Justin Ryan McGriff is charged with first-degree murder in the death of driver Thomas Dunn, and if convicted, he could face life in prison.
Tampa police say McGriff boarded a HART bus around 4 p.m. on May 18, 2019, armed with a weapon hidden in his right hand.
According to an arrest affidavit, McGriff told Dunn, “God bless you” twice before slitting his throat.
In court last week, the state played surveillance video captured on the bus that day. Witnesses told investigators there was no provocation before the attack, which was supported by the surveillance footage.
The state then called to the stand several witnesses, including passengers on the bus and several members of law enforcement.
Officer Travis Richards was among them. He testified through body camera video that McGriff ran away before several law enforcement partners aided Richards in arresting McGriff near the road.
The death penalty is no longer on the table for McGriff after The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office in 2020 said it learned of evidence of his mental illness.
“This awful attack on a public servant shocked us all, and our office remains focused on obtaining justice for the victim’s family through a murder conviction,” a spokesperson for the state attorney’s office said at the time.
In 2019, McGriff was found incompetent to stand trial and sent to a state hospital, where doctors worked to restore his competency.
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