JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On Thursday, Pinkney Carter turned 70.
Also on Thursday, a jury deliberated for a second time in his life whether Carter deserved to live or die. They recommended the death penalty for the murders of Glen Pafford and Elizabeth Reed by 10-2 vote and 9-3 vote margins respectively. The threshold for the death penalty is eight votes.
The last time a jury weighted Carter's life in 2005, they recommended death and Carter was put on death row in his early 50s. Due to changing death penalty laws, Carter is being resentenced for a crime he committed more than 20 years earlier.
In 2002, Carter's ex-girlfriend Reed, her 16-year-old daughter Courtney Smith, and her new boyfriend, Pafford, were shot and killed in their Arlington home. Prosecutors said Carter escaped to Mexico after the murders but was later caught in Kentucky and brought back to Jacksonville in 2004.
“With him getting the death penalty not once but twice just kind of proves that’s truly what he deserved,” said Becca Reed, Reed's daughter and Smith's sister.
During the court process, Becca Reed had to relive the night her mother and sister were murdered. She was eight years old.
"Growing up through life without my mom and having my boys now without my mom is just, it’s something that’s never gonna go away, ever,” she said.
Reed's sister said going through the court proceedings again was "horrible."
“It has opened up so many memories, good and bad," said Cyn Naegele. "Seeing Liz’s daughter, she’s the spitting image as her mother and just as beautiful and vibrant as her mother. So that is amazing, but it’s crushing at the same time to know that she’s everything Liz should have turned out to be.”
Prosecutors argued during the penalty phase of the death penalty trial that Carter murdered Reed, Smith and Pafford because he felt rejected by Reed after she broke off their relationship. They said Carter took the time to go retrieve and load his gun then snuck through the back of Reed’s house.
“It’s hard to get out of your system," said Prosecutor Bernie De La Rosa. "I mean, I can remember being there, I can remember when he fled and he was located in Mexico.”
De La Rionda has also carried memories of the case with him for 22 years.
"I would ask people to go home and hug their kids," he said. "Be thankful to them.”
Defense attorneys claimed Carter did not plan to kill Reed and the others and went to Reed’s home to confront her about breaking off their relationship. His defense argued Carter was traumatized from an abusive father growing up and was under the influence of alcohol and an antidepressant at the time of the murders.
“I have no words left there for him," said Becca Reed about Carter. "He took something from our family that we’ll never be able to get back. He took our sister and our mother and ended another person’s life for no reason so there’s really just no forgiveness for that.”
Reed and Smith's family members were in the courtroom during the trial, which began with a seated jury a week ago. Reed's son was the first to testify. Rick Smith was 14 years old and home with his two younger siblings when he said he found the bodies of his mother, sister and his mother's boyfriend. He testified he heard "popping" sounds and a yell to call 911 then grabbed his BB gun.
Carter's next hearing is set for Oct. 18.