FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 25, 2006

State Attorney Steve Meadows announces the conviction, in Bay County Circuit Court, of Jeremy Cowell Peer, on charges of Leaving the Scene of Accident with Death and Leaving the Scene of Accident with Injury.

It took the four man, two woman jury one hour and 16 minutes to find Peer, 18, of Westland, Michigan, guilty in connection with an April 17, 2006, hit-and-run incident.

Bay County Assistant State Attorney Mark Graham presented evidence, in the two-day trial, that Peer drove off the roadway, on Front Beach Road and struck Monty and Colleen Martin. Peer drove about 100 feet, stopped, and then fled the scene. The vehicle, heavily damaged in the right front, was abandoned at a Panama City Beach motel.

The collision and fleeing was seen by the driver of another car who stopped to render aid–as the law required Peer to do–and called 911. Colleen Martin was pronounced dead on the scene. Monty Martin survived and testified at trial.

Evidence was also presented that Peer had been drinking–beer and shots--about an hour before the collision. He was located and arrested about two hours after leaving the scene.

Sentencing is set for November 8, 2006. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. Circuit Court Judge Dedee S. Costello ordered Peer taken into custody until the sentencing date.

Please call Joe Grammer, 850-872-4473, with questions.

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