Prosecutors: Only a matter of time before Othal Wallace would kill a police officer

It was only a matter of time before Othal Wallace killed a law enforcement officer, a prosecutor told jurors during closing arguments in Wallace's trial for fatally shooting Daytona Beach police officer Jason Raynor.

And Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak said the time was two years ago, the place was Daytona Beach and the officer was Raynor who was just doing his job.

Wallace, 31, was charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Raynor on June 23, 2021. The 26-year-old Raynor remained hospitalized until his death on Aug. 17, 2021. If convicted, the state will seek the death penalty.

Jurors will begin deliberating the case Friday morning at the Clay County Courthouse in Green Cove Springs; the case was moved there due in part to the media attention the trial has received.

Wallace was sitting in his car behind a Daytona Beach apartment building when Raynor walked up and asked him if he lived there. Wallace responded with his own question about why Raynor was asking. Wallace got out of his car. Raynor told him several times to sit. The video became shaky as there was a brief struggle and Wallace shot Raynor.

Officer Raynor was 'just doing his job' the night he was killed

Urbanak said Wallace admitted he knew that Raynor, who was in full uniform and drove up in a marked police car, was a police officer.

Urbanak told jurors that Raynor received an email to be on the lookout for a gray Honda, which looked similar to the gray Honda Wallace was driving. The Honda Wallace was in, though, was not stolen.

Wallace also had a marijuana cigarette in his hand, Urbanak said.

He said there was nothing wrong with a police officer walking up to someone and talking to them.

“Officer Raynor was doing his job. He was in an area he was encouraged to patrol,” Urbanak said.

Urbanak said Wallace’s social media account show he had been thinking of killing police officers in the weeks before killing Raynor. He showed jurors a social media post that someday he would have pigs' blood on his boots.

Urbanak said jurors could find Wallace guilty of either premediated murder or felony murder. He said Wallace killed Raynor while committing the felony of resisting arrest with violence.

He said as soon as Wallace used his forearm to push Raynor he committed a felony.

“He admitted to knowingly and intentionally pushing Raynor with his forearm,” Urbanak said.

He said Wallace showed no fear.

“He was so fearless that he refused to sit down and aggressively engaged Raynor when he tried to call dispatch,” Urbanak said.

In his closing, defense attorney Tim Pribisco said Raynor was not acting on suspicion but on a whim. Pribisco argued that Wallace was not doing anything wrong and did not deserve to be detained by Raynor.

He said Raynor did not approach the car as if it was a stolen vehicle.

Defense said Wallace feared for his life

Pribisco said that if Raynor was not acting in "good faith" as a police officer and Wallace reasonably believed that the force against him was excessive then Wallace could use the amount of force he believed was necessary to defend himself, even deadly force.

He said Wallace was in fear for his life when he saw Raynor reaching for his waist.

Pribisco asked jurors how they thought Wallace felt when he was doing nothing wrong after visiting his kids and he was met by a person shining his light in his face and blocking his departure.

"The state would have you just ignore all that because Jason Raynor wore a uniform," he said.

“This man who the state claims has been lying in wait to kill a police officer calls him sir. How is that premeditation?” Pribisco asked.

Pribisco said that Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis questioned Wallace about why he didn’t sit down when Raynor told him to. But Pribisco said Wallace had the right to walk away.

He said that Wallace tried to get away three times and on the third attempt he saw Raynor going for his waist.

According to evidence and testimony, Raynor’s pistol was still holstered and still covered by a strap that was one of three actions he would have to take to unholster the weapon.

Pribisco said some jurors may be thinking that maybe Raynor did something wrong, but asked themselves if he deserved to die for that.

Pribisco said jurors should instead ask themselves something else.

“Was it reasonable for Jason Raynor to make Othal Wallace feel like he was going to die?” Pribisco asked.

In the state’s rebuttal portion of the closing argument, 7th State Attorney R.J. Larizza said the social media posts showed premeditation.

“The defendant posted he wanted to get pigs' blood on his hands and on his boots on June 7. On June 23 he shoots and kills Officer Raynor,” Larizza said.

Larizza said that Wallace had no legal right to shoot a Raynor.

“The law states you cannot resist a police officer with violence," Larizza said.

If Wallace felt his rights were violated then that's what courtrooms are for, Larizza said.

Larizza said Raynor was courteous to Wallace.

Said Larizza: "He gave he defendant the benefit of the doubt and the defendant gave him a bullet in the head."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Closing arguments conclude in accused cop killer Othal Wallace's trial