Three young St. Johns County men up to no good on a night out in downtown Jacksonville hopefully will no longer be up to any such mischief for quite some time after each was sentenced for their roles in killing a man. But only the triggerman received prison time.
Ryan Christopher Nichols, 20, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on May 28 and was sentenced on June 18 to 40 years in prison, court records show. Under the plea agreement, the State Attorney’s Office previously said he faced 15 to 40 years.
Daniel James DeGuardia, 19, and Holden Emery Dodson, 22, both pleaded guilty last year to accessory after the fact, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Judge Anthony Salem decided Friday to withhold adjudication against the pair, not formally convicting them but sentencing them to seven years of probation each, according to the State Attorney's Office.
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On the early morning hours of May 2, 2023, security video shows Gary Lamont Jackson being chased by a male who had gotten out of Jeep Grand Cherokee that had two other males inside. The 39-year-old victim can be seen trying to hide behind a dumpster on West Ashley Street before he is shot several times. The shooter then gets back into the arriving Jeep and they flee.
The co-defendants told investigators they had been at a 7-Eleven on Julia Street when Nichols began chasing the victim because he had grabbed his gun. Then as they were all driving around looking for him, they spotted him. That’s when Nichols got out and chased him while armed with Dodson’s gun. They later tossed the gun over the Buckman Bridge into the St. Johns River.
Video of the men at the 7-Eleven also showed a distinctive vanity plate on the Jeep with an American flag and some words later determined to be “9/11/2001 we will never forget.” The vehicle was tracked down to DeGuardia’s mother.
Several homeless people said Jackson lived on the streets and went by the nickname “G-Money.” They said it started outside the 7-Eleven over a drug transaction and that G-Money took off with their pistol because one of the guys was waving it around.
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The case drew a great deal of attention because a judge initially advised that the charges could be enhanced to a hate crime. Judge Kim Sadler told First Coast News after the first court appearance, “it was just a bunch of white guys chasing a Black guy and I didn’t see any reason for it." However, the Sheriff’s Office said at the time that there was no indication it was a hate crime.
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