Florida man handed life sentence for 2020 murder

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) - A Florida judge on Monday sentenced a Pensacola man life in prison for a 2020 murder, according to Florida State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden.

Circuit Court Judge John Simon handed the life sentence to Stefan Phillip Gislason in connection with the death of Dillon Shanks. On Oct. 7, 2022, an Escambia County jury found Gislason guilty of second-degree murder.

Gislason shot Shanks in Gislason’s home on Durango Drive in Pensacola On April 20, 2020. Authorities said Shanks was found with a gunshot wound to the back of his neck and head. He was only a few feet from an exterior door laying on top of a pile of clothing he had been carrying.

According to evidence presented at the trial, Gislason shot Shanks as he escorted him out of his house at gunpoint during a drunken argument, authorities said. Initially, Gislason told Pensacola police detectives that Shanks shot himself then later claimed self-defense.