Conviction upheld in death of woman, baby
NSF Staff report
An appeals court upheld the conviction of a man in a hit-and-run crash in Pensacola that killed a woman and a baby in 2018.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal rejected most of the arguments raised by attorneys for Markquise Wallace, now 29, who was convicted of two counts of vehicular homicide.
Wallace was accused of driving a Dodge Challenger in June 2018 that struck and killed pedestrian Nephateria Williams, 28, and an 8-month-old girl she was pushing in a stroller, Neariaah Williams, according to a 2019 Pensacola News Journal story.
Wallace was arrested in July 2018 after fleeing to Philadelphia. Wallace raised a series of issues in the appeal, including that the conviction was based wholly on circumstantial evidence. But the appeals court said “competent, substantial evidence” supported the verdict.
“The evidence shows that appellant (Wallace) rented the vehicle in question and was the only authorized driver of the vehicle,” said the six-page ruling written by Judge M. Kemmerly Thomas and joined by Judges Brad Thomas and Timothy Osterhaus. “Appellant was seen getting out the driver’s side of the vehicle on surveillance footage when he was buying window tint a short time before the accident. No one else was observed. After the accident, evidence shows appellant attempted to hide the vehicle and fled the area after the vehicle was located.”
While it upheld the conviction last Thursday on vehicular-homicide charges, the appeals court tossed out Wallace’s conviction on charges of leaving the scene of a crash involving death. It cited improper double jeopardy because the leaving-the-scene charges were encompassed by the vehicular-homicide charges.
Wallace was sentenced to 30 years in prison on each of the vehicular homicide charges and is an inmate at Gulf Correctional Institution, according to the Florida Department of Corrections website.
