Arizona man found guilty of murder

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – A four-day murder trial ended Friday with an Arizona man found guilty of strangling his friend in their hotel room during a trip to Panama City Beach in 2021.

State Attorney Larry Basford announced that 43-year-old Scottie Jay Black of Arizona was charged with second-degree murder in the October 3, 2021, death of 41-year-old Tyrell James Sagg.

We’re told the case began on October 3, 2021, when Black and Sagg’s girlfriend reportedly found him dead on the floor of their hotel room in Panama City Beach. The three were apparently on vacation.

The autopsy reportedly found internal injuries consistent with being strangled. Further investigation showed the defendant and the woman later withdrew money using the victim’s ATM card and returned to Arizona. More evidence revealed that no one else entered or left the room at the time the victim was killed.

We’re told 12 witnesses were called at the trial by Prosecutors Peter Overstreet and Nadia DeAbreu. A Navajo Nation Police Department investigator who helped locate the suspect and two Panama City Beach Police Department investigators who flew to Arizona to interview Black were included.

A 5-hour interview was reportedly played to the jurors, including the defendant’s story changed multiple times.

“Mr. Black thought he had done a good job of covering up his crime,” said Overstreet. “However, the testimony of the Medical Examiner (Jay Radtke) and the extremely thorough investigation of the Panama City Beach Police Department’s criminal investigators led to the jury seeing the truth of what occurred that fateful night in the hotel room.”

They say the jury deliberated for about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

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