JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man is being sentenced Friday morning for fatally shooting a Daytona Beach police officer in 2021. A Clay County jury found Othal Wallace, 31, guilty of manslaughter in September for killing Jason Raynor.
Wallace was found guilty of manslaughter and not guilty of first-degree murder, in which prosecutors had been seeking. Therefore, there will be no penalty phase in the death case as the Florida State Attorney’s Office sought the death penalty for Wallace.
*You can watch the sentencing in the above video player or in the YouTube video below.*
Wallace shot and killed Raynor in the head during a June 23, 2021, confrontation behind Wallace’s apartment. Around 9 p.m. on the day of the shooting, Raynor who was 26, responded to a suspicious incident near Kingston Avenue in Daytona Beach, police reported. It was during this call that Raynor approached Wallace’s vehicle and then the confrontation started in which details of that are unknown.
The trial was moved to Clay County in June because both sides agreed it would be difficult to pick an impartial jury in Volusia County as well as there being intense pretrial publicity.
