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Courtesy photos / The man shown in these gruesome photos is none other than Henry Ford Wheeler, greater New Smyrna Beach's notorious ex-con who got beat up in a beachside bar. Wheeler made headlines last year for costing then-County Judge Mary Jane Henderson her seat on the bench in the November elections after she tried to help him turn his alcoholic life around, only to see him continue getting into trouble, including being at the center of a drug-related murder.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Henry Ford Wheeler, a career criminal with more than 60 arrests on his record, actually found himself on the right side of the law after he was beaten to a bloody pulp inside a New Smyrna Beach bar in April.
Courtesy photo / At left is the jail mug of David Fernandez, accused of beating up Henry Ford Wheeler.
David Fernendez, the manager of Traders Pub on Flagler Avenue where the beating took place, was arrested Wednesday on a warrant charging him with felony battery. An additional warrant has been issued for a second man believed responsible for taking part in the beating of Wheeler.
Wheeler's face as the target of several individuals at the Traders Pub on Flagler Avenue with "hands, feet and teeth," according to a police incident report of the 2:19 a.m. attack of April 18. It wasn't clear in the police report what may have sparked the violence, requiring the 46-year-old Edgewater man to be transported to Bert Fish Medical Center.
Wheeler suffered "mostly facial injuries," Detective Sgt. Griffith said. Wheeler had been released on $5,000 bail on charges of felony murder and possession of cocaine in the July 19, 2009, gunshot slaying of Jeremy Markley in an apparent drug deal gone bad. Because the prime suspect in Markley's killing is 33-year-old Melvin Brown, Wheeler was offered a deal of substantially reduced time from a possible life sentence in exchange for cooperative testimony for the state.
Brown, in prison on an unrelated conviction, is the alleged triggerman in the 25-year-old New Smyrna Beach man's death. Wheeler remains charged as a principal to murder in the shooting death since he arranged a meeting in another New Smyrna Beach bar that apparently led to Brown getting ripped off and retaliating by chasing the victim through the streets of New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater while firing a handgun at his vehicle, ultimately killing him, police have said.
Wheeler who recently got out of prison, was befriended by former longtime County Judge Mary Jane Henderson a couple of years ago, before he turned on her with his erratic behavior, showing up drunk at the courthouse in New Smyrna Beach as well as at her home.
Henderson was swept out of office in November after she was reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court for trying to help Wheeler manage his affairs by holding his money and helping him get an apartment.