Life sentence closes a major court chapter in Officer David Jewell killing

A Volusia County judge on Monday sentenced Eduardo Labrada Machado, 25, to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the 2025 killing of Edgewater Police Officer David Jewell. The sentence followed Machado’s guilty plea to first-degree murder, bringing a significant legal milestone in a case that has weighed heavily on Edgewater law enforcement and many local residents.

The hearing took place at the S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach, where the courtroom was filled with law enforcement officers, including members of the Edgewater Police Department and Volusia County Sheriff’s Office command staff. According to WFTV’s report, Jewell’s family members and fellow officers addressed the court about the impact of his death, while Machado showed no emotion during the proceeding.

What investigators said happened

Investigators said Machado, who worked as a Circle K clerk, shot Jewell at a gas station at Ocean Shore Boulevard and Wisteria Drive in Ormond-by-the-Sea in September 2025. Authorities previously said Machado told detectives he had been having a bad day and thought about killing Jewell on his way to work. Investigators also said surveillance video showed Machado firing multiple rounds at the officer, and deputies have said Jewell was shot 24 times.

Machado had been facing the death penalty if the case had gone to trial. Instead, the plea deal resulted in a sentence of life without parole. For Edgewater residents, the outcome is likely to be viewed through two lenses: the certainty of a permanent prison sentence, and the emotional reality that no court ruling can undo the loss of an officer remembered by colleagues as deeply committed to his family and his community.

Family and department speak publicly

Jewell’s family spoke publicly in court for the first time since his funeral. His son, Bobby, read Bible verses during the hearing, and his wife, Elizabeth, described their marriage as a once-in-a-lifetime love. Their statements underscored the personal devastation behind a case that has also become a defining moment for the department Jewell served.

WFTV reported that Edgewater police leaders said the department and Jewell’s family supported the plea deal. That detail matters locally, because it signals that those closest to the case believed the agreement delivered accountability while avoiding the uncertainty and strain of a capital trial. In a city where police-community ties are close and losses are felt personally, Monday’s sentence marks a solemn but important point of closure.

Why this matters in Edgewater

Jewell, 45, had served with the Edgewater Police Department for two years and had previously worked for the Volusia Sheriff’s Office as a telecommunicator. Edgewater police have remembered him as kind, selfless and caring, and as a husband and father whose dedication shaped how others knew him. Monday’s sentence does not end the grief surrounding the case, but it does end the criminal prosecution with the harshest non-death-penalty punishment available under Florida law.

For Edgewater readers, this is more than a courthouse update from elsewhere in Volusia County. It is the latest development in one of the most consequential public-safety cases tied directly to the city in recent memory, involving an officer whose death reverberated across the department, local government and the broader community.