6/2/20 Florida Supreme Court Oral Arguments: State of Florida v. Michael James Jackson SC20-257

Jackson was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2005 first-degree murders of James and Carol Sumner. The jury voted 8-4 to recommend death sentences for both murders and the trial court sentenced Jackson to death. In 2009, this Court affirmed the conviction and sentence of death for both murders on direct appeal. In 2017, the trial court granted Jackson’s successive postconviction motion for a new penalty phase pursuant to this Court’s decision in Hurst v. State. Following this Court’s decision earlier this year in State v. Poole, the State of Florida filed a motion to reinstate Jackson’s death sentences, which was denied by the trial court. The trial court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to reconsider the 2017 order that granted Jackson a new penalty phase. The State of Florida now asks this Court to direct the lower court to reinstate Jackson’s death sentences.