FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. — A jury has found a defendant guilty of premeditated first-degree murder in connection with a 2018 shooting death on Okaloosa Island, and the court immediately imposed a life sentence.
The verdict was returned on March 26, 2026, with Judge William Stone presiding over the trial and sentencing the defendant to life in the Florida Department of Corrections.
The charges stem from a June 24, 2018, incident on Nautilus Court, where deputies with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a downed person.
According to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, deputies arrived to find a blue van with its engine still running and a deceased man in the driver’s seat.
Investigators determined the victim had been shot multiple times.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.
Assistant State Attorney Robert Little prosecuted the case on behalf of State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden of the First Judicial Circuit.
