Boyette Search Shuts Down Kingsfield, Locks Down Ransom Middle School
February 8, 2017
As authorities were surrounding William Boyette and Mary Rice in a Georgia motel room Tuesday afternoon, authorities in Escambia County were surrounding an area on Kingsfield Road off Beulah Road.
Ransom Middle School, the largest in the county, was placed on a “code red” lockdown as a precaution, and extra deputies responded to protect the campus.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, including their mobile command unit and SWAT team, mobilized with other law enforcement agencies around the wooded area on Kingsfield Road. They knew about the developing situation in Georgia, but continued with their local search just in case until receiving confirmation that the deadly duo was apprehended in Georgia.
Once confirmation was received that Boyette had taken his own life and Rice had surrendered, authorities in Escambia County ended their days-long manhunt.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
IP Explosion: Command Team Cuts Daily Oversight
February 8, 2017
Since the day after the January 22 explosion at International Paper in Cantonment, a Unified Command team as met onsite at IP multiple times per day to develop, review and implement action plans. But those daily meetings are coming to an end.
The Unified Command Team has developed and approved the remediation plans that are currently being implemented by cleanup teams and have finalized the long-term monitoring plan that will continue for the next six months once active cleanup is complete.
Now, the team has implemented a 15-day plan with agency representatives transitioning back their normal jobs. The Unified Command Team is comprised of International Paper, Escambia County EMA/Public Safety, Florida Department of Health, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Unified Command Team will continue their collaborative oversight of remediation efforts and continue to provide guidance and technical expertise through daily communications and data reviews.
“International Paper remains committed to completing the remediation effort. We are not going anywhere. We are going to be here,”Mill Manager Brett DeJong said.
The next in-person Unified Command Team meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 22. The team is also ending daily updates provided to the media.
The Unified Command’s Joint Information Center (1-850-968-4208) will continue to be available for residents in the affected areas. Due to a progressive decrease in call volume, beginning today, live operators will now be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with voicemail available. Voicemail messages will be returned the next business day.
Of the approximately 150 homes identified as potentially being impacted by the uncident, about 90 percent have been partially or fully remediated.
All residents in the area impacted incident have been contacted or have had access forms left on the front door. A drop box has been left to receive the signed forms and a sign posted at the community entrance with an information phone number and location of the drop box.
Pictured top: The boots of cleanup team members are pressure washed as they leave Woodbury Circle in Cantonment. Pictured inset: A drop box on Woodbury Circle for providing signed forms to IP. Pictured below: Members of the Unified Command Team hold a press conference days after the Cantonment International Paper explosion. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
One Injured In Cantonment Three Vehicle Crash
February 8, 2017
One person was transported to an area hospital following a three vehicle crash Monday afternoon
The accident happened about 12:25 p.m. on North Highway 29 at Morris Road in Cantonment. At least three other people refused medical treatment at the scene.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
High School Basketball Playoffs, Final Scores
February 8, 2017
Here are playoff scores from around the area Tuesday night:
District 1-8A
(3) Navarre 48, (2) Gulf Breeze 45
(1) Niceville 68, (4) Tate 52
Niceville at Navarre, Friday, 7 p.m.
District 1-7A
(3) Pace 53, (6) Milton 36
(4) Pine Forest 65, Escambia 54
Pace at Pine Forest, Friday 7:30 p.m.
District 3-1A
(2) Baker 49, (3) South Walton 46
(1) Chipley, (4) Freeport *
*Freeport forfeited due to a medical emergency
Baker vs Chipley, Friday 7 p.m. at Freeport
No Serious Injuries In North Century Boulevard Wreck
February 8, 2017
There were no serious injuries in a two vehicle crash involving a car and 18-wheeler late Monday morning on North Century Boulevard at McCall Road. The car came to rest in a parking lot, while the truck came to a stop in the paved median of the highway. The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Prison Inmate From Escambia (AL) County Escapes
February 7, 2017
An Alabama prison work release inmate convicted in Escambia County (AL) escaped from custody Tuesday morning.
Winston David Howell, 36, escaped from the Mobile Work Release Center about 11:18 a.m. He was last seen wearing a camouflage jacket, colored shirt and dark pants. He is described as a white male, brown hair, brown eyes, 6-feet 1-inch tall and about 200 pounds.
