Richard L. Drake charged with the murder of David J. Walsh & attempted murder of Ethan Worthington

By Austin L. Miller
Staff writer
Published: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 1:02 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 1:02 p.m.
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SWAT team members from the Marion County Sheriff's Office search for a suspect in a shooting where two people were shot and one died on Southeast 164th Place in Summerfield Tuesday. In the inset photos are murder suspect Richard Drake, at top, and murder victim David Walsh.
Bruce Ackerman/Star-Banner

At Richard L. Drake’s first court appearance Wednesday — via video link from the Marion County Jail — the Summerfield murder suspect told a judge he wants Casey Anthony’s lawyer for free.

County Judge Jim McCune asked him again if he needed a public defender, and Drake said loudly that he doesn’t think the Public Defender’s Office would do a good job.

Finally, the 43-year-old accepted a public defender.

It was one moment during an unusual first appearance in which the inmate — who is on suicide watch — was loud and snappy in his responses. He showed little respect for the judge and left the room cursing.

An assistant state attorney laid out Drake’s long laundry list of convictions in at least three states — Florida, Georgia and North Carolina — which drew reactions from other inmates.

Before appointing the Public Defender’s Office, McCune had to know if Drake could afford a private attorney, so he asked Drake if he had a job.

“Not right now,” Drake shot back in a loud voice, because he’s “in jail.”

Pressed further, Drake said that two days before the shooting, he was fixing a computer. Pressed again for an answer, he told the judge he repairs computers for a living and makes anywhere from $200 to $400 a week.

Drake said he has no savings, no money and no property and is renting a mobile home.

Citing the risk of harm and the nature of the crime, McCune said Drake should continue to be held without bail.

Drake was cursing as he left the courtroom at the Marion County Jail.

He declined an interview request from a Star-Banner reporter.

Drake was charged Tuesday night with the murder of 23-year-old David J. Walsh and the attempted murder of 19-year-old Ethan Worthington. He also was charged with grand theft auto.

According to Detective Clint Smith’s report, Marion County sheriff’s deputies went to 9778 SE 164th Place in Summerfield shortly after noon Tuesday after receiving a call about multiple gunshots. Upon arrival, two deputies noticed the sliding glass door was broken and a window next to it was broken, with blood on the glass.

Entering the mobile home, deputies saw Walsh, who only a week ago had celebrated his 23rd birthday. His body was on its back on the kitchen floor with gunshot wounds to the abdomen and head.

Near the body were 9mm shell casings and a blood trail that led from the kitchen to a bedroom. Searching the backyard, deputies found Worthington lying on the ground, with what appeared to be multiple gunshot wounds in his body.

Worthington told one of the deputies that Drake had shot him, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies learned Drake lived down the street at 9700 SE 164th Place. He wasn’t there. Deputies issued a bulletin for Walsh’s white 2008 four-door Chevy Impala.

Detective Bobby Levay arrived and talked with a man and woman who had heard several shots coming from the victim’s residence. Both said they saw a man get in a white car and drive away.

Another deputy went to Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where Worthington was taken, and again the young man said Drake had shot him and Walsh over a drug deal gone bad.

Detective Smith talked with another witness who said that while he and another man were driving to Walmart, the other man told him he gave a Ruger 9mm to Drake. Drake, the witness said, needed money, so he was going to lend the gun to a friend for cash, according to the report.

The witness told Smith that Drake had money problems and stated, “Everybody knows that David has money,” according to the report.

Drake lived on Southeast 164th Place for about a year and a half, his landlady, Mary Grey, said. She recently filed paperwork to have him evicted. Grey said Drake was unemployed, owed $900 in rent and was selling his household items in an attempt to raise money.

Walsh, the murder victim, was on probation for drug-related convictions, according to online records with the Florida Department Corrections. His 11 offenses — ranging from marijuana possession to trafficking in cocaine — occurred between August 2009 and January 2010.

Detective Rhonda Stroup interviewed Christopher Sappington, 24, who acknowledged giving Drake the gun, according to Drake’s arrest affidavit. Sappington told her that around 10:30 a.m. Drake and he went to the victim’s home, where he purchased seven oxycodone pills from Walsh.

Sappington said he left Drake there with Walsh, Worthington and an unknown woman.

Smith heard from another witness who said Drake called him alleging that Walsh was being robbed by two unknown men and that the men shot at him so he returned fire with his 9mm handgun. Drake told the witness he then left the residence.

At 7:18 p.m., deputies found Drake at 11110 NE 236th Place in Fort McCoy and blood inside the vehicle. They also found several bags belonging to the victim. In one of the bags was Walsh’s driver’s license.

Drake declined to talk with detectives.

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