Gary Bevel was a 29-year-old Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officer who was shot and killed on May 17, 1983, in Jacksonville, Florida. He was attempting to arrest a woman, Andrea Hicks Jackson, after she had made a false report about damage to her car when Jackson shot him six times, killing him instantly.

Andrea Hicks Jackson was tried repeatedly for the murder. She was sentenced to death in 1984, and again in later trials in 1992, 1996, and 1998, but each death sentence was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court. In 2000 her sentence was commuted to life in prison with the possibility of parole; parole requests were denied in 2007 and 2011, and she remains incarcerated.

Officer Bevel’s death and the long series of appeals and resentencings in Jackson’s case raised lasting questions about how capital cases are handled in the state. Does anyone have memories of Officer Bevel’s service or information about the case that could add to the record?