NASSAU COUNTY, FLORIDA, Fla. — Before closing arguments began Thursday in the penalty phase of the death penalty trial for a Nassau County cop killer, Patrick McDowell - the man who will soon learn his fate on whether he lives or dies, read a letter to the courtroom, saying he deserves to be put to death over receiving a life prison sentence.
The court session was supposed to begin at 8:30 a.m., but according to First Coast News, On Your Side's Renata Di Gregorio who is present, the session started late due to private conversations between attorneys and the fallen deputy's family members. The session didn't start until around 9:30 a.m.
"I have to make certain at this point in time that this decision by you in this request being made ... in a manner that it's an informed decision, it's voluntarily made without any coercion, you understand that?" the judge asked McDowell.
McDowell insisted, nodding his head yes, and agreed to take the stand. He said his attorneys were "very much against" it.
The death penalty trial for McDowell has been going on over the past two weeks. He confessed and pleaded guilty to killing Nassau County Sheriff's Deputy Joshua Moyers during a traffic stop in 2021.
In the letter, McDowell said "this is a plea for justice." He told the jury it made him sick to watch people try to excuse what he did, said he never once considered Moyers's life and just "killed him to get away," and testified that if someone murdered his loved one this way, he'd want them dead.
"I do not deserve to live a long life in a place full of people who will praise and revere me as a cop killer. I deserve what I gave him. He deserved better, but I do not. Let me be clear, this is not a plea for my life or for my death. This is a plea for justice for Deputy Moyers and his family," part of McDowell's letter reads.
While McDowell read the letter, his dad, who has been there for most of this penalty phase of the trial, wasn't in the courtroom. After he finished reading, Moyers's dad and a woman he has been sitting with throughout the phase, were seen wiping away tears.
When closing arguments began, prosecutors said in five minutes McDowell undid everything his defense presented to the jury over the last week.
A change in Florida law, which happened during the time McDowell was in jail, makes it so the state only requires eight jurors to recommend death.
Watch McDowell read his letter in the video below: