Florida Woman Won’t Face Charges After Walmart Parking-Space Fight Turned Fatal

A parking space at a Florida Walmart became the starting point for a confrontation that ended with one person dead.

Melissa Payne and 62-year-old Bart DiGuglielmo both tried to pull into the same space at a North Lauderdale Walmart on June 30. Payne eventually got the spot. DiGuglielmo went somewhere else.

Several minutes later, DiGuglielmo was lying in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He later died at a hospital.

Florida prosecutors have now decided Payne will not face criminal charges. Their conclusion carries an important qualification: the evidence does not establish that Payne "was in the right." Instead, the Broward State Attorney's Office determined that it could not overcome her claim of self-defense under Florida's Stand Your Ground law.

Payne was driving a Chevrolet Malibu with her niece and her niece's infant daughter when she and DiGuglielmo, who was alone in a Kia SUV, reached the parking space at about the same time.

Prosecutors described what followed as a "brief stalemate."

Both drivers got out. DiGuglielmo left his SUV in the travel lane, grabbed a shopping cart and went inside Walmart. Payne parked her car while he was gone.

About 90 seconds later, DiGuglielmo returned.

Coming Back

Multiple witnesses told prosecutors they heard DiGuglielmo threaten to damage Payne's car before he drove away at high speed.

He did not leave the parking lot.

Instead, the state attorney's timeline says DiGuglielmo parked about two aisles away, remained in his vehicle for roughly 90 seconds and then walked back toward the aisle where Payne was sitting in her car.

He stopped beneath one tree, then another. Witnesses described him as visibly angry and shaking as he watched Payne.

After about 50 seconds, DiGuglielmo started toward her.

Payne got out carrying a phone in her left hand and a gun in her right.

One witness told prosecutors that Payne warned DiGuglielmo that she would shoot if he continued approaching. Another recalled her repeatedly telling him not to come near her or her vehicle.

A bystander yelled at both of them that it was not worth it.

The warnings did not end the encounter.

Still Moving

The state attorney's reconstruction relied heavily on video captured from several sources, including nearby vehicles and cellphones.

Prosecutors said DiGuglielmo initially backed away, then began moving toward Payne again.

Payne retreated into an empty parking space after a minivan pulled out. She continued backing between parked vehicles while DiGuglielmo followed.

The video timeline shows Payne moving all the way around one parked vehicle with DiGuglielmo continuing behind her, according to the prosecutor's memo.

He then went toward Payne's Malibu and made a motion with keys in his hand that prosecutors interpreted as a threat to damage the car.

DiGuglielmo turned and approached Payne again.

She fired once.

The bullet struck him in the abdomen.

Payne put the gun on top of her car after the shooting. Deputies arriving at the scene briefly took her into custody.

The Broward Sheriff's Office initially said Payne remained at the scene, cooperated with detectives and told them she had acted in self-defense.

About five minutes after deputies arrived, Payne waived her Miranda rights and spoke with them.

Prosecutors later wrote that her version of the confrontation was consistent with the various video recordings.

Not The Same Thing

That left prosecutors with a different question from simply deciding who behaved better during the confrontation.

Under the Florida statutes cited in the memo, someone who reasonably believes deadly force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm has no duty to retreat when that person is lawfully present and is not engaged in criminal activity.

The burden also mattered.

Prosecutors said Payne did not have to prove that she qualified for immunity. The state would have to overcome her self-defense claim by clear and convincing evidence.

In its analysis, the state attorney's office pointed to DiGuglielmo returning after the original parking dispute, witnesses describing him as angry and shaking, his repeated movement toward Payne, her retreat around the parked vehicle and his continued approach after she displayed the gun.

Payne's infant great-niece was also still inside the Malibu.

"The video does not demonstrate that [Payne] was in the right," Homicide Trial Unit Division Chief Stephen Zaccor wrote.

His conclusion was narrower: prosecutors could not prove that Payne's claimed fear of great bodily harm was unreasonable.

Florida law did not require her to wait until DiGuglielmo physically attacked her before using deadly force, the memo concluded.

A Family Disagrees

DiGuglielmo's family does not accept that assessment.

Attorney Melissa Rodriguez, representing his daughter Amanda, told NBC 6 South Florida that threats to damage property did not, in the family's view, provide reasonable grounds for deadly force.

Amanda DiGuglielmo previously described her father to Local 10 as a longtime emergency-room trauma nurse, Army veteran, father and grandfather.

The family had publicly called for criminal charges before prosecutors completed their review.

The state attorney's office reached the opposite result on Sept. 1.

Payne will not be prosecuted for the shooting.

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