FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David Chapman
Phone: (904) 255-3004
Cell: (904) 524-6626
ChapmanD@coj.net
June 18, 2024
DUVAL COUNTY JURY FINDS OWENS GUILTY OF LEAVING SCENE OF FATAL CRASH
State Attorney Melissa Nelson announces that a Duval County jury found Byron Owens guilty of Leaving the Scene of an Accident Involving Death. With the verdict, Owens faces up to 30 years in Florida State Prison. The Honorable Mark Borello will sentence Owens at a later date.
On Oct. 14, 2023, officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to a hit-and-run crash near the intersection of North Main Street and 19th Street East. The victim was walking across North Main Street when he was struck by Owens’ gold Hyundai. According to the Real Time Crime Center’s footage, Owens hit the victim, stopped in the center lane for a period of time, then pulled into the nearby gas station. Owens got out of his car and walked over to the victim who was lying in the road. When the officer arrived on scene, he asked Owens and other witnesses if they saw what happened. Owens withheld information from the police and indicated another vehicle struck the victim. The conversation was recorded on the officer’s body worn camera. Owens then left the scene. The victim was taken to the hospital where he died the next morning.
The case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney John Kalinowski.