21 April 2026 :
April 20, 2026 - Florida. Jury recommends death for Johnny Calhoun
A Holmes County jury recommended 9-3 on April 17 afternoon that Johnny Mack “Skeeto” Calhoun be put to death for the 2010 kidnapping and murder of Mia Brown.
Chief Circuit Court Judge Christopher Patterson will set a sentencing date.
State Attorney Larry Basford and Prosecutor Peter Overstreet presented nearly 20 witnesses and evidence that the death penalty was the proper sentence. The victim was kidnapped, bound, gagged, and burned alive in her car in December 2010.
Calhoun was previously found guilty and sentenced to death in 2012, but his was one of many Florida cases sent back for new sentencings following a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Basford and Overstreet proved the murder met three aggravating factors required by law: it was committed during a kidnapping that facilitated the murder, it was particularly heinous, atrocious or cruel, and it was cold, calculated and premeditated. The jury unanimously agreed that all of the aggravating factors had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Sixteen family members and friends wrote victim impact letters describing how the murder affected their lives. The victim’s mother, father and three siblings addressed the jurors in person.
https://sa14.fl.gov/2026/04/20/jury-recommends-death-for-calhoun-by-9-3-vote/
