CRESTVIEW, Fla. — Dylan Deschaine, the man awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge in the 2024 death of Niceville restaurateur Mike Ledford, now faces a new felony charge stemming from an alleged attack inside the Okaloosa County Jail.
Related: Body camera video shows what happened the night Dylan Deschaine was arrested.
According to an affidavit filed by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Deschaine is charged with Battery by a Person Detained in a Jail Facility, a felony under Florida Statute 784.082(3).
Investigators allege the incident occurred on April 8, 2026, inside the Delta Pod Echo section of the Okaloosa County Jail in Crestview.
The victim, who had recently been assigned to the housing unit, was allegedly lured into Cell 3 by another inmate and attacked by multiple inmates. Sheriff’s Office investigators say a second attack occurred less than two hours later in the same cell.
According to the arrest affidavit, Deschaine participated in the second assault after the victim returned to Cell 3 to retrieve a pair of shoes. Investigators allege Deschaine came downstairs from an upper level of the housing pod and struck the victim multiple times in the head and body.
Deputies say the assault was captured on jail security cameras.
The victim completed an affidavit of complaint and suffered significant injuries, including a broken nose, two black eyes, and a ruptured eardrum, according to investigators.
During a post-Miranda interview, Deschaine denied involvement and told deputies he did not know anything about a fight, the affidavit states.
The new charge comes while Deschaine remains in custody awaiting trial in the February 2024 killing of Mike Ledford in Niceville. Prosecutors allege Deschaine fatally stabbed Ledford following a confrontation outside Paradise Liquors in the Oak Creek Shopping Center. A judge denied Deschaine’s Stand Your Ground immunity claim in 2025, allowing the murder case to proceed toward trial – and denying him the ability to use self-defense as a defense in the courtroom at trial.
Court records show Deschaine appeared for a pretrial conference on June 10, where attorneys discussed scheduling matters in both the murder case and the newly filed jail battery case. The battery charge has been assigned case number 2026-CF-730.
Deschaine is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
