Charges reduced for suspect in Longboat murder case

On Jan. 12, detectives arrested Latoya Hanna in St. Lucie County following a six-year investigation.

The original charge for Latoya Hanna was felony murder, and the original arraignment was supposed to be on Feb. 9.

But on Feb. 6, the charges were reduced by state attorney Ed Brodsky to principal to murder in the second degree, which is also a felony.

The arraignment was then rescheduled.

A principal to a murder is a suspect who was not the actual perpetrator but someone who was present or acted as an accomplice. 

Latoya Hanna was arraigned on March 8.

A stipulation for pretrial release was also filed after the arraignment. Latoya Hanna could be released before going to trial and placed on house arrest if a $150,000 bond is paid. 

Her brother, Darryl Hanna Jr., was the first suspect arrested in the case. Darryl Hanna Jr. suffered a stroke-like incident on Sept. 10, 2017, while in jail and never woke up.