James Mixon, Third Defendant In Child Sexual Abuse Case, Guilty On Multiple Counts

TALLAHASSEE, FL – A jury took 90 minutes Friday evening to find James Edward Mixon guilty as charged of two counts of Sexual Battery and two counts of Lewd or Lascivious Molestation, State Attorney, Larry Basford, announced.
 
Circuit Court Judge Dedee Costello set sentencing for November 5th, when the defendant, 42, faces up to Life in prison for 2 counts of Sexual Battery on a Victim Older than 12 and Younger than 18, and two counts of Lewd and Lascivious Molestation.

The 3-day trial, led by Prosecutor Morgan Morrell with Prosecutor Brea Dearing, was the third related to the sexual abuse of a young girl in 2024. Jonathan Allen Mixon, 39, of Youngstown, pled to Lewd or Lascivious Molestation and several other charges and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. He testified against James Mixon. Amber Gunder, 39, pled to several charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

“This defendant needed to be off the streets because he would’ve continued doing this kind of thing,” Morrell said. “He’s caused a tremendous amount of emotional damage that she will have to live with and deal with for the rest of her life.”
 
The victim was adopted by an out-of-state family member.
 
These charges sprung from a separate case involving the victim, who disclosed what had happened while undergoing counseling. The evidence included not just victim testimony, but a number of explicit texts and pictures found through Facebook messenger accounts.
 
The victim said the defendant sexually abused her twice in incidents involving the co-defendants.
 
Morrell called 4 witnesses – the victim, another young girl who said the defendant sexually abused her, Merritt, and co-defendant Jonathan Mixon.

The testimony showed all three defendants had been drinking and doing cocaine when the abuse occurred.

Morrell said it was a complicated case with multiple defendants and the work of Bay County Sheriff’s Office Inv. Dakota Merritt of the Criminal Investigations Division was particularly helpful.
 
“There were a lot of moving parts with 3 defendants and Inv. Merritt did an extremely thorough report and investigation, he was very invested and a big part of this case,” Morrell said.

Morrell said after the verdict was announced and jurors were filing out of the courtroom, she was able to make contact with the victim from this case and the victim who testified about a similar attack.

“I was able to turn around, and they were both holding hands with the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center advocate and they were both smiling, with tears running down their faces,” Morrell said. “And when the jury was out, they both gave me a big hug.
 
“That was just priceless and reminded me of why we work so hard on these cases.”
 
Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and the GCCAC for their work and collaboration in investigating and putting together a case that is resulting in three people going to prison for sexually abusing a child.