JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jury selection begins Monday for two of the men sent to death row for kidnapping, robbing, and murdering a local couple.
Reggie and Carol Sumner were reported missing from their home in 2005 and were found in a shallow grave in Charlton County, Georgia, where medical examiners said they were buried alive.
Death sentences for Alan Wade and Michael Jackson were thrown out in 2017, their convictions haven’t changed— but their punishment may.
17 years after the two were convicted and sentenced to death for murdering Carol and Reggie Sumner, prosecutors contend the men along with two other people kidnapped the couple from their St. Nicholas home, and forced them to make cash withdrawals from ATMs, then buried them alive in Charlton County, Georgia.
Shovels and crime scene photos were shown at trial, other evidence were photos of the defendants posing with money and drinking champagne in the back of a limo.
Tiffany Cole was also sentenced to death for her role in the crime making her one of a handful of women on death row in Florida. At her sentencing hearing in 2015 Cole begged for mercy. Her death sentence was also thrown out.
Wade’s online court documents show the defense team filing motions as recently as last Friday. Including some asking for certain pieces of evidence to be thrown out.
Jury selection is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. on Monday.