Feds reach deal with MS Coast deputy in student’s death. Will he now avoid prosecution?
.jpeg "A home in Kiln where Florida college student Isaiah Winkley was shot and killed by Hancock County Sheriff’s Deputies responding to a burglary call at the property.")
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Federal prosecutors have agreed to forgo criminal charges against a former Mississippi Coast sheriff’s deputy for shooting and killing a Florida college student, records obtained by the Sun Herald show.
In exchange, Hancock County Sheriff’s K-9 Deputy Michael Chase Blackwell has agreed to surrender his law enforcement license and certification, and to never serve again as a law enforcement officer anywhere in the United States, according to the records.
The unusual no prosecution agreement, also used in cases against Bill Cosby and Jeffrey Epstein, also stipulates it will have no bearing on the state’s criminal investigation into the Dec. 10, 2022, shooting death of Isaiah Winkley. The 21-year-old senior at Pensacola Christian College was unarmed at the time of his death, according to court papers.
An attorney representing Winkley’s family alleges in a wrongful death lawsuit that Blackwell shot the young man “without provocation, warning or justification.”
Blackwell shot and killed Winkley after the deputy, his K-9 Dark, and two other Hancock County sheriff’s deputies, Lt. Christopher Dunn Sholar and Deputy Laura “Lauralyn” Yager, responded to a report of a burglary in progress at a vacant home in rural Hancock County.
Blackwell had his K-9 tied to a 30-foot line and was standing at least 8 feet away when he fired four rounds at Winkley, according to his statement. He said he shot Winkley because he feared for his life and the lives of the two other deputies. He never unleashed his police K-9 on Winkley.
Attorney Lance Stevens is representing Winkley’s parents, the Rev. Dwight Winkley and his wife, Catherine, in a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court in Gulfport against Blackwell, Hancock County Sheriff Ricky Adam and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department.
The Winkleys believe their son died as a result of criminal wrongdoing.
On Monday, Stevens learned the details of the federal deal from prominent Department of Justice civil rights attorney Christopher J. Perras, the records say.
Perras is among those who prosecuted five Rankin County’s sheriff’s deputies and one narcotics investigator from the Richland Police Department for torturing and abusing two Black men. Three of the defendants in that case also pleaded guilty to federal charges in an unrelated attack on a white man.
A day after Perras shared the details of the NPA agreement with Stevens, the Jackson attorney delivered a freedom of information request to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Jackson to obtain a signed copy of the NPA deal. He addressed the request to Perras, U.S. Attorney Todd Gee, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Buckner.
Stevens wants the deal made public.
‘No question it’s a homicide’
Since the fatal shooting, Stevens has viewed all police reports, call logs and camera footage of the shooting and calls what he saw happen to Winkley “a homicide.”
“There’s no question it’s a homicide,” Stevens said. “The family wants everybody to see the videos, so they know that the unarmed Isaiah never advanced on any officer an inch and that Isaiah never said one word or did one thing threatening to the three officers who were screaming profanities with weapons drawn and a police dog at the ready.”
At the time of his shooting, Stevens said, Winkley didn’t have a shirt on, had a tall bottle of Mentos candy in one hand, and appeared to be using a 6-foot metal T-post used for fencing to help balance himself after deputies twice stunned him with a Taser.
Blackwell said he wasn’t sure if Winkely had a gun because the 911 caller said his cousin owned the home and had a lot of guns there.
In addition, Blackwell claims he didn’t unleash his K-9 to try to capture Winkley because he was trained not to send a police dog into a “deadly” encounter.
Sean Tindell, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety commissioner, said the results of the state’s criminal investigation into the shooting have been turned over to Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office to present to a Hancock County grand jury.
A grand jury is made up of a group of randomly selected residents charged with hearing evidence from prosecutors to determine if there is evidence of a crime.
Stevens has little faith in the state pursuing criminal charges in the case because of the NPA agreement.
High profile attorney weighs in, doubts further prosecution
Longtime Gulfport attorney Joe Sam Owen, who frequently represents clients in high-profile criminal cases in federal court, said he has serious reservations about whether the state investigation will result in any criminal prosecution because of the NPA agreement.
“The officer was represented by counsel during the negotiations/discussion with DOJ which could create speculation that no formal criminal prosecution may ensue, although the reservation provision in the agreement provides that the Mississippi attorney general may continue its criminal investigation,” Owen said.
Owen sees no reason a suspect would sign an agreement with federal prosecutors when state charges could be filed.
“In other words,” he said, “I wouldn’t enter into something like that unless I have a comfort level about what the benefit is to my client.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2024 at 12:51 PM.
