UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

PENSACOLA DIVISION

ESTATE OF MICHAEL BAKER, by

BETTY SIMMS, Personal Representative

for the Estate and Survivors Michael Jones

and Mikellia Baker,

Plaintiff,

v. CASE NO: 3:20-CV-4325

WARDEN JIMMY COKER, SGT.

TIMOTHY LINGO, and OFFICERS

SPENCER A. BARNES, PAUL S. 

COX, JR., CHRISTOPHER 

WORLEY, individually,

Defendants.

____________________________/

DEFENDANTS’ RESPONSE IN OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF’S MOTION 

TO STAY CONSIDERATION OF DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR 

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

COMES NOW, Defendants Warden Jimmy Coker (“Warden Coker”, Sgt. 

Timothy Lingo (Sgt. Lingo), and Officers Spencer A. Barnes, Paul S. Cox, Jr. 

(“Officer Cox”), Christopher Worley (“Officer Worley”), (collectively 

“Defendants”), and files this Response in Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion to Stay 

Consideration of Defendants’ Motions for Summary Judgment. In support thereof, 

Defendants state as follows:

1. On March 24, 2021, undersigned counsel met with the investigator, Kate 

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Gustafson, charged with investigating Mr. Baker’s death in an effort to 

recover the video which was previously unviewable due to technology issues.

2. Ms. Gustafson provided the video player with the recording contained inside 

on the hard drive for the attempted recovery.

3. Undersigned counsel and the investigator were able to get the video recording 

to play after troubleshooting the video player. 

4. Immediately following retrieval of a playable video, undersigned counsel 

made a copy of the recording and provided Plaintiff’s counsel with said copy, 

along with photographs of the entire process.

5. On March 24, 2021, undersigned counsel called Plaintiff’s counsel to discuss 

the video, but was told Plaintiff’s counsel was unavailable.

6. On March 26, 2021, Plaintiff’s counsel stated he would review the video.

7. Undersigned counsel responded and requested that Plaintiff’s counsel call him 

to discuss the video. (Exhibit “1”).

8. Plaintiff’s counsel never called to discuss the video and did not request 

additional time to conduct limited discovery prior to conferring regarding the 

instant request.

9. There is no new information in the video warranting additional discovery, as 

its contents corroborates the testimony already in the record.

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WHEREFORE, Defendant asks this Honorable Court to deny Plaintiff’s 

Motion for Stay of Consideration of Summary Judgment.

Respectfully submitted this 2nd day of April, 2021.

/s/Mark L. Bonfanti

Mark L. Bonfanti

FL Bar No. 0010185

mbonfanti@hgrslaw.com

HALL, GILLIGAN,

ROBERTS & SHANLEVER LLP

1241 Airport Road, Suite A

Destin, Florida 32541

T. (850) 502-2004

F. (404) 537-5555

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

Defendant, by and through undersigned counsel, hereby certifies that this 

memorandum contains 531 words in compliance with the word count limitation 

articulated in N.D. Loc. R. 56.1(E) and 7.1(F). 

/s/ Mark L. Bonfanti

Mark L. Bonfanti

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I HEREBY CERTIFY that on May 6, 2021, I electronically filed the foregoing 

document with the Clerk of Court using CM/ECF and a true and correct copy of the 

foregoing was sent via Electronic Mail (cookjv@gmail.com) to: James V. Cook,

Law Office of James Cook, 314 West Jefferson Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32301.

 /s/ Mark L. Bonfanti

Mark L. Bonfanti

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