News Cast for February 6th:
Convicted killer gets new sentence
The results will be the same for Danny Payne, instead of life in prison, he will serve 60 years, and will likely die in prison.
Payne was convicted by an Okeechobee jury of third degree murder, shooting a deadly missile into a residence and aggravated assault with a firearm.
The shot killed Stacy Tyson on December 22, 2020.
Payne scored 234 months in jail.
The defense argued Payne did not mean to shoot Tyson and was rather upset at a man he found sleeping in a bed with a female he liked in his home. Tyson had walked down the hall to try and calm Payne down. Payne fired a round, it went through a wall or door, and struck Tyson in the leg.
Prosecutor Brian Workman called this outrageous and dangerous conduct.
“Everyone else in the home was running for their life. Danny Payne was the one with the gun, the one waving it around, and the one that fired it.”
Defense attorney Jeff Fadley questioned the validity of witnesses at the trial due to drug use.
He said some witnesses admitted that they didn’t understand why the state attorney called them to testify because they were under the influence of narcotics when the incident occurred.
Loretta Graves said her brother was wrongfully convicted and portrayed. She said her brother tried to save Tyson and was remorseful at losing his friend of 30 years.
Payne was non adjudicated after his arrest on charges related to another weapons incident in 2017 when he was armed with a rifle and fired several rounds and also made verbal threats to deputies.
More money for broadband expansion in rural Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis awarded $223 million to fund 54 projects, many in rural areas.
Locally, $4.8 million will be spent to add 14.4 miles of fiber optic cable in Kissimmee River Estates and the Kissimmee River Fishing Resort to serve unserved and underserved locations.
Alex Kelly with the Department of Commerce said these grants will help Florida families as they apply for jobs, take online high school college courses, or even order food from restaurants or grocery stores.
Clean air activists south of Lake Okeechobee want more notifications to the public when sugar cane is being burned.
Liz Torres asked the Pahokee commission to support having the Palm Beach County health department issue health advisories when cane is being burned.
Torres noted the notice would be similar to ones they do when there are algae blooms and toxic water detected in local waterways including Lake Okeechobee.
The Buckhead Ridge Community Volunteer Fire Company wants Glades County to return a 1987 pumper truck that is poor condition. They’d like it restored to the condition it was in 1996 when the county took it from the department.
The truck is currently not in use and its is not known how much it would cost to restore the truck.