JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The man accused of killing a Nassau County deputy could face the death penalty. The state made that announcement Friday after a grand jury indicted Patrick McDowell for first-degree murder in the death of Deputy Joshua Moyers.
Two local experts weighed in on what happens in a death penalty case.
"For a capital case, or a death penalty case, it has to be something of the first degree, and in this case, murder in the first degree. It's premeditated murder," said Mark Baughman, First Coast News crime and safety expert.
McDowell is accused of shooting and killing Moyers during a September traffic stop.
"There's no specificity on time on premeditation," Baughman said. "It can be a moment in time where they make that decision that, 'I'm going to take this person's life,' and in this case, that's what McDowell did."
Baughman, who has 35 years in law enforcement, says premeditation can happen in just mere seconds.
"It has to be a thought, a period of a thought, and it can be as little as five seconds or two or three seconds," Baughman said. "It doesn't have to be something planned over a week or days."
Alan Chipperfield is an assistant public defender in Jacksonville and said in order to get a death sentence, the state has to prove an aggravating circumstance.
"That includes things such as having a prior conviction for a crime of violence; being in custody or under sentence during the time of the crime; a murder that's cold, calculated, and premeditation that is a higher level of premeditation," Chipperfield said.
Chipperfield said the defense can try to prove mitigating circumstances of why a defendant shouldn't get the death sentence.
"That's things like growing up in poverty, being abused as a child, being under the influence of another person, being high on drugs, being under some pressure to commit the crime," Chipperfield said.
Three hundred and five inmates are on death row in Florida. Ninety-nine have been executed in the state since 1976.
McDowell remains behind bars without bond. He's scheduled to be in court on October 21 for his plea arraignment, where he is expected to enter a plea.