A St. Lucie County jury deliberated less than 30 minutes on Sept. 17 before convicting a man related to the 2020 stabbing death of a Fort Pierce man at the Park Terrace Apartments, according to a state prosecutor.

Collin Martin O’Hara, 35, who lived in the apartment complex in the 600 block of Avenue B, was arrested June 12, 2020 shortly after Calvin Bates was found with a knife in his neck, Fort Pierce police reported at the time.

The 51-year-old Bates also lived at the apartments, which are just east of U.S. 1 and north of Fort Pierce City Hall.

The St. Lucie County Fire District rushed Bates to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce, where he died in surgery, police said.

Assistant State Attorney Jonathan Libby, who prosecuted O’Hara during a 3-day trial, said a panel of six jurors found O’Hara guilty of second-degree murder with a weapon.

O’Hara, who opted not to testify at his trial, faces a maximum punishment of life in prison when Circuit Judge Michael Linn sentences him on Oct. 16, Libby said.

The deadly incident happened as Bates was sitting outside his apartment with a neighbor and his sister, who was visiting from out of town.

“They were all just hanging out visiting and Collin O’Hara, who also lived there, had come out and had asked one of the other neighbors for a cigarette and he proceeded to stab Calvin in the neck,” Libby said jurors were told. “He then fled the scene and was followed by a witness.”

Fort Pierce Police tracked O’Hara to the nearby Anytime Fitness gym in the 700 block of Orange Ave, where Libby said he told two gym employees he knew that “he was going to miss them, and he was going to be going away for a while.”

O’Hara was apprehended inside Anytime Fitness, records show.

According to an arrest affidavit, a witness to the attack told investigators that prior to the attack “O`Hara kept talking to himself and noted that it appeared strange.”

The witness reported that Bates and O`Hara were outside under a canvas overhead covering when some cigarettes were given out. When Bates asked O’Hara for a lighter, O’Hara “began shaking and said, ‘No because you’re a child rapist’ and then stabbed Bates in the neck with a knife.”

O`Hara walked out of a fenced area and traveled south on foot.

Libby said police disproved O’Hara’s claims against Bates.

“In his interview with law enforcement, O’Hara repeated to say that he believed that Calvin Bates was a child molester. There was absolutely zero evidence to support that in any way, shape, or form,” Libby said. “But that appeared to be some sort of motive.”

O’Hara, who provided different versions of what happened, also suggested Bates’ fatal knife wound was self-inflicted.

“O’Hara told the police that he did not stab Calvin Bates, but that he, Calvin Bates, stabbed himself,” Libby said. “That was 100% refuted by the autopsy and the testimony of the medical examiner, who said that it was ‘virtually impossible for Mr. Bates to have done that.'”

Mental health exam stalls case

Court records show a judge in October 2025 ruled O’Hara was “mentally/physically unable to stand trial” after he was evaluated by a mental health expert to determine his competency to proceed.

The prosecution against O’Hara was revived in April after Linn was assigned to the case and ruled he was now “mentally competent” to stand trial following another mental health evaluation conducted March 18.

He was re-arrested on a charge of second-degree murder with a weapon, court filings show.

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Melissa E. Holsman is a freelance reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida man faces life in 2020 fatal stabbing of Fort Pierce man

Reporting by Melissa E. Holsman, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers

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This story was originally published September 18, 2026 at 1:23 PM.