Jurors deliberated for slightly more than an hour on May 6 before returning a guilty verdict in the case of Christian Patrick Parker, who was charged with leaving the scene of a crash without rendering aid involving death.
The victim, Ariel Hartford, 34, was struck and killed on Dec. 1, 2024, in the 10400 block of U.S. 441 South. The Belleview Police Department investigated the incident with assistance from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
The six-member jury was polled, and each juror confirmed the verdict. Parker was not sentenced immediately, as the judge ordered a pre-sentence investigation, or PSI. With the conviction, Parker, a convicted felon, faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Circuit Judge Steven Rogers, who presided over the two-day trial that began May 5, said the case would return to court on or before July 9 for sentencing. Parker did not testify in his own defense.
Parker, 27, of Summerfield, has remained in jail since his arrest on Dec. 2, 2024.
Belleview Police Department officers said Hartford was in a crosswalk when she was hit by an older-model black Lincoln Town Car. Authorities said the driver and the vehicle fled the scene.
Officers later located the vehicle and arrested Parker following their investigation.
Parker was defended by local attorney David Mengers, who was assisted by Jacksonville University law student Mckynzie Mullins. Assistant State Attorney Adam Smith prosecuted the case and was assisted by Olivia White, a certified legal intern.
Jury selection took place May 4, when seven people were selected to hear the case.
Closing arguments
During his closing argument, Smith said the defendant was angry when he left an Ocala department store following an argument with his girlfriend. He said text messages and phone calls extracted from Parker’s phone showed he was in the area at the time of the crash and that the language used in the messages indicated Parker was upset. Smith said motorists called 911 to report what they described as reckless driving by the defendant.
Smith played a 911 call from a woman who described an erratic driving pattern and provided the license tag number to the dispatcher. Another caller also reported the same vehicle weaving through traffic before the caller was heard screaming that the vehicle had struck someone attempting to cross the street.
The prosecutor said the driver did not brake or stop after the crash. The vehicle was later hidden in a garage on an abandoned property, according to Smith. He said the vehicle’s license plate and front windshield were found in the trunk and that DNA and blood recovered from the vehicle matched Parker.
The defense countered by telling jurors that the case was emotional and upsetting and urged them to set aside their feelings and closely examine the evidence. He argued there was no GPS tracking data or direct evidence proving Parker caused the victim’s death
Mengers said the text messages and phone records presented by the state did not show Parker was guilty and described the prosecution’s case as circumstantial, telling jurors there was reasonable doubt.
He also argued that DNA found inside Parker’s vehicle was meaningless, stating it was Parker’s car and his DNA would naturally be present.
Deliberation
Of the seven jurors selected, one man was dismissed as the alternate. The remaining six jurors — four women and two men — began deliberations at 11:19 a.m.
Jurors did not submit any questions to the judge or attorneys during deliberations. At 12:30 p.m., jurors notified a bailiff they had reached a decision. Six minutes later, the judge returned to the courtroom and read a note from the jury indicating a verdict had been reached.
At 12:41 p.m., jurors entered the courtroom and the foreperson handed the verdict paperwork to the bailiff, who passed it to the judge. The judge then gave the document to the clerk, who read the verdict aloud at 12:42 p.m.
Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Jury convicts Summerfield man in 2024 fatal hit-and-run in Belleview
Reporting by Austin L. Miller, Ocala Star-Banner / Ocala Star-Banner
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