TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Prosecutors wrapped up their case Thursday in the trial of three men accused in the attempted homicide of a Tallahassee police officer, and two home invasions.
Jurors heard testimony from former Tallahassee Police detective Chris Corbitt, who went minute by minute, piecing together the movements of all three suspects that night in September 2023.
Corbitt testified that starting the night Officer Caleb Babb was shot while responding to the second of two home invasions, investigators worked backwards to determine the series of events.
They say the three suspects, Tyrell Guinnie, John’Darious Wright and Rayhim Sanders met up at a hotel before driving to Sandpiper Street and casing the neighborhood.
John’Darious Wright, Rahiym Sanders and Tyrell Guinnie (left to right) are accused in the September 25 shooting of a Tallahassee Police officer.(Photos/Tallahassee Police Department, Gainesville Police Department)
Corbitt said corner store surveillance camera may have caught the first shots being fired in the first home invasion. Jurors needed to lean in to see, and Corbitt played the video several times.
A wide angle old-school surveillance camera, the footage captured small bits of light near the backdoor to the Patel’s home.
“Does Ms Cody, Mr Guinnie or Mr. Sanders family or anyone contact a law enforcement officer, there’s plenty of them in the area, to say please help us extract someone from your scene that had nothing to do with this?” Chief Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman said.
“Not to my knowledge,” Corbitt responded, combatting argument from Sanders’s defense attorney that he was actually a victim of the second home invasion and was simply trying to buy weed.
The Patels are the first set of victims, including one of the younger Patels who was shot in the face but survived despite the bullet lodging in his neck.
Prosecutors have struggled to get some of the testimony in this case. One witness who appeared Thursday had to have an ankle monitor put on after a bench warrant was issued to ensure she appeared.
Identified as Ms. Cody, she emerged as a key witness who was in contact with Sanders both the hours before and after the alleged home invasion.
Her testimony only began after three people were removed from the courtroom. Ms. Cody previously testified that she feared cooperating because of messages from the Sanders family, but since backed off and said it was her general fear of the police.
Cappleman asked WCTV not to show her face.
“But I just called his family member because I didn’t know what was going on. I’m thinking he probably running from the police,” Ms. Cody said. “I didn’t know what it meant. I was just trying to figure out what was going on. I got “help me” (then a) location, and then I’m in communication with a family member at the time.”
Police say they also obtained text messages in the immediate aftermath, where one of Sanders’s girlfriends tried to pick him up, but the area was too saturated by police.
“She said ‘otw,’ on the way. He said ‘hurry up’,” Corbitt testified. “2:35 a.m. Mr. Sanders says ‘Please!’ to which Ms. Cody responds, ‘two minutes!’”
Prosecutors said Wright, the only one charged in both shootings, didn’t have a phone, though they say they have DNA evidence to back up their claims.
The state also argued Sanders lied when he claimed to go straight back to Gainesville after inadvertently getting caught up in the second home invasion.
“The locations for his handset are in Tallahassee through September 28th,” Corbitt said, which is three days after the shooting.
The defense teams argued the cell phone data only provides a general area, and that surveillance video from the Baymont Hotel doesn’t guarantee it was those three men in the car identified by Officer Babb.
Guinnie’s attorney said he might be a drug dealer, he’s not a home invader, while Wright’s attorney said he was trying to buy drugs when the second home invasion occured.
Guinnie’s counsel points out the texts about him planning to get money doesn’t per se mean he meant via a home invasion.
Wright’s lawyer said Corbitt reviewed many other reports that he didn’t write personally.
— Matt Hoffmann (@ByMattHoffmann) April 30, 2026
The trial is set to conclude Friday. Each of the three defense teams and the prosecution will have their chance to present a closing argument before the case goes to the jury for a verdict.
Follow a detailed breakdown of Thursday’s testimony here:
New: It’s Day 3 of the triple attempted homicide trial of three men implicated in the near fatal shooting of TPD Police Officer Caleb Babb.
Someone identified as Ms. Cody said she didn’t want to testify at first because of the police, not because of the suspects. pic.twitter.com/CW7xJzKsh3
— Matt Hoffmann (@ByMattHoffmann) April 30, 2026
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