Long sentenced in 2020 shooting homicide

Jeremy Cole Long was sentenced to 15 years in the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) by Circuit Judge Colby Peel in connection to the 2020 shooting homicide of 28-year-old Charlie Robert Griffin.

Cole, 28, pled no contest Sept. 9 to the charge of principal to second-degree murder and is the third and final defendant in the case to be sentenced.

The first was 27-year-old Jestiny Lee Fears, who was sentenced to 15 years. The second was 30-year-old Joshua Caleb Cumbie, who was sentenced to 35 years.

Peel recommended that Long and Cumbie not be housed together in the FDOC network.

The case began in Aug. 2020 when the Washington County Communications Center received a call in reference to a body lying on the side of Jeffrey Boulevard. The victim, later identified as Griffin, had been shot multiple times.

Washington County SheriffÂ’s Office (WCSO) investigators determined Griffin had left his residence with Cumbie and Long who had conspired to rob Griffin prior to meeting him at his home.

The men planned to travel to Dothan, Ala. to purchase narcotics but never made it to the destination. Griffin, Cumbie and Long went to another residence in the county before driving to a dirt road, where one of the assailants pulled Griffin out of the car, robbed him and shot him several times.

WCSO reported the assailants said that Griffin owed Fears $400 and was a factor in the killing.