{"id":255019,"date":"2026-05-02T05:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T05:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/255019\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T05:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T05:34:14","slug":"jury-finds-all-three-men-guilty-in-tpd-officer-shooting-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/255019\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury finds all three men guilty in TPD officer shooting trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) &#8211; All three men accused of a home invasion that left a Tallahassee Police officer shot were found guilty Friday night. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Rahyim Sanders, Tyrell Guinnie and John\u2019Darious Wright all faced felony charges. Wright was accused in two home invasions on the same night, while Guinnie and Wright were only accused in the second, in which Officer Caleb Babb was shot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Sanders and Wright were found guilty of attempted first-degree murder, and Guinnie was found guilty of attempted murder of Officer Babb. He was found not guilty on count four. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The jury deliberated four hours before returning those verdicts.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"John\u2019Darious Wright, Rahiym Sanders and Tyrell Guinnie (left to right) are accused in the...\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7BMYS2ADC5GJBE76PDFH5Z6W4A.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>John\u2019Darious 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)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman began closing arguments, Friday afternoon, saying the true motive of the crime is a mystery, but it wasn\u2019t just about drugs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Cappleman said Wright may have realized he couldn\u2019t control the whole family at the first home invasion. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWhat better evidence could there be for consciousness of intent than shooting the younger Patel in the face?\u201d Cappleman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">She argued Guinnie\u2019s choice to continue on with the plan makes him an accessory, saying he went to rescue Wright and Sanders after the second home invasion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The jury was shown a slow-motion video from Babb\u2019s body camera after he was shot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cHe was shot for what? A little bit of dope? A little bit of cheese?\u201d Cappleman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The state conceded they don\u2019t have phone evidence for Wright, but they have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/04\/29\/jury-hears-witness-dna-expert-trial-men-accused-home-invasion-that-injured-tpd-officer\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/04\/29\/jury-hears-witness-dna-expert-trial-men-accused-home-invasion-that-injured-tpd-officer\/\">DNA, video and eyewitness testimony.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Wright\u2019s defense attorney claimed that the identification of Wright isn\u2019t strong. He said Detective Corbitt, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/04\/30\/former-tpd-detective-testifies-trial-home-invasion-that-left-one-his-own-injured\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/04\/30\/former-tpd-detective-testifies-trial-home-invasion-that-left-one-his-own-injured\/\">who testified on Thursday<\/a>, only knows about the reports and the records. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIt\u2019s second-hand at best,\u201d Lammers said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">He also pointed out that the father of the Patel family didn\u2019t get a great look at Wright, but later testified he saw Wright\u2019s mugshot on WCTV and recognized him. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cHe only saw the gunman for at most one to two seconds. One to two seconds, when you wake up in the middle of the night, he said it was dark. Burglar alarms going off. You don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on,\u201d said Lammers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Defense attorney Craig Brown represents Sanders. He told the jury the cell phone data, which places Sanders at the scene, isn\u2019t an exact science. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-center\">More on crime in our area:<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThere\u2019s been nothing different than what we said in the opening,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHe was by the Sandpiper address, he was over there to purchase marijuana, and that was that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWhat was he over there for? Ladies and gentlemen, he was over there because he was thinking that there was going to be just a purchase of some marijuana and that was going to be it,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Kurstin Kym Phelps-Hernandez is representing Guinnie. She said the three suspects being together at a hotel the night of the home invasions isn\u2019t a crime. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">She argued that if the jury finds Wright guilty, Guinnie is automatically not guilty. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cBeing in the car with someone after they committed a crime is not a crime,\u201d Phelps-Hernandez said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Phelps-Hernandez is Wright and Sanders are seen walking through the Sandpiper neighborhood, but said the third man could have been another man allegedly involved but not charged with crime, not Guinnie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">She admitted that Guinnie is a drug dealer, which she claims explains texts messages presented in evidence more than the two home invasions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cDid the state have enough evidence to prove that just based on his text messages during and after the incidents and the fact that he was around people alleged to have committed crimes, does that make him guilty by association with them? No,\u201d said Phelps-Hernandez.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">In her rebuttal, Cappleman claimed Wright had an \u201citchy trigger finger,\u201d and didn\u2019t hesitate to shoot two people. Lammers objected, but then Cappleman began talking about Wright instead of Sanders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cHe shot without hesitation at Sandpiper inside that residence at those people. And when confronted by law enforcement, he didn\u2019t hesitate for a moment to shoot Officer Babb, a uniformed officer,\u201d said Cappleman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Cappleman emphasized evidence that showed Wright\u2019s DNA on \u201ceach and every item,\u201d involved in the shooting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Around 7:15 p.m. on Friday, almost four hours into deliberations, the jury wrote to Judge Sjostrom to ask a technical question about questions on the verdict form for counts six and seven as it pertained to Guinnie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The state and defense agreed on a response, and the judge gave the answer to the jury without bringing them back into open court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WCTV.tv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wctvnews\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@WCTVEyewitnessNews\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nextdoor<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WCTV\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">X<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WCTV\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Have a news tip or see an error? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/05\/01\/he-was-shot-what-closing-arguments-conclude-jury-deliberating-officer-shooting-trial\/mailto:news@wctv.tv?subject=Correction%20Needed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Write to us here<\/a>. Please include the article\u2019s headline in your message.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Be the first to see all the biggest headlines by downloading the WCTV News app. Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2024\/12\/18\/download-free-wctv-mobile-streaming-apps-today\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> to get started.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) &#8211; All three men accused of a home invasion that left a Tallahassee Police officer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[110411,110921,8219,265,110410,634,232,234,233,110922],"class_list":["post-255019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-attempted-murder-trial","tag-closing-arguments","tag-court","tag-crime","tag-home-invasion-trial","tag-local","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news","tag-tpd-officer-shot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}