'Find a way': Man who orchestrated deadly home invasion with 3 people who all quickly turned against him learns his fate

A Florida antheral who was down a home invasion that resulted successful a 20-year-old pistillate being fatally shot volition walk the remainder of his beingness successful prison.

Patrick Watson, 52, was convicted by a assemblage successful Alachua County connected Tuesday and sentenced to beingness successful situation without the anticipation of parole for his relation successful a location penetration that led to the shooting decease of 20-year-old D'halani Armstrong.

According to courtroom reporting by section ABC affiliate WCJB, prosecutors said that Watson hired 3 men and provided them with weapons, money, and drugs, arsenic good arsenic accusation astir his target, and told them, "Find a way." Before the men showed up astatine the victim's location successful Gainesville, Florida, connected July 19, 2022, Watson promised them each their ain stock of what they walked distant with.

During the trial, the assemblage heard grounds from the 3 radical Watson hired to transportation retired the location invasion. All of them took plea deals and were sentenced for their engagement successful the deadly crime. Watson was charged with first-degree murder, equipped location invasion, solicitation to perpetrate equipped burglary, and felony possession of a weapon. He was convicted connected each charge.

According to tribunal documents obtained by WCJB, Tiara Luckie drove Alderious White and Jason Ward to the Gainesville location and stayed successful the car while the 2 men broke in. The archetypal idiosyncratic they encountered was Armstrong, who was instantly changeable by White. The homeowner, Armstrong's uncle Dovico Miles, was held astatine gunpoint by Ward.

Miles was capable to get a clasp of the weapon and occurrence shots astatine White and Ward arsenic they fled the home. Both men were struck and had non-life-threatening wounds. Ward was capable to instrumentality to the car, and Luckie drove him away. White was arrested astatine the scene.

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Miles was initially charged with possession of a limb by a convicted felon, but those charges were dropped.

Luckie, Ward, and White each testified astatine Watson's trial, which the defence tried to reason was little than reliable. Watson's defence lawyer said during closing arguments that without their testimony, "they person perfectly nary grounds that my lawsuit engaged successful immoderate benignant of transgression conduct."

The jury, however, disagreed. The justice was besides not swayed, telling Watson portion handing him his beingness sentence, "It is my volition that you service the remainder of your beingness successful prison, and ne'er beryllium released until you die. And past your assemblage whitethorn beryllium removed from the Department of Corrections."