NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – News4JAX on Tuesday spoke with one of the jurors about the murder trial that ended with a conviction of Kimberly Kessler in the death of her salon co-worker Joleen Cummings.
The juror said it was not a hard decision and after she heard critical pieces of evidence, she knew Kessler was guilty.
Jurors have been released to speak publicly since the verdict in the trial of Kessler on Dec. 9. The juror who spoke to News4JAX on Tuesday did so on the condition of anonymity.
“She [Kessler] was very clever to start out. She knew what she was doing,” the juror said. “But now she wants to say that she was crazy. She’s not competent.”
The juror pointed to numerous things that led her to that decision, but a primary one was DNA evidence found at the scene.
When asked if there were any other key discoveries that led the juror to a guilty verdict, she said, “When the DNA lady came up from Duval County and the blood samples that they took. And when they said it was Joleen Cummings’ blood that was on her boots. The scissors. It was five different spots on them. Joleen Cummings’ blood was on there.”
The juror continued, “Her clothes and on when you come into the salon where the big receptionist desk was, her blood was on there. For me as a juror, that sealed the deal for me. I already knew that she was guilty.”
Another thing that she said swayed the jury were Kessler’s internet searches.
“All the things, the searches, the google searches that she looked up on how to dismember a body,” the juror said.
There was an interesting dynamic to this case in that Kessler was not present in the courtroom following numerous outbursts. The judge had her sequestered in a different room for the trial and the juror said that it made it difficult for some members of the jury.
“It was very intense and some of the jurors asked for her to be in there because they wanted to see what her response was when the state people got up and everything,” the juror said. “But I guess it was very difficult because we didn’t know what her emotion was at the time.”
The juror said Kessler seemed competent in how she cleaned the crime scene at the Tangles Hair Salon.
“It took a methodical mind to replace things that were broken and get all the cleaning supplies,” the juror said.
Kessler’s lawyers have cited numerous mistakes they say the judge made during trial and have filed a motion for a new trial.