Sarasota murder trials delayed: New dates set for 3 cases

Four murder cases were expected to go to trial beginning on Aug. 21, however, three of them have been pushed to later dates with one now scheduled for February.

Two cases involving fatal shootings have been bumped back to go to trial this fall, while the third has been moved to go to trial next year, more than five years after the defendant was arrested in connection to a shooting down in North Port.

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Five months after William Tollard was scheduled to appear in court for trial, the 50-year-old’s case is now expected to go to trial on Aug. 21.

Tollard was arrested in October 2020 and charged with murder in the first degree after he was accused of shooting a woman at a Venice bank, according to previous Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporting and court records.

Witnesses said they saw Tollard walk up to a woman at a drive-thru of BB&T Bank in Venice and fired a handgun several times, before fleeing the parking lot. The specifics of who the victim is and the relationship between her and Tollard weren’t released due to Marsy’s Law.

Assistant State Attorney Karen Fraivillig, who is also the prosecutor in the other three cases, filed a notice on Tuesday announcing she plans on using Tollard’s 911 call made at 9:27 a.m. on the day of the shooting and his EMT records during the trial.

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Howard China Smith III, 25, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and armed robbery in connection to a 2018 killing.

Police were called to investigate a shooting on Jan. 20, 2018, and when they arrived found a 32-year-old victim with gunshot wounds to the back of his head and buttocks. The victim died of his injuries at Sarasota Memorial Hospital due to the gunshot to his head.

An anonymous tip identified Smith as the shooter and police confirmed the 9mm Luger shell casings found at the crime scene were all fired from the same gun which matched bullets recovered from Smith’s home during a search on an unrelated case.

A confidential source also told police they had overheard Smith say he tried to rob the victim and shot him, according to previous reporting.

According to a court document filed Wednesday, the trial was moved on grounds that Fraivillig already had a trial scheduled in August and the defense waived a speedy trial. Both sides are also still conducting discovery and depositions for trial.

Second case pushed to November for man connected to Ackerman Park shooting

Nyquan Priester, 22, was charged with second-degree murder, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and altering, destroying, or concealing physical evidence after he was arrested in January 2022 in connection to a shooting in Ackerman Park, which killed a bystander.

The shooting occurred just before 11 p.m. on Dec. 29, 2021, and according to witnesses, a group of roughly 50 people gathered at the park when several gunshots were fired from the backseat of a car.

One of the bullets hit a bystander in the back, and when paramedics arrived in a nearby parking lot where he was taken following the shooting, they pronounced him dead.

A second suspect in the shooting, Kalvion Turner, took a plea deal in August 2022 in which he agreed to testify against Priester in exchange for lesser charges and no prison time. Turner pleaded guilty to charges of giving false information to a law enforcement officer and obstruction, receiving 12 months probation for each count to run consecutively.

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Punta Gorda man’s trial pushed until February 2024

Juan Salazar Diaz, 25, of Punta Gorda, was expected to appear in court this month in connection to the shooting death of a 20-year-old from Port Charlotte.

Previous reporting by the Herald-Tribune indicated the victim may have been a transgender woman. Police identified the victim as Tyren Anthony Kinard, however, the victim’s gender on a Facebook account was listed as female, and the name on the account was listed as Londonn Moore.

The victim was found near Red Oak Road and Sawyer Circle in North Port on Sept. 8, 2018, according to previous Herald-Tribune reports. An investigation by North Port police revealed the victim’s last phone call was made to Salazar Diaz, who lived near where the victim’s car was later found with two bullet holes in the driver's door. DNA and fingerprint analysis further linked Salazar Diaz to the shooting.

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At the time, North Port police were “reticent to call the victim a transgender woman or attribute the murder to violence against a trans person,” but they were looking into any and all motives for the death.

Nathan Bruemmer, who was the executive director at the time of the local LGBTQ youth advocacy group ALSO Youth, said it was important to acknowledge that the victim was exploring gender identity in some way, according to previous reporting.

Gabriela Szymanowska covers the legal system for the Herald-Tribune in partnership with Report for America. You can support her work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America. Contact Gabriela Szymanowska at gszymanowska@gannett.com, or on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota court update: 3 murder trials postponed, 1 set for Aug. 21