Inset: Jeffrey Chapman (Bangor Daily News). Background: Savonne Morrison during his sentencing hearing after his manslaughter conviction in Chapman's death in Florida (WFLA).
A 21-year-old Florida man will spend decades behind bars for the death of a bicyclist who was chased down and repeatedly bludgeoned with a tire iron.
Savonne Morrison, who was on probation at the time for carjacking a man and running him over with his own car, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the death of 49-year-old Jeffrey Chapman. A jury earlier this year convicted Morrison of manslaughter. Morrison received 15 years for the manslaughter charge and 30 years for violating probation for the carjacking.
"My father was murdered for sport. What makes this even more disgusting is that the defendant was on probation for a violent felony when he did this," Sierra Chapman said during the hearing, according to local NBC affiliate WFLA. "A violent prior offense, probation given, and murder chosen. If this is who he has been when he was given a second chance, what exactly would a third chance produce? My father was given no chances that night."
Morrison, then 18, and Jermaine Bennett, then 26, were armed with a tire iron and had committed numerous acts of vandalism on Oct. 20, 2022, when they drove up on Chapman, who was riding a bicycle on the 700 block of Mandalay Avenue in Clearwater.
Morrison shoved Chapman off the bike, a probable cause arrest affidavit said. Chapman tried to run away but Morrison chased him down, and Bennett started beating him in the head with the tire iron.
Cops rushed to the scene, but Chapman was already dead.
The incident was captured on video, and cops identified Morrison and Bennett as the suspects from the license plate on the vehicle. In an interview with police after receiving his Miranda rights, Bennett admitted to hitting Chapman with the tire iron at least 10 times.
Text messages between the two apparently showed they were not very remorseful for their actions. Morrison texted Bennett a link to a news story about the incident.
Bennett responded "lol" and later texted Morrison "we did it" and referred to them as "legends." Bennett's phone also had videos showing the two vandalizing and busting out windows of cars before the killing.
Both men were charged with first-degree murder. Bennett was convicted of the charge and sentenced to life in prison. The jury opted to convict Morrison of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Morrison was 15 years old when he participated in a carjacking in 2020 in which the suspects ran over the victim with his own vehicle. He was sentenced under the Youthful Offender Act and spent about a year in jail before he was released on probation. The victim in that case also spoke during Monday's sentencing hearing.
"They did drag me out of the car and I got hit a couple of times to the point where I couldn't really move. They drug me in the middle of the road," the victim told the court, per WFLA.
Sierra Chapman asked the judge to give Morrison no leniency. Her father was simply going for a bike ride, something he loved to do, when he was killed, she said.
"This was just a man living a quiet and humble life. A man who was compassionate, patient, wise and kind, that was left to die on the side of the road, after being beaten to death for no reason at all," she said, according to the TV station. "This family has failed to raise him in a matter of decency to be allowed to live outside of a prison, what he has done does not deserve mercy or compassion."
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