.
I have watched plenty of shooting situations of police body camera footage, and its not uncommon to see officers doing a mag dump on a shooter. Very common in fact. There is something about a persons will to live…don’t you think!
Pesky justice system triumphs.
Good!!!
Prayers to all.
Jonathan went on the hunt for Danny.
Good for him. He had someone in front of him on property the victim did not belong on and came at Hobbs in a threatening manner, reaching into his pocket, I would have done the exact same thing. As for “he shot him 5x” I’d empty the gun too… I was told by a long time stand-up LEO that if I had to shoot someone on my property, empty the gun on them and dead man can’t testify against you. Case in point.
REGARDING:
“the guy was shot 5 mind you 5 times how is that self defense”
If you actually think someone is trying to kill you, you do whatever it takes to stop him. Your first shot may have missed. It may have been stopped by something like a wallet or a cellphone. He may be dying but still able to kill you.
Consider Cpl. Sydney Manning of the Flomaton monument and medal of honor in World War One.He did what he did while suffering from nine wounds in all parts of his body.
I am not comparing him to them, but he held back the Germans after being shot repeatedly and returned to Flomaton without anyone knowing at the time what he had done.
David for better people
Very surprising verdict based on the information released after this incident… Wish video of this trial was available to try and understand how the jury reached it’s verdict..
To just a thought: I was acquitted in a “stand your ground” case and it was because I took the stand. My explanation of events made more sense to the jury than the plaintiff OR the two arresting cops, who ALL lied on the stand.
Well, the finger scraping wounds on my neck, from being choked to near death, that the cops said they didn’t notice when they arrested me, helped alot too. The booking photos CLEARLY showed them.
OK, for one, Kudos to Hobbs, an acquittal is very nice.
Now, to the naysayers, it’s very simple- if there is a shadow of a doubt, the jury HAS to find them not guilty. SO, if nothing else, blame the Prosecution, who couldn’t seal it up.
Now, let’s look at the situation. Put yourself in his shoes. So you meet a girl and she rocks your world, BUT, she has a MORBID story and you are her “knight in shining armor”- a monster has taken over her daughter, starting when she was a child of 16, so he’s a child predator, but now he has kidnapped her and drugged her and and is doing terrible things to her and she’s trusting YOU to save her. He is a very violent, dangerous man and has guns. She’s called the cops, but they will do nothing. SO, it is COMPLETELY legal to use lethal force against a forcible felony. FYI, Kidnapping and rape are forcible felonies. So, he took a friend, as back up, or as an eye witness, or as moral support, who knows, and they went to rescue a young girl from a monster. Sure enough, the monster came at them and threatened to kill them both and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a weapon. FYI, if someone has a gun, them being on the ground doesn’t stop them from still shooting you. They are still a threat (it’s a mistake to think that when they hit the ground, it’s over). You have to shoot them until they stop moving. Period. even if they are on the ground. Look at the case with the old man who complained that some folks were illegally parked in a handicap parking space and the male came out of the store and pushed him to the ground. He didn’t start shooting until he was on the ground.
I guess they call it a jury of your peers for a reason.
I agree with what Vilager said.
Villager: “How in the world could a jury find him not guilty(?)”
Easy answer.
The prosecution did not convince the jury BEYOND a reasonable doubt. Beyond a reasonable doubt means you better be really, really convinced that the charges and the prosecution are correct in their charges and case, with the evidence clearly convincing you (and eleven others) of it.
Having served on a jury just once, and having found that defendant “not guilty”, I can tell you that in the jury chamber we knew the two parties involved in our case (both females) hated each other and that both parties were injured in the event. But we could not put our finger on whether the defendant started the event. (This case reminded me of that uncertainty.). Because of that doubt, we had to find the defendant not guilty. We were not completely convinced in the prosecution’s case, actually not even close.
However, in the trial where I was a juror, the defendant could not keep her mouth shut and insisted on taking the stand. Because of that, she came very close to swinging the jury against her. If she had not taken the stand, the jury would have reached a not guilty verdict in one hour. But because she took the stand, it took us five hours. She clouded the issue with her rambling testimony and the prosecution gained back a lot of ground they had lost with the defense witnesses.
I went back and read the past NE.com stories when this story first broke in early 2021 (and the reader comments proclaiming “guilt!” which are now a bunch of feet in the mouths). The defendant made a HUGE correct decision early on: He did not talk to the police and got an attorney first. That likely increased the odds of gaining this verdict.
WOW!!! Never saw this coming. How many shots should be fired to stop what he called a threat? And then he stood over the victim and shot again. This fella(refuse to call him a man) went to this confrontation with a weapon and that’s intent. Doesn’t make sense as to how he was set free. This is a slap into the face of all victims of crimes such as this. I reckon the scorned momma of the girl that was at the center of this ordeal will be set free as well. Shaking my head over this one…
O.M.G. are these people serious….HELLO the guy was shot 5 mind you 5 times how is that self defense…and yes he did have a good lawyer…this is just absolutely crazy….he went back there with a gun seriously SMDH
He took it to a jury of his peers; they found him NOT guilty. The system worked. End of story. Not an injustice; he took a gamble going to trial with a system where the State has almost endless resources to pursue a defendant and the accused usually has only him/herself and their attorney.
I remember when this story was first reported. This verdict is truly shocking. How can a jury come to this conclusion? The mother should not have gotten involved in her grown daughter’s affair in the first place, much less bring back-up to the confrontation. Wow! I hope this duo don’t show up at someone else’s house and kill the homeowner because he is pulling out a phone trying to call police.
This is shocking! (And he looks NOTHING like this in the picture of him at the trial. He cleaned up good for his trial) How in the world could a jury find him not guilty. I guess if they let Casey Anthony walk, I should not be surprised at anything. What an injustice.
must have had a good attorney.