Anyone that knows his whereabouts is asked to call their local law enforcement agency or 911.
Howell was convicted in Escambia County on May 24, 2016, for receiving stolen property first degree. He was sentenced to one year and seven months.
Howell was arrested in March 2016 after an Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Office deputy stopped with a pickup truck that sitting along Highway 21 north of Fountain Prison to see if the driver needed assistance. After deputies determined the truck had been reported stolen in Mobile, Howell fled in the vehicle.
The deputy gave chase south toward Atmore. Upon reaching the city limits, the driver turned back north on Highway 21. He eventually turned onto Wayside Road, about five miles north of I-65, and ran off the the roadway a few hundred feet into an open field. The deputy fired at the truck in order to disable it, according to Chief Deputy Mile Lambert.
There were no injuries, and no one was struck by the gunfire.
NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Triple Murderer’s Name, Social Media Causing Problems For Family, 60-Year Old Business
February 7, 2017
A local family says the massive manhunt for an accused triple murder suspect is harming the reputation of their business and their family thanks to erroneous social media posts.
The Boyett family has been a well-respected family in Escambia County for years, operating Boyett’s Septic Tank and Portable Toilets since 1957. The family name has always been spelled without an “e” on the end, unlike the last name of William “Billy” Boyette, which ends with an “e”.
“You would think people could see the difference right away with the spelling,” Logan Boyett said Monday afternoon. “There is no ‘e’ on the end of our name. We have no connection or ties to this horrible monster of person murdering people.”
But the spelling difference has not stopped posts across social media accusing the Boyett family of supporting and even aiding the murder suspect Boyette. Many posts have called for businesses to drop their contacts with the Boyett’s 60-year old company.
“It’s unbelievable what they have accused us of doing,” Debbie Boyett of Molino said. “We are not connected to this man in any way.”
IP Explosion Update: Info Center Cutting Hours
February 7, 2017
The cleanup following the January 22 explosion at the International Paper mill in Cantonment is continuing, and the Joint Information Center is set to cut hours.
About 200 cleanup personnel continue to work in the affected neighborhood, completing the majority of cleaning required at approximately 10 homes per day.
The Unified Command’s Joint Information Center (1-850-968-4208) as been available with a live representative 24/7 since shortly after the explosion. It will continue to be available for residents in the affected areas. But beginning Wednesday, live operators will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday with voicemail available after hour. Calls will be returned the next business day.
The Unified Command is comprised of International Paper, Escambia County EMA/Public Safety, Florida Department of Health, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Lawmakers Back Unanimous Juries In Death Cases
February 7, 2017
Florida juries would have to unanimously agree that defendants should be condemned to death for the sentence to be imposed, under a proposal given swift and overwhelming approval at its first Senate committee Monday.
But efforts to broaden the legislation to address other issues involved in a series of court rulings that prompted this year’s measure appear, at least for now, to be doomed.
Proposals to require unanimous jury recommendations, backed by leaders in the House and Senate, come as Florida’s death penalty has been on hold for more than a year as a result of a key U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in a case known as Hurst v. Florida, in January 2016.
The 8-1 decision, based in part on a 2002 ruling in a case known as Ring v. Arizona, struck down as unconstitutional Florida’s death penalty sentencing system because it gave too much power to judges, instead of juries.
Florida lawmakers hurriedly rewrote the statute last year, requiring jurors to unanimously find that at least one aggravating factor exists before a defendant can be eligible for a death sentence and requiring at least 10 jurors to recommend death for the sentence to be imposed. The Supreme Court ruling and the subsequent legislation dealt with the sentencing phase of cases, after juries have unanimously found defendants guilty of crimes.
During debate on the sentencing issue last year, defense lawyers repeatedly warned that the 10-2 jury recommendation — pushed by prosecutors — kept the state’s death penalty law at risk because it made Florida, one of only three states that then did not require unanimous recommendations, a national “outlier.”
The Florida Supreme Court last fall struck down the new statute, finding that part of the new law was unconstitutional because it did not require unanimous recommendations for death sentences.
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Monday unanimously approved a measure (SB 280), sponsored by committee Chairman Randolph Bracy, aimed at fixing the flaw in the statute by requiring unanimous jury recommendations.
Bracy, an Orlando Democrat, said he had spoken with people on both sides of the issue about what he acknowledged is a controversial topic.
“The one thing that has been consistent is that people have told me that the death penalty should be a last resort … and the crime should be worthy of death,” he said. “I think we’re getting a lot closer to that.”
But defense lawyers cautioned that, even while they support the unanimity requirement, the state law is still flawed without additional changes.
“Let me stress this is a first step, not a final solution,” 10th Judicial Circuit Public Defender Rex Dimmig told the panel Monday.
The proposal fixes the problems regarding the Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury, Dimmig said, but “it does not mean that our procedures will be constitutional in the future.”
Florida law requires juries to make recommendations about death sentences after weighing aggravating factors, laid out in statute, and mitigating circumstances. But Florida law identifies at least 16 aggravating factors, including whether a defendant is a member of a gang, that make defendants eligible for the death penalty.
But courts have long determined that the death penalty should be reserved for the “worst of the worst” defendants, and Florida’s long list of aggravators means the state law isn’t narrow enough, Dimmig and other lawyers — including some members of the Florida Supreme Court — have argued.
Sen. Jeff Clemens warned his colleagues on the panel that the Legislature could once again find itself in the position of having to deal with an unconstitutional death penalty law if the aggravating factors aren’t addressed.
Lawmakers “knew what was going to happen” when they failed to require unanimous jury recommendations last year, the Lake Worth Democrat said.
Last year’s law requiring at least 10 jurors to recommend death was considered a compromise between House and Senate leaders. The Senate wanted unanimous jury recommendations, while the House backed a proposal pushed by prosecutors that would have required at least nine jurors to recommend death.
“I’m making that prediction right now that we’ll be back here again,” Clemens said. “We do just enough each year to make us feel good and then we have to come back and redo it again.”
Dimmig said he would be “absolutely shocked” if the U.S. Supreme Court “do(es) not find our death penalty overly broad based on the number of aggravators we have.”
Lawmakers also appear unwilling to deal with an issue known as “retroactivity,” in the wake of a controversial Florida court decision that requiring unanimous jury recommendations would apply to defendants whose cases were finalized after the 2002 decision in the Ring case.
Bracy had sponsored an amendment that would have allowed Death Row inmates whose cases were finalized before 2002 to seek new sentencing hearings.
Not allowing those inmates to have new hearings “will result in a miscarriage of justice,” said the amendment, which Bracy withdrew without comment.
“I didn’t have the votes to pass it,” Bracy told reporters after the meeting. “To save time, to save money, I thought why not just be proactive. It’s something I think we should do. It’s just a matter of if it’s something the rest of the Legislature thinks we should do.”
Even without the change proposed by Bracy, more than half of the state’s 396 Death Row inmates could be eligible for new sentencing hearings, a cost Dimmig estimated could be in excess of $200 million.
“It’s going to literally swamp the courts for years to come,” he said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Brick Sale Continues For Century High School Monument
February 7, 2017
Despite lackluster sales so far, plans are moving forward for a brick monument at the site of the old Century High School.
Engraved bricks are being sold at $50 each to be placed around a 1936 monument and flagpole salvaged from the former school, which was demolished due to tornado damage. In total, about 3,o00 bricks were saved from the school building for the project. The $50 covers the cost of engraving the brick and construction of the monument; there is no profit made.
Century Bricks and Monument Committee member Regi Burkett told members of the Century Town Council that final drawings depicting the monument are almost ready, and he said he expects brick sales to soar once the plans are available.
The committee is also applying for a historical grant to help fund the project, which Burkett said he hopes to see completed within two years.
Each brick can be engraved with up to three lines of text with up to 20 characters per line To print an order form, visit CenturyHighBricks.com or pick up an order form at the Century Town Hall.
Pictured top: A sample engraved Century High School brick. Pictured inset: A 1936 monument salvaged from the former school will be in the center of the monument. Pictured below: A conceptual drawing of the monument. NorthEscambia.com photos/images, click to enlarge.
