JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The state will pursue the death penalty in the case of Patrick McDowell, a man accused of fatally shooting a Nassau County Sheriff's Office deputy in late September, according to the State Attorney's Office.
A grand jury indicted Patrick McDowell, 35, for first-degree murder Friday. He is also charged with one count of injuring or killing a police dog and eight counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.
McDowell was the subject of a five-day-long manhunt after allegedly shooting Deputy Joshua Moyers twice, in the face and the back, during a traffic stop. Moyers later died in the hospital.
He was booked into the Nassau County Jail on Sept. 28. and has since been transferred to the Duval County jail.
McDowell has already been assigned a public defender, and his next court date is Oct. 21 for arraignment. He was not given a bond.
"The handcuffs that we put on him were Deputy Moyers'," Sheriff Bill Leeper said during a news briefing Tuesday afternoon describing McDowell's arrest. He said he wished McDowell had given police the opportunity to shoot him and described him as a coward.
Deputy Joshua Moyers's organs were donated to those in need.
The Nassau County Sheriff's Office shared an update on the organ donation on its Facebook page Wednesday. Moyers' organs went to five people, including a 29-week-old baby, the post says.
"The organs donated include: a liver, pancreas, both lungs given to two different people and a kidney," the post reads. "A hero even after death."