JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Michael Renard Jackson was found guilty again of first-degree murder and sexual battery during his retrial on Saturday morning. The jury briefly deliberated before returning with their verdict.
He was convicted on Feb. 22, 2010, and sentenced to death on July 16, 2010 for the murder of Andrea Boyer. However, an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court resulted in a reversal and the granting of a new trial.
During closing arguments, the state offered a graphic account of the morning of Jan. 7, 2007 when Boyer was beaten, strangled, raped and stabbed.
Emotional testimony was heard from Boyer’s friends and family members, who could be seen wiping their eyes.
Prosecutor, Dan Skinner, returned several times to the theme of his closing argument which was, “facts are stubborn things.”
“Perfect timing for him to work his way down and go into the gate, following behind her in these dark shadows, and waiting until she makes her way back from out of the clinic," said Skinner.
Skinner says those are facts that you can't argue with.
He also brought up Jackson’s criminal past, a prior conviction for raping a teenager at knife point at a Jacksonville apartment complex in the 80s.
Defense attorney Ann Finnell told jurors that detectives mishandled the crime scene, and unfairly jumped to the conclusion that whoever had sex with Boyer was the one who killed her.
“The person who did this crime remembers everything about January 23, 2007 and yet when Michael Jackson was interviewed on February 16 of 2007 he didn’t remember January 23rd," said Finnell.
She argued the investigation was only three weeks long and there was no identifiable match of evidence with Jackson.
“Have we become so dated as a society that we no longer give someone who makes a mistake at the age 16 a second chance? How does this have anything to do with this case? It doesn’t. It shows how desperate the state is due to a lack of evidence to try to credit this the way you view this evidence," said Finnell.
Pam Hazel is the Clay County Director, supervising the office of the Circuit's second-most populous county. She says Jackson did not leave a witness and he made sure of that.
She stated that Boyer isn’t able to come in here today and tell us what happened to her. She says Jackson made sure of that.
Boyers mother sent First Coast News a statement that says:
"It's been 16 years that our beautiful daughter Andrea was taken from us. She was a wonderful daughter and loved her family. She loved her job at the vet clinic. My father Tom Cochlin had be counting on this day to finally bring justice for Andrea but couldn't be here. He's in ICU battling cancer and kidney failure and my mother Liz Cochlin is there by his bedside in Washington state. I know in my heart that he is holding on finally to hear that the jury found Michael Jackson guilty of this terrible crime. Our family has shed many tears through the years, missing her birthday, holidays and hearing her beautiful voice. Finally we can breathe and say justice has been served."
Just about 20 minutes into the jurors deliberations, they asked the judge to watch a 2007 video of a detective interviewing Michael Jackson about the death of Andrea Boyer.
About two hours later, the jury asked an additional seven questions asking to see more evidence from the scene and the autopsy, but Judge Don Lester couldn’t provide those answers.
The juror could not make a decision at deliberation Friday evening, leading to proceeding being pushed onto Saturday morning. The next phase for Jackson is sentencing. The jury will have to decide if the man will receive the death penalty again or life in prison.
