The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed the death sentences of Michael James Jackson, the ringleader of a group that kidnapped a frail, elderly couple in 2005 and buried them alive. The ruling solidifies the state’s ability to impose capital punishment without a unanimous jury verdict, a contentious legal standard enacted in 2023.
Jackson, along with three codefendants, abducted James and Carol Sumner from their Jacksonville home. The victims, who were in poor health, were bound with duct tape, driven to a remote area in Georgia, and placed into a six-foot-deep hole while still breathing.
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Originally sentenced to death in 2007 following an 8-4 jury recommendation, Jackson’s sentence was vacated in 2017. At that time, the state Supreme Court required unanimous jury verdicts for capital punishment, following the Hurst v. State ruling. However, Jackson’s resentencing was delayed until May 2023.
By the time Jackson returned to court, the legal landscape had shifted again. Following the life sentence given to Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz—which resulted from a non-unanimous jury—the Florida Legislature amended state law to allow judges to impose death based on a recommendation of eight or more jurors.
At his 2023 resentencing, a new jury again voted 8-4 for death on both murder counts. Jackson’s attorneys argued this was unconstitutional, claiming the new law shouldn’t apply retroactively and that non-unanimous verdicts breed racial discrimination in jury selection.
The high court rejected those arguments in Thursday’s opinion.
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“The Eighth Amendment does not require a jury’s favorable recommendation before a death penalty can be imposed,” the court wrote, affirming that the procedural changes were lawfully applied to Jackson’s resentencing. The court also dismissed Jackson’s claims that the law violated equal protection or targeted him specifically.
While concurring with the result based on current precedent, Justice Jorge Labarga issued a separate opinion highlighting Florida’s unique position regarding capital punishment standards.
“Florida now has the lowest standard in the nation, requiring the fewest number of jurors to recommend the death penalty,” Labarga wrote.
To illustrate the disparity between Florida and other jurisdictions, Labarga provided the following comparative statistics regarding capital sentencing thresholds:
- Federal Government: Requires a 12-0 (unanimous) vote.
- Alabama: Requires a 10-2 vote.
- Florida: Requires an 8-4 vote.
Labarga also noted that Florida leads the nation in death row exonerations, citing data from the Death Penalty Information Center. Since 1973, 30 individuals have been exonerated from Florida’s death row, the highest number of any state in the U.S.
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Despite these objections regarding the statutory threshold, the court found that the aggravating factors in the Sumner murders—including the fact that the crimes were committed for financial gain and were “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel”—outweighed any mitigating evidence presented by the defense.
Jackson’s codefendants previously received different sentences. Bruce Kent Nixon, who cooperated with police, received 45 years. Tiffany Ann Cole and Alan Lyndell Wade, who were also originally sentenced to death, were resentenced to life in prison during the period when unanimous verdicts were required.
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