JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Months after a judge granted a change of venue request for a man accused of fatally shooting a Daytona Beach police officer, jury selection will begin in Clay County on Tuesday in the trial of Othal Wallace.
Wallace, 31, is accused of shooting Daytona Beach police Officer Jason Raynor in June 2021. Wallace, who was found in Georgia, was arrested on murder charges 56 hours after the shooting.
Raynor, 26, died on Aug. 17, 2021, two months after the shooting.
The judge said the defense change of venue was allowed because it would be difficult to seat an impartial jury in Volusia County because of pre-trial publicity.
Raynor, who had been with the police department for about three years, was laid to rest Aug. 23, 2021, just days after the state announced it would seek the death penalty in the case against Wallace.
According to News4JAX sister station WKMG in Orlando, police said the night he was shot, Raynor was looking for a stolen car with a similar description to the one Wallace was driving. They later said it turned out Wallace was not driving the stolen car.
Body camera video shows Raynor approaching Wallace on June 23, 2021, while Wallace was in his car, parked behind a Daytona Beach apartment, WKMG reported.
The clip released to the media of the entire interaction is just 29 seconds long. It shows Raynor asking Wallace to sit down so he can question him, before a brief conflict, and then a gunshot can be heard. Police said Wallace shot Raynor in the head, then took off in the car and was found four days later at a property outside of Atlanta, Georgia, that has ties to a Black militia group.
A legal expert told WKMG that Wallace’s defense team will have to prove Wallace shot Raynor in self-defense. He said the state will likely argue Raynor was acting lawfully in patrolling and investigating a stolen car.