The Grand Jury reviewing the shooting death of James W. McGlothlin and the wounding of Roy Middleton by Escambia County deputies has returned No True Bills in both cases.
“This means that the Grand Jury has found insufficient evidence to establish that any criminal violations were committed,†said State Attorney Bill Eddins in a press release issued this morning.
The grand jury did issue five recommendations to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office:
1. Establish more focused and intensive training for the first four years of an officer’s career,
2. More mentoring of junior officers,
3. Recreate these situations for training purposes,
4. While the deputies acted properly in McGlothlin incident, other technological abilities should be made available, when SWAT isn’t available, and
5. In cases where medical care becomes necessary, both blood and urine samples should be available for additional testing.
Sheriff David Morgan did issue a response to the report. He thanked FDLE and the SAO for their assistance and for their thoroughness in this investigation. He also thanked the Grand Jury for their service to our community.
He explained that the ECSO, by policy, does not do the initial investigation of officer involved shootings to ensure transparency and to instill public confidence in the system.
Upon receipt of the FDLE report, he said, “We will begin our own internal investigation to review the Middleton incident for policy violations and/or areas we can improve upon. This investigation could take several months. The outcome of this internal investigation will be based on facts and law, just as the process has been to this point.â€
The deputies involved have been assigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of the internal investigation.
Sheriff Morgan added, “It is unfortunate that certain elements of the media and special interest groups used limited and, in some cases, false information in an attempt to galvanize public opinion before the legal process could sort through the facts.â€
Read Grand Jury Middleton and Escambia_County_Sheriff’s_Office_Statement_Concerning_Grand_Jury_Report