Patrick McDowell’s defense team makes final plea to keep him alive

YULEE, Fla. — Lawyers for the man who admits to killing a Nassau County deputy will make a final plea for mercy in front of a judge. A jury recommended Patrick McDowell be put to death.

He killed Deputy Joshua Moyers during a traffic stop in 2021.

Read: ‘What I did was cowardly:’ Patrick McDowell apologizes to family of Joshua Moyers, deputy he killed

Patrick McDowell said he wants to be sentenced to death, and while that was recommended by the jury, his attorneys are fighting to keep him off death row.

“For that, I shot him, and I left him there to die. I do not deserve to live a long life in a place full of people who praise and revere me as a cop killer,” said McDowell.

Action News Jax law and safety expert Dale Carson said a Spencer Hearing- what McDowell will be in tomorrow is necessary before the judge’s decision is made.

“Once it’s imposed, it’s irreversible. That’s why it takes so long for the death penalty in Florida to be put in the electric chair. It takes a long time,” said Carson.

McDowell was recommended death by an 11-1 vote.

Florida law only requires 8. A Spencer Hearing allows McDowell’s defense team to present more evidence in hopes the judge will not uphold a jury’s recommendation that McDowell be sentenced to death.

Carson said what makes this case unusual is McDowell has outwardly said he wants to be put to death which Carson said raises the decision to not give him what he wants.

“You should question the sanity of the individual who wants to be put to death. Many thought this was a ploy by the individual to convince the jury to not be put to death by saying kill me,” said Carson.

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