A Flagler County grand jury handed down indictments Wednesday in the three high-profile murder and attempted murder cases involving defendants Dorothy Singer, Bobby Gore and Phillip Haire.
If convicted on the charges, the three will at best serve the rest of their lives in prison, with no chance of release. Gore and Singer could possibly face the death penalty.
The grand jury handed down a capital felony indictment in the first-degree murder charges against Gore, 74, who is accused of shooting his 31-year-old son Lucas Gore to death in their Flagler Beach home at point-blank range on April 30. The grand jury likewise handed down a capital felony indictment in the first-degree murder charge against Dorothy Singer, 52, accused of shooting to death her husband, Charles Singer, and burying him in the couple’s backyard sometime in early February.
It is ultimately up to the State Attorney to decide whether to seek the death penalty. Florida law states that unless the offender is younger than 18, “a person who has been convicted of a capital felony shall be punished by death if the proceeding held to determine sentence according to the procedure set forth in [sentencing proceedings] results in a determination that such person shall be punished by death, otherwise such person shall be punished by life imprisonment and shall be ineligible for parole.”
“We will review the facts and make a determination on whether or not we seek the death penalty,” the State Attorney’s Jason Lewis said this morning in a brief interview, noting that despite the capital felony charges, “that does not necessarily mean we will seek the death penalty.”
The State Attorney has 45 days from the day of arraignment to make those decisions. Gore is to be arraigned on June 12 before Circuit Judge Dennis Craig, who has not yet tried murder cases. That means the State Attorney has until the end of July to decide how to finally charge Gore. An arraignment date for Singer has not yet been scheduled.
Aramis Ayala, the state attorney in Orange County, opted to remove all capital murder cases from the death penalty docket earlier this year, believing the process flawed, only to trigger a legal showdown with Gov. Rick Scott, who removed Ayala from those cases and appointed different prosecutors. That legal confrontation is continuing in court. R.J. Larizza, the state attorney in Flagler, St. Johns, Volusia and Putnam counties, takes a hard line in criminal prosecutions and like all other state attorneys across the state aside from Ayala, is not expected to follow her lead–at least not for the same reasons.
The cases of Singer and Gore would be the first death penalty cases involving Flagler County defendants since William Gregory was sentenced to death in 2011 for the 2007 double-murder of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend as they slept in a house in Flagler Beach. Gregory was actually tried and sentenced in Volusia County. The jury was not unanimous in its recommendation of death, so because of recent changes in law, his sentencing is likely to be appealed.
The grand jury also handed down an indictment in the case of Phillip Haire Jr., the resident of Palm Coast’s London Drive accused of shooting at a Flagler County Sheriff’s sergeant and at both his parents in a double-drive-by on May 1 (coincidentally, the day after the alleged Gore murder). Haire, 19, pleaded not guilty and claimed he is being framed, with someone else doing the shooting. Haire’s indictment has grown to 10 charges: two counts of attempted first degree murder with a firearm, one count of attempted second degree murder with a firearm, aggravated assault, burglary, shooting into a building, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, and aggravated assault.
The multiplicity of charges in such a case become technicalities, like the multiple shots into a body, when conviction on a single one of those charges could mean the end of Haire’s life as a free man: five of the 10 charges are punishable by life in prison or are life felony charges, if convicted, which means Haire would be sentenced to prison with no possibility of release under any circumstance.
jackie says
They deserve everything that is coming there way! God doesn’t like ugly. RIP Luke and Butch
Jessy says
OOOOOOOOOOh weeeeeeeee…….. someone is putting something in the water round them there parts!! Rednecks killing their own family, and in other recent articles people going after children, and a man with road rages decides to get out of his car with a baseball bat, and go after someone with it!!
I always thought the Flagler water system smelt like rotten eggs in some places!! Wow, and apparently everyone in Palm Coast has millions of dollars, and never has any crime!!…..OH how the whispers are so false!!
Keep it up Palm Coast residents…..now the traffic light camera’s are being turned off watch how many more accidents happen…..oh how more backwards can you get??
r&r says
At least one of them is enjoying it all.
woodchuck says
Make examples out of all of them,no tears in my eyes.
Lazaruis says
Good !
I would make them “poster boys ” to send a message out to all .
Deer pee says
Yall are so dramatic… People are killing people and doing stupid stuff everywhere
Bee says
An eye for an eye!
No longer PC resident says
Dummy with the smug mug in the middle can wear that look for his remaining days as an inmate. He’ll fit right in.
JPR says
No, it does not have anything to do with ‘the water’
Not to sound like I am making excuses, it’s just a matter of fact.
Crime (including murder) is inevitable, and palm coast is no exception.
Nationally, the homicide rate is 3.9 per 100,000 inhabitants.
and there is no correlation between and safety, they are simply money machines.
Red Light Cameras are Ineffective, in fact some studies show that they actually cause more accidents.
Anonymous says
Yall need to cut it cause phil is a good person just made the wrong mistake under depression and not taking his meds
Longman says
Yeah phil is a good guy… just shot at his parents and a cop… just a mistake. Please
Hmmm says
HA HA HA!! This person “Anonymous” said.. “cut it cause phil is a good person”!!!!!!!!!!!! When this story came out I knew exactly who they were taking about. Not because I know the guy, but because of how many times I opened up Flagler Live and his name and picture was in a news article for doing something stupid. Everybody wants to be a Palm Coast gangsta. Who does a drive by shooting on their parents??? Whole life down the drain, because he couldn’t just sit his behind down somewhere.
Disgusted says
Phil Haire is not a “good person.” Millions of people suffer from depression and do not go around shooting at officers and their families. Too many excuses have been made for this man and he has gotten away with so many things he feels he is untouchable. His parents identified him on the news. He was identified by the man that he threatened to kill while he stole his car. But he’s being “framed!” Tired of prosecutors who don’t press charges. Tired of judges with no backbone. It speaks to the character of our FCSO that they don’t give up trying to clean up our city when they know how many times their efforts are wasted.