Ocala courts: Judges sentence four men to prison in separate felony cases
Four men facing felony charges were sentenced to prison during recent hearings at the Marion County Judicial Center.
State v. John Robert McDowell
John Robert McDowell was sentenced by Circuit Judge Lisa Herndon to 15 years in prison. Earlier this year, he was found guilty at trial of 20 counts of possession of child pornography.
McDowell, of Summerfield, was designated as a sexual offender. He has credit for 1,846 days already served at the Marion County Jail, records indicate.
State Attorney's Office: My Turn: Habitual offenders belong behind bars
Hearing: Jail, and treatment, for Ocala man accused of stealing to buy drugs
Federal: Dunnellon man charged with hate crime in Ocala church fire
At his trial, which lasted a day, jurors deliberated for 20 minutes before returning a guilty verdict.
The Summerfield man was arrested in 2017 after law enforcement officials said they found screenshots of child porn on his phone.
At the time of his arrest, the now 45-year-old man denied having the illicit images on his phone.
State v. David Wilson
Circuit Judge Robert Hodges sentenced David Wilson to 15 years in prison for attempted murder with a deadly weapon and resist/obstruct an officer without violence, court documents show.
Wilson had already pleaded no contest to the charges on Oct. 31.
The convicted felon was arrested in 2019 by Ocala police officers for stabbing a then 44-year-old woman at an Ocala residence.
Police were told Wilson and the victim were arguing when she was stabbed. The 51-year-old Ocala man was found and taken into custody.
State v. Brandon Dwayne Hayley
Circuit Judge Pete Brigham sentenced Brandon Dwayne Hayley to 10 years in prison and five years of probation for principal to aggravated battery great bodily harm and principal to robbery using a weapon. Court records show that both the probation and prison time are to be served at the same time.
Hayley pleaded no contest to the two offenses, along with several other charges. Prosecutors declined to move forward with the other charges against Hayley.
The 32-year-old Fort McCoy man has 823 days of credit for time served at the county jail.
Sheriff's deputies said Hayley and three others forcefully tattooed a racial slur on a man's neck at a Salt Springs residence in January 2019.
Deputies were told that the foursome wanted to cover another tattoo on the victim's neck. Law enforcement officials said the man's neck was tattooed with an expletive and then a racial slur, which was spelled incorrectly.
Two co-defendants, Lucian "Luke" Xavier Evans and Brett S. "Wolf" Singleton, have already been sentenced. The fourth, Mary "Beth" Elizabeth Durham, still has her case pending.
State v. Tyrell Gerard Kendrick
Brigham sentenced Tyrell Gerard Kendrick, a convicted felon, to 15 years in prison for several charges, including second-degree murder with a firearm.
Kendrick, 35, had pleaded no contest and has 1,741 days credit, court records show.
Ocala police officers in 2018 had charged the Ocala man with the shooting death of 20-year-old D’Andra T. Flythe after a fight at an Ocala apartment complex. Kendrick and two bystanders were injured during an exchange of gunfire, officers said.
Although Kendrick told officers he told the victim, he said he shot Flythe because he was fearful.
Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com or @almillerosb.
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Ocala, Florida judges sentence four men to prison in felony cases
