Melissa Payne will not be prosecuted for fatally shooting a retired Army staff sergeant during a Walmart parking lot confrontation.
Broward County prosecutors announced Thursday that Payne, whose exact age was not released, is immune from prosecution under Florida’s “stand your ground” law. The decision came more than two weeks after she killed Bart Diguglielmo, 62, outside the North Lauderdale supercenter on June 30.
The legal memo from the state attorney’s office details a toxicology report finding amphetamines, Delta 9 THC, and the antidepressant Sertraline in Diguglielmo’s blood at the time of his death. The decorated Desert Storm veteran had been filmed approaching Payne’s white Chevrolet Malibu after a parking dispute escalated into threats and racial slurs.
“Florida is a Stand Your Ground State,” prosecutor Stephen J. Zaccor wrote in the memo. “MP (Melissa Payne) did not have to wait to be attacked before resorting to deadly force.”
“She did not have to retreat as long as her fear was reasonable and no evidence has been presented to disprove that,” Zaccor continued.
The confrontation began when both drivers attempted to park in the same space around 12:30 p.m. After a brief stalemate, Diguglielmo left his Kia SUV blocking the lane of travel, retrieved a cart, and entered the Walmart. Payne stayed in her vehicle with her infant great-niece while her niece went inside.
Diguglielmo returned after roughly 90 seconds and was filmed talking to Payne. Multiple witnesses told investigators he was threatening her. He then drove off at high speed, parked, and walked back toward Payne’s vehicle rather than entering the store.
One witness described Diguglielmo as “visibly angry” and shaking while smoking a cigarette and watching Payne. He then walked toward her vehicle.
Payne exited her car with her phone in her left hand and her gun in her right. A bystander reported she yelled, “It’s not worth it!” and “If you keep coming up to me, I’m going to f–king shoot you!”
Despite the warnings, Diguglielmo continued advancing while making hand gestures. Payne later told deputies in a body-camera-recorded statement that he told her, “I’ve seen tougher a–holes than you, do it, shoot me.”
Video released by prosecutors showed Diguglielmo following Payne around another parked car, then approaching her vehicle and motioning with his keys as if to damage it. He turned back toward Payne, and she fired one shot into his abdomen.
Payne was on the phone with her husband throughout the altercation. After firing, she told him, “Bae, I shot. Call the cops.”
Diguglielmo was rushed to Broward General Hospital but died from his injuries. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide by gunshot wound.
One witness told investigators she heard Diguglielmo threaten Payne by saying, “I’m gonna f–k your s–t up.” Another witness said he told her he was going to “mess her car up,” Payne told deputies that Diguglielmo had opened the confrontation by saying, “You n——.”
Payne was briefly detained following the shooting and released after claiming self-defense. Prosecutors concluded that while the video did not prove she was in the right, they could not overcome her claim of reasonable fear by clear and convincing evidence.
“The video does not demonstrate that MP was in the right, rather it demonstrates that the State of Florida cannot overcome her claim that she was in reasonable fear of great bodily harm by clear and convincing evidence,” Zaccor wrote.