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Thread: Dacoby Wooten Sentenced to LWOP in 2015 FL Slaying of Dav’Neisha Bryant

  1. #1
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    Dacoby Wooten Sentenced to LWOP in 2015 FL Slaying of Dav’Neisha Bryant


    Dav'Neisha Bryant





    Death penalty trial begins for man arrested in 2015 domestic homicide


    By Hannah Winston
    Palm Beach Post

    WEST PALM BEACH - Dacoby Wooten told the mother of his two children, Dav’Neisha Bryant, and her family what he was going to do.

    In the weeks leading up to the fatal shooting of the 24-year-old woman he had known since middle school, Wooten’s text messages escalated in intensity each time she refused to answer.

    “Stop trying to play hard. Just ask yourself do I really want to cause my parents that much pain? Do I want them to have to bury me?”

    In some he said he’d wait outside her apartment and follow her to work. In others he said he can’t wait to hear her beg for him not to do it, Assistant State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts said to the jury Thursday afternoon, reading from Wooten’s texts to Bryant.

    “I want you to show these messages to the police because I’m going to do it to you,” McRoberts said. “This is not a threat. It’s a promise.”

    The 14-person jury heard opening statements in the first-degree murder trial of Wooten, 29, after five days of jury selection in the death penalty case. If convicted, the jury will decide if he should be sentenced to life in prison or be sentenced to death.

    Public Defender Carey Haughwout, who represents Wooten alongside Assistant Public Defenders Scott Pribble and Courtney Wilson, said the threatening texts are not all of the communication between Wooten and Bryant before she was killed.

    She told the jury of six men and eight women that the texts were childish and demanding at times. Then the next day there would be a “Good morning, dear. How are the kids?”

    There would be times Bryant picked up the phone and they had lengthy conversations, and other times when she’d ignore him and Wooten would start sending threatening texts, she said.

    “It would be hateful and mean, then loving and caring,” Haughwout said.

    She said when he was waiting in her apartment during the early morning hours of Nov. 23, 2015, he wasn’t “lying in wait to kill her. He’s lying in wait to talk to her.”

    Investigators and prosecutors say otherwise.

    On that day, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office investigators said Bryant and her mother, Sharon, drove to her apartment in Belle Glade to pick up some clothing before they both went to work. Sharon Bryant waited in the car as her daughter went upstairs. Realizing several minutes had passed, she went to see if her daughter was OK.

    Inside the apartment she found Dav’Neisha Bryant and Wooten with a gun in hand.

    For several minutes she pleaded with Wooten to let her daughter go or to take her instead.

    “I have nothing to lose. I told you I was going to do it,” Sharon Bryant told investigators Wooten said to her before he shot her daughter.

    Eventually, Wooten shot Dav’Neisha Bryant twice in the back, and prosecutors say her mother dodged a bullet from Wooten as she fell down the stairs out of the apartment. As she stayed on scene with investigators, Wooten fled.

    He later was tracked to a residence in Fort Pierce, hiding in a closet with a gun in his mouth. McRoberts said it was the same weapon used to kill Dav’Neisha Bryant.

    Haughwout told the jury her client was immature and unrealistic. As Bryant wanted to end things with Wooten, he lost his job, and Haughwout said he was hoping he could at least keep his family together.

    Was the shooting premeditated as prosecutors claimed, or was it a desperate frenzy of emotions as Wooten was trying to keep his life together?

    “By the end of this case, you will have no doubt that Dacoby Wooten shot and killed Dav’Neisha Bryant,” Haughwout said. “The question for you is to look at the evidence carefully ( ... ) and determine whether he had the premeditated intent to do so.”

    Wooten’s case garnered attention after search warrants revealed sheriff's office deputies and U.S. Marshals got approval to use a secret cellphone tracking device, called Stingray, to locate him at the Fort Pierce residence. The devices mimics cell towers to intercept information from an individual’s phone and in doing so, those nearby.

    Wooten’s case is the second death penalty case to go to trial this year after Christopher Vasata, who was also represented by Haughwout and Pribble. He was found guilty in the 2017 Jupiter triple murder, but a jury spared him the death penalty on June 27.

    The last person to be sentenced to death in Palm Beach County was John J. Chamberlain in 2002. Later, he was re-sentenced to life in prison.

    https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/2...estic-homicide
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #2
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    Mother testifies about watching man kill daughter in 2015 death penalty case

    By Hannah Winston
    Palm Beach Post

    WEST PALM BEACH — After repeatedly pleading with Dacoby Wooten not to shoot her daughter and yelling for others in the Belle Glade apartment complex to call 911, Sharon Bryant said that’s when she heard the sirens. She looked at the father of two of her grandchildren and he looked at her, gun in hand.

    She told him not to do it.

    “I have to do it,” Sharon Bryant remembered Wooten telling her during the early morning hours of Nov. 23, 2015.

    In court Friday, she paused for a moment to collect herself and wipe away tears. Those in the crowd shared tissues as they listened to her testimony.

    She told the 14 jurors she tried to push Dav’Neisha Bryant through the door to get her to safety, but the 24-year-old woman was shot twice in the back.

    Then, Sharon Bryant said, Wooten turned the gun to her.

    “That’s when he said he was going to kill me, too,” she said.

    Bryant testified Friday afternoon in Wooten’s first-degree murder trial before Circuit Judge Cheryl Carracuzzo. If convicted, the jury will decide if the 29-year-old should be sentenced to life in prison or death. Wooten also faces charges of attempted murder and burglary.

    Investigators said Wooten fatally shot Dav’Neisha Bryant, the mother of two of his children, then attempted to kill her mother.

    Sharon Bryant testified Friday that when Wooten pointed the gun at her and fired, she fell backward down the stairs of the apartment complex, and he ran down the other set of stairs out the back.

    Wooten later was found hiding in the closet of a Fort Pierce residence with a gun in his mouth. Prosecutors said it was the same gun used to kill Dav’Neisha Bryant. Search warrants revealed sheriff’s office deputies and U.S. Marshals got approval to use a secret cellphone tracking device, called Stingray, to find him days after the fatal shooting.

    Both Public Defender Carey Haughwout and Assistant State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts asked Sharon Bryant on Friday asked about the tumultuous relationship between Wooten and Dav’Neisha Bryant.

    “Really, from the beginning, it was a really rocky relationship,” Haughwout said.

    “Yes,” Sharon Bryant agreed

    She explained there were death threats to her daughter and family, text messages saying he was watching them. Then other times her daughter and Wooten tried to live together as a family and, as Haughwout brought up, the pair had matching tattoos on their hands in early 2015. But, Sharon Bryant said, her daughter was done with Wooten by the end of that year.

    “She said she didn’t want to go back with him because of the domestic violence. Because he would constantly beat on her,” Sharon Bryant said.

    After the statement, Caracuzzo instructed the jury to disregard anything said about prior domestic violence incidents between the couple. Wooten previously was arrested several times for domestic violence and then stalking Bryant just weeks before the fatal shooting, court records show. At a pretrial hearing, Caracuzzo ruled none of Wooten’s prior arrests or court cases would be admissible.

    https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/2...h-penalty-case
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #3
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    Jury begins deliberating case of man charged with killing ex-girlfriend

    By Niala Charles
    CBS 12 News

    BELLE GLAD, Fla. (CBS12) — A jury is now deliberating whether a man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend will be convicted of murder.

    Update:

    - Guilty of 1st degree murder of Dav’niesha Bryant
    - Guilty of attempted 2nd degree murder of Dav’niesha’s Mother Sharon Bryant
    - Guilty of burglary

    Dav’niesha Bryant, a mother of two, killed at just 24 years-old.

    Dacoby Wooten, the father of her children, now in court facing charges for her murder, four years later.

    It started with Wooten admitting guilt, telling the judge that he agreed with his defense, that he killed Dav’niesha.

    They argued it was a crime of passion.

    Prosecutors argued it was pre-meditated.

    Prosecutors said Wooten broke into Dav’niesha’s apartment in November of 2015, he was acting on a threat he made for years that he would kill her and her mother.

    In closing arguments, Prosecutors said, “he said in texts I’m going to kill you and I’m going to kill your Mother.”

    According to the police report, he shot and killed Dav’niesha , missed when he shot at her mother, Sharon Bryant, then ran away.

    Her mother bravely took the stand as a witness.

    “I told him I would tell Dav’niesha to take her back so he wouldn’t shoot her,” she said Friday.

    In court, Bryant testified that Wooten was upset that her daughter didn’t want to be with him.

    During the trial, the Prosecution read the threats he made.

    They say one said, “I want you to show these messages to the police because I’m going to do it to you. And that’s not a threat it’s a promise.”

    The jury began deliberating Wednesday morning.

    The jury has the choice of convicting Wooten of first-degree murder, second degree murder, manslaughter or excusable homicide, or acquit him of the charges.

    They will also have to decide whether Wooten tried to kill Dav’niesha’s mother.

    https://cbs12.com/news/local/jury-to...-ex-girlfriend
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #4
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    Seeking death penalty, prosecutors call local woman's murder heinous, cruel

    By Chuck Weber
    CBS 12 News

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — Prosecutors on Monday called a local woman’s murder heinous and cruel, and asked the jury to approve the death penalty.

    The defense sought to spare killer’s life.

    Wearing purple shirts, the family of Dav’Neisha Bryant sat in court as a jury heard arguments and evidence as to why the young woman’s killer, Dacoby Wooten, should or should not get the death penalty.

    With Bryant’s father on the witness stand, prosecutor Aleathea McRoberts read a statement written by Bryant’s sister on behalf of the family.

    “As her life and dreams were cut short, and her children’s lives have been changed forever, our family still struggles,” the statement read.

    Moments earlier, prosecutor McRoberts cited four aggravating factors she said warranted the death penalty for Wooten.

    Last week, the same panel of jurors convicted Wooten of first-degree murder in the killing of his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his children. The jury also found Wooten guilty of shooting at and trying to kill Sharon Bryant, Dav'Neisha’s mother.

    The crimes took place in 2015 in Belle Glade.

    McRoberts pointed out Wooten had been threatening to kill Dav’Neisha for months. And after Wooten entered Dav’Neisha’s apartment, the prosecutor said he toyed with her for 20 minutes and ignored her mother’s pleas for mercy, essentially torture, making the crime cruel and heinous.

    But public defender Carey Haughwout told jurors how Wooten grew up in a challenged community without his father in his life. Wooten fell in love with Dav’Neisha Bryant in high school and they became young parents.

    “And Dacoby, at age 17?” Haughwout asked of Wooten’s aunt, Joann Rivers.

    “Very proud father,” testified Rivers, adding Wooten loved his kids and Dav’Neisha Bryant too, but their young love was full of ups and downs.

    Haughwout said Wooten was in a troubled emotional state at the time of the killing. Not only was Dav’Neisha Bryant moving on to another relationship, Wooten had just lost his job and was still suffering from the death of a young cousin to cancer a year earlier.

    One of Wooten's cousins, RaShaldo Martin, repeatedly fought tears as he told jurors about Wooten’s athletic ability as a high school football standout and how he served as a positive influence in his life.

    Under state law, the jury must make a unanimous recommendation for the death penalty to be imposed. Otherwise, Wooten gets life with no chance of release.

    The process is expected to wrap up Tuesday.

    https://cbs12.com/news/local/seeking...-heinous-cruel
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #5
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Jury recommends life in prison for man convicted of killing ex-girlfriend

    By Niala Charles
    CBS 12 News

    BELLE GLADE, Fla. (CBS12) — A jury rejected the death penalty for the man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend.

    The sentencing phase came to a conclusion on Tuesday for Dacoby Wooten, of Belle Glade, when the jury recommended life in prison.

    Wooten was convicted in the shooting death of Dav’niesha Bryant in 2015, he also tried to kill her mother, who survived.

    Today Wooten’s family asked jurors to spare his life in the sentencing phase of his trial.

    On Monday, Bryant’s family gave their testimony describing why they feel Bryant should get the harshest punishment.

    https://cbs12.com/news/local/sentenc...-ex-girlfriend
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #6
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    Man gets life for killing woman he repeatedly threatened

    AP

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his on-again, off-again girlfriend.

    The Sun Sentinel reports 29-year-old Dacoby Reshard Wooten was sentenced Tuesday for the first-degree murder of 24-year-old Dav’Neisha Bryant in 2015. Prosecutors say Bryant ended the couple’s tumultuous relationship just before Wooten kicked in her apartment door and waited for her with a loaded pistol. She was gunned down in front of her mother.

    Prosecutor Terri Skiles said Bryant “knew what was coming,” as Wooten had been texting her threats, including an apparent refence to Stephen King’s “The Shining” and a promise to make Bryant beg for her life. Wooten’s public defender, Carey Haughwout, argued the threats were Wooten’s way of saying “I can’t deal with not having you in my life.”

    https://apnews.com/2cf4d3cd956e412f8633b584d68edad4

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