Savonne Morrison will not spend life in prison for driving the getaway car after Jermaine Bennett murdered a bicyclist on Clearwater Beach in 2022, a jury decided Friday afternoon.
Prosecutors had argued that Morrison, 21, should be convicted of first-degree murder for aiding and abetting the killing of 49-year-old Jeffrey Chapman. After five hours of deliberation, jurors found Morrison guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter. They also found him not guilty of aggravated battery on a senior.
Morrison’s expression shifted from fear to relief as he listened to the verdict. His family wiped away tears in the gallery.
The five-day trial explored the chain of events after Morrison got in the car with Bennett, his next-door neighbor, on an October night in 2022.
Bennett, 30, pleaded guilty to the murder and is serving life in prison. Prosecutors sought to impose the same sentence on Morrison.
During his closing argument, defense attorney Jervis Wise told jurors that the case revolved around one word: “Intent.”
Even if Morrison did not participate in the beating, the jury could have decided he was an accomplice if he intended for the murder to take place.
“If you don’t know that the person is going to be committing the crime, you can’t be intending to help them,” Wise said. “If you don’t know that Bennett is going to attack people out of the blue, you can’t be assisting.”
Wise acknowledged that Morrison could have intervened that night.
“Could he have done something differently? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean he intended Mr. Chapman to die,” he told jurors.
On the night of Oct. 20, 2022, Bennett texted Morrison: “Wyd (What you doing) I need you.” Then, Bennett wrote: “Imma come pick you up. We about to get ghetto.”
When Bennett took the stand Thursday morning, he told the jury what his original plan was.
He was angry with his ex-girlfriend and wanted Morrison to help him beat up her new boyfriend, he said. They drove to her house, but she wasn’t home.
That’s when Bennett said he lost it. He began drinking and using cocaine. He told Morrison to drive his Nissan Altima from Land O’ Lakes to downtown St. Petersburg.
When they arrived, Bennett began smashing random cars with a tire iron and encouraged Morrison to join, he said.
Then, they pulled over in front of Bob’s Carpet & Flooring on 22nd Avenue, where an older man was walking alone. Bennett got out of the car and pretended to ask the man for directions before repeatedly striking him with the tire iron, prosecutors said. Morrison stayed by the car.
John Budenas, 82, testified that he only remembered the first strike before he was knocked out. He said Morrison did not participate in the beating but assisted Bennett by driving him away.
The men then drove to Clearwater Beach, where they spotted Chapman riding his bike on Mandalay Avenue. Bennett jumped out of the car and knocked Chapman off the bike with the tire iron, and the pair took turns beating him to death, Assistant State Attorney Thomas Koskinas said Tuesday.
Surveillance footage from neighboring homes on the darkened street showed Morrison running out of the car with Bennett, but then quickly running back.
Morrison pulled the car closer to the scene of the killing before driving himself and Bennett away, according to footage. Forensic technicians testified that a likely match to Morrison’s DNA was found on Chapman’s jean pockets. Chapman’s wallet was missing when police arrived.
If Morrison intended to rob Chapman before the murder, he could have been found as a principal to first-degree murder.
Wise argued the state had no evidence to prove Morrison intended to rob Chapman. He asked jurors to find that stealing the wallet was theft, which does not make Morrison guilty of murder.
The jury ultimately agreed.
“He’s a scared kid, he’s driving this man’s car, he’s in a city he’s not familiar with, with a man who’s high on cocaine listening to death metal,” Wise said.
Bennett told jurors the beatings were random and that Morrison was not aware of the plan. He also told them Morrison was “stunned” after he beat Budenas and that “you could feel the tension” in the car.
At one point, the trial devolved into a shouting match when Koskinas accused Bennett without evidence of being in love with Morrison during cross-examination.
“You wanted more of a relationship with Mr. Morrison, didn’t you?” the prosecutor asked. “Isn’t it true you would say or do anything to get your love off the stand?”
“How’d you come up with that man, you’re really grasping at straws,” Bennett replied.
The judge had to intervene to calm the men down.
In his closing argument, Wise told jurors that Bennett’s testimony made clear that he was mentally unstable.
“That’s the man who was mentoring 18-year-old Savonne Morrison,” he said. “He’s letting Savonne Morrison become the most important person in his life and teaching him his philosophies.”
After the verdict, Morrison’s father expressed condolences for Budenas and Chapman’s family.
“Those people were victimized, but it wasn’t done by the hand of my son,” Shaun Morrison told the Tampa Bay Times outside the courthouse. “No one deserves to have that happen to them.”
Chapman’s daughter told the Times that her father was a “nature guy” who loved the outdoors. He moved to Clearwater Beach from Maine in 2012 to spend more time outside, she said.
“Regardless of the outcome, it’s not going to bring my father back,” Sierra Chapman said before the verdict was delivered. “Riding his bike was one of his simple pleasures in life, and it breaks my heart that’s how his life ended.”
Morrison faces up to 15 years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
