Murder Charge Dropped Against Woman After Co-defendant Is Acquitted

September 9, 2022

A first degree premeditated murder charges has been dismissed against a woman accused in the shooting death of her daughter’s boyfriend in 2021.

Dawn Sluder was released from the Escambia County Jail where she had been held since February 2021.

The dismissal came after Jonathon Taylor Hobbs of Cantonment walked out of the Escambia County Jail Saturday a free man, following his acquittal on a first-degree premeditated murder.

Hobbs, 29 was accused of the shooting death of 35-year old Danny Blackmon, Jr., on February 1, 2021. He would have faced up to life in prison if the jury had convicted him.

During his trial, Hobbs claimed he shot Blackmon in self defense on Lawson Lane off Jacks Branch Road.

Hobbs was with Sluder, who was  trying to get her then 18-year old daughter  away from Blackmon. Sluder believed Blackmon was holding her against her will, but the daughter testified that was not true.

Hobbs testified that Blackmon approached him in an aggressive manner, threatening to kill him and Sluder.

“He took three steps coming at me, pulling something out of his pocket,” Hobbs said in court. “It was a black object. I thought it was a gun. but it wasn’t. It turned out to be a phone. I raised my gun, and I blacked out. I believe I was in shock, and I just shot. That’s all I did.”

Blackmon was shot five times, including once when he was already on the ground, according to prosecutors.

Comments

5 Responses to “Murder Charge Dropped Against Woman After Co-defendant Is Acquitted”

  1. Robinhood on September 13th, 2022 1:22 pm

    Wow, Explain how someone shoots a man and falls to ground injured and this man STANDS OVER injured man and puts another bullet in him is not someone scared for their life, That is plain out cold hearted MURDER. Unless those facts were not brought up in the trial which I can’t believe they weren’t.

  2. MiB on September 11th, 2022 4:05 pm

    Unbelievable…

  3. Bewildered on September 9th, 2022 11:03 am

    Elmer??? There is a difference if you ignore a cop‘s instruction and reach into your pocket instead to retrieve something. I don’t know any of the parties involved, but I hope no one else gets into some kind of confrontation (traffic disagreement, etc.) with this lady or her boyfriend and that goes for grandma and her boyfriend also.

  4. Good grief on September 9th, 2022 9:05 am

    So wrong! They did what they set out to do.

  5. elmer on September 9th, 2022 7:55 am

    Ok so how many LEO’s have shot someone because they were pulling something out of their pocket
    NOT GUILITY

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News