Othal Wallace appears in a mugshot (left) and in an image taken at the time of his capture in Georgia (right) in connection with the killing for Officer Jason Raynor.
A Florida jury opted on Saturday to convict a cop killer of manslaughter as opposed to the higher charge of first-degree murder that would have carried a life prison sentence and the possibility of the death penalty — and a police chief and sheriff were not pleased about it.
Othal Wallace faces up to 30 years in prison for shooting to death Daytona Beach police Officer Jason Raynor in June 2021. But the punishment was not severe enough for Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young and Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
“The message I take away from this jury is that it’s open season on law enforcement,” said Chitwood, who once served as the Daytona Beach police chief, on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “A lesser charge of Manslaughter for the MURDER of Daytona Beach Police Officer Jason Raynor is a slap in the face of everyone who puts on a uniform.”
Raynor was patrolling the area on June 23, 2021, when he came across Wallace inside a vehicle.
“How’s it going?” Officer Raynor asked. “Do you live here?”
“What’s going on?” Wallace asked as he stepped out of his car.
Raynor incessantly asked Wallace to sit so he could talk to him.
“Come on, now,” Wallace asked. “Don’t do this. Why you asking me if I live here? What’s going on?”
Wallace appears to be the person saying “back up” and “stop” to Raynor.
A single gunshot rang out approximately 25 seconds after Raynor approached Wallace’s vehicle.
Othal Wallace (left) appears in court on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 18, 2021 in Volusia County, Fla.
The shooting set off a manhunt and Wallace was caught in a treehouse in Georgia on June 26, 2021, and was charged with first-degree murder. Raynor died from his injuries on Aug. 17, 2021.
Prosecutors said they were seeking the death penalty, but no longer have that option with the manslaughter conviction.
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Young said the verdict gave him a “deep sense of frustration and disappointment.”
“It is difficult to come to terms with a verdict that is not commensurate with the despicable crime that was committed or the loss that we and Jason’s loved ones have endured,” Young wrote in a press release. “Jason was a young man with a full life ahead of him and his life was senselessly cut short.”
My thoughts on the verdict pic.twitter.com/TwRVo7hpDI
— Chief Jakari Young (@ChiefJakari) September 17, 2023
Because of the pre-trial publicity, a judge granted a change of venue and the trial was moved about 80 miles away to Clay County. Jurors deliberated for about 15 hours over two days at the conclusion of the weeklong trial, Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV reported. Wallace’s attorneys argued Wallace shot Raynor in self-defense. They expressed relief after the verdict.
“We are unbelievably grateful for the jury’s work and consideration and rejection of an offense that would result in the death penalty. We still have a sentencing hearing we need to prepare for. We are going to prepare and fight just as hard as we did in this entire case,” attorney Tim Pribisco said, according to WFTV.
Raynor’s family rushed out of the courtroom in tears, WFTV reported.
A Facebook page which appeared to be connected to Wallace — and which the authorities said they had been “monitoring” — suggested that the defendant is also linked to the New Black Panther Party and the Huey P. Newton Gun Club Alabama Chapter, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported at the time. Newton founded the Black Panthers.
The three-acre property where Wallace was caught that contained two structures and a trailer in addition to the tree house.
Chitwood expressed his dismay that Wallace may walk free one day.
“His life may not matter to the jury, but it mattered to us,” Chitwood tweeted about Raynor. “My faith in the American jury has been shaken before. I have seen juries ignore video evidence and disregard victims. I have never been more disgusted by a verdict than I am today.”
Aaron Keller contributed to this report.
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