PANAMA CITY — A jury has been seated in the trial of a Panama City Beach man accused of shooting at two customers after a drug deal turned sour.
But as trial was imminent Monday, 29-year-old Sonny Eric Pierce requested his cellphone records be withheld from the jury’s scrutiny, according to court records.
Pierce, of Panama City Beach, is facing charges of attempted second-degree murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle, discharging a firearm in public and aggravated assault with a firearm after allegedly shooting into a car during a drug deal gone wrong in June 2013. One of the potential customers was hit in the hand and chest, according to arrest records. The other passenger was uninjured following the incident.
Pierce’s trial will continue Tuesday after Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark Jr. decided jurors will not hear cellphone records leading to the shooting. Pierce claimed the records were taken in a violation of his 4th Amendment right; his attorney argued officers did not have probable cause when they searched his phone following the shooting.
“At no point prior to the warrantless search of (Pierce’s) cellphone did law enforcement procure or attempt to procure a search the warrant,” the motion to suppress the evidence indicated.
Police argued the cellphone was used to arrange the drug deal that led to the shooting, and they had probable cause to search the phone. Four days after the shooting, they received a search warrant.
Clark held that those records will be suppressed during the trial, in which two men say Pierce pulled a gun on them during a drug deal.
Jeramy Ducharme and David Simmons claimed they met with Pierce at the Home Depot, 409 E. 23rd St., to make a drug deal.
All three met in Pierce’s car and, as they began to negotiate a marijuana deal, Pierce allegedly pulled a pistol. Both Ducharme and Simmons fled the vehicle and got back in their car. As they started to drive off, Pierce stood in front of the car and fired once through the front windshield, hitting Ducharme in the hand and chest. Ducharme continued to drive off when Pierce fired a second round into the driver’s door, police said.
Ducharme survived the shooting, and Simmons escaped without injury.
Pierce also is facing a second count of discharging a firearm in public, charges of possessing a firearm while committing a felony, use of a two-way device to commit a felony, possession of paraphernalia and possession of marijuana with intent to sell.
Those charges will be discussed during a pretrial conference also scheduled for Tuesday. Pierce has been released on his own recognizance.