Jeffrey David Maxwell, age 26, was robbed and slain by Brian Wothers, a 43-year-old veteran of the military.at Graham Swamp after having a party with him that evening in 2006, is requesting to be released from all state oversight 17 years after being committed to a state hospital and ruled not guilty by reason of insanity. That stage is not yet ready to be granted by a circuit court.
Wothers has complied with his medication schedule throughout the years, and his supervisory strictures have been progressively lowered. He has been living independently for a number of years, but SMA Healthcare continues to oversee him. He can now be released from all supervision, according to SMA.
Last Monday, during what was supposed to be a status hearing before Circuit Judge Terence Perkins, Wothers, his lawyer David Glasser, and SMA’s forensic director Carrie Anderson all appeared via Zoom. The session eventually turned into a request for Wothers’ complete release. Perkins wasn’t prepared to do that.
Circuit Judge Terence Perkins stated that any effort to alter Mr. Worthers’ status—whether it be a termination or something else entirely—must be made in writing. All of the paperwork, including the final discharge diagnosis and narrative, must be in writing. Let’s examine the information presented.
According to Perkins, Wothers will require court records demonstrating whether he is fully discharged or whether any supervision power will still be in place.
Glasser informed the judge, “We went through extensive proceedings on his behalf.” We went through the steps to get him care because he is a veteran. And he did. To establish himself, he had to go through a lot of hoops. He moved out of state and has done extremely well.
Glasser and Wothers hadn’t communicated in a long time. However, he discovered that his client was eligible for discharge from all supervisory programs as the status hearing was scheduled. Glasser stated, “I’m sure he would be happy for that to happen.” Prior to the hearing, the two had not even spoken on the phone.
According to Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis, I have not been notified that he will be released from the program. I’ve only seen yearly reports.
The SMA forensic director informed the court that SMA had requested Wothers’ discharge since he had been performing admirably on his conditional release plan. Once more, however, the court file did not contain the SMA documents.
SMA will supply that paperwork. The destiny of Wothers will then be decided by Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols. Last Tuesday, Perkins filled in for Nichols.
On May 26, 2006, Maxwell of Denison, Texas, was discovered with a gunshot wound to his chest by maintenance workers clearing vegetation in Graham Swamp. Deputies from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office discovered that Maxwell had been lodging at the Palm Coast Sleep Inn with a buddy, who informed them that Maxwell had visited Daytona Beach strip clubs with another group of guests sleeping at the motel. He had made many calls to his roommate during the night, the most recent one being at 3:25 a.m., informing him that he would return to the motel in 20 minutes.
In order to make his calls during the night, Maxwell had borrowed phones. Brian Wothers, a 24-year-old Ormond Beach resident and regular customer of Lolly Pop’s, the club where Maxwell was spotted that evening, owned the phone he used for his final call. At 2:51 a.m., surveillance footage there showed Wothers and Maxwell departing together.
Wothers told his brother he had just shot and murdered someone and was leaving town when he roused him up at 4:30 a.m. After telling his stepfather that he had driven a man to Palm Coast, Wothers tossed the man out of the truck and shot him after he passed out in the vehicle and woke up acting strangely. Wothers served in the Guard. His firearm was an M-4. Five shot casings from an M-4 were discovered close to Maxwell.
Maxwell, the father of a 4-year-old son, had also been robbed by Wothers. He was taken into custody. He was charged with first-degree murder by a grand jury. Judge Kim Hammond found Wothers not guilty by reason of insanity on March 7, 2008, after the defense and prosecution jointly stipulated. The court determined that Wothers posed a clear and significant risk to himself and the public due to his history of mental illness, substance addiction, despair, PTSD, and suicidal tendencies.
Although the court found him not unable to stand trial, it did conclude that he lacked sufficient mental ability at the time of the murder to understand the wrongness of his actions or to follow the law. He was confined to a state hospital by the court’s order.
Wothers asked to be detained in a less restrictive setting in 2010. Raul Zambrano, the then-circuit judge, first rejected the motion before granting it two years later. By 2014, Wothers was permitted to live in his own apartment while being watched over every day. In 2018, Circuit Judge Dennis Craig, who described himself as polite but nervous, cut that down to two days per week.
