PANAMA CITY — A local woman on Oct. 31 was sentenced to 25 years in prison in connection with the death of a Holmes County man.
Lois Merkel, 61, of Panama City, was facing trial in connection with a 2023 shooting death. She decided to enter an open plea (no plea bargain in place) to a charge of manslaughter with a firearm on Sept. 22.
While his full name is not mentioned in the report, multiple news outlets have identified the victim as 44-year-old Steven Lamar Hall, from Chipley.
The Holmes County Sheriff’s Office told multiple outlets that it received a call at 3:23 a.m. on May 29, 2023, from a woman who said she had accidentally shot a man while loading a firearm.
HCSO arrived at the Holiday Inn Express Bonifay, where deputies found that Hall had sustained a gunshot wound to his leg.
Hall was transported to Doctors Memorial Hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Merkel told authorities that she had some kind of romantic entanglement with Hall, although an HCSO spokesperson said at press time that her story wasn’t quite adding up.
HCSO said in a release that Merkel was arrested at her home in Callaway on Feb. 7, 2024, on a warrant for second-degree murder.
An Oct. 31 release from the State Attorney’s Office says it was ready to present evidence that Merkel was married to another man but was having an affair and doing methamphetamine with Hall. Prosecutors said the two were in the hotel room together, arguing and doing drugs.
“Texts from the victim earlier showed he was afraid Merkel was going to hurt him,” reads the release. “Pictures he took secretly on his phone in the minutes leading up to his death showed Merkel appearing angry and pointing at him with one hand while hiding her other hand behind her back. Less than a minute after the last picture was taken, Hall was shot.”
The release also says the state had additional evidence that Merkel was angry with Hall, and that Hall had told others he was afraid she was going to hurt him. Prosecutors say she was standing over an open gun safe with her hand behind her back while arguing with him moments before the shot was fired.
While Merkel could have gone to prison for up to 30 years on the manslaughter charge, Circuit Court Judge Russell Roberts decided on 25 years after hearing from both sides.
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City woman sentenced to 25 years for manslaughter
Reporting by Dylan Gentile, Panama City News Herald / The News Herald
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