A co-defendant called to the stand during a resentencing trial last week shook up the courtroom when he tried to change his testimony from a previous trial.
Bruce Nixon is one of the men convicted in the murder of Reggie and Carol Sumner.
The Jacksonville couple was kidnapped, robbed, and buried alive in 2015.
Two of the men convicted of the crimes are being resentenced because a jury didn’t unanimously recommend the death penalty.
Nixon could return to the stand on Monday.
The defense is working on keeping the jury from being unanimous, and what Nixon did could help or hurt their efforts.
Nixon was convicted of murder, and him trying to change his statement from previous trials could impact his deal.
Judge Michael Weatherby was visibly frustrated Thursday during a resentencing trial.
It started when the state called Nixon to the stand.
He was convicted of the murder, kidnapping, and robbery of Reggie and Carol Sumner.
When on the stand, the state says Nixon gave inconsistent answers to his previous statements in other trials.
“We were on drugs during this whole thing, I was on Xanax, he filled in the blanks, I was guided into this testimony. I was 18 doing what my attorney told me to do,” Nixon said.
The judge says Nixon exposed himself to perjury and they took him off the stand, though the defense wanted him to stay for cross-examination, which caused some back and forth.
Attorney Gene Nichols, not affiliated with the case, says the judge was trying to keep control of the courtroom after Nixon’s curveball.
“You can obviously expect that the State Attorney’s Office is going to argue that Mr. Nixon is not