Botched investigation: Murder charges dropped, Lee County men plead in pursuit case

Bystander dies after high-speed chase

Fatal crash leaves two deputies injured

Adrian James Powell LCSO

David Jarrod Newsome, also known as Jarrod Darnell Newsome LCSO

FORT MYERS — As promised, prosecutors on Monday dropped burglary and murder charges against a pair of Lee County men who led a police pursuit that caused the death of an innocent bystander.

The move follows last week’s release of a State Attorney’s Office memo criticizing the Lee County Sheriff’s homicide investigation into the men as “incomplete and inaccurate.”

Shackled and clad in the orange jumpsuits of the Lee County Jail, David Jarrod Newsome, 27, of Fort Myers, and Adrian James Powell, 33, of Lehigh Acres, each pleaded no contest to their remaining charges before Lee Circuit Judge Edward Volz.

Newsome was sentenced to 320 days time served for a misdemeanor count of resisting officers and should be eligible for release.

Powell will serve 25 months in prison for felony counts of fleeing from authorities and driving with a suspended license as a habitual offender and a misdemeanor count of resisting officers. His license will be suspended for a year. He was also granted credit for 320 days time served.

Powell faced a maximum 20 years in prison.

Neither man spoke during the hearing outside of acknowledging the plea deal.

On July 23, 2009, Powell was behind the wheel and Newsome in the front seat of a black Nissan Armada mistaken for a vehicle suspected in a Lehigh Acres burglary from earlier that day. Powell fled a traffic stop, leading deputies from Lehigh Acres up Interstate 75 and into Fort Myers before abandoning the car.

Fort Myers resident Mateo F. Matias Mateo, 61, was killed when he made a U-turn south on Palm Beach Boulevard in front of an oncoming SUV driven by Sheriff’s detective Timothy Galloway, who was responding to the pursuit. Prosecutors cleared Galloway of any wrongdoing but charged Powell and Newsome with homicide in December.

The charges were predicated on the burglary count, which recently came into question.

Burglary victim David Burges told prosecutors that when he was brought to the scene after the SUV was abandoned and both men caught, he told detectives Newsome was not one of the burglars. He also said he was unable to pick Powell out of a photo lineup.

The State Attorney’s Office was unaware of both details, Assistant State Attorney Dean Plattner wrote in a June 3 memo to State Attorney Stephen Russell.

A confession Newsome made to detectives was also inconsistent with evidence, the memo stated.

The Sheriff’s Office has opened an internal investigation into the failed case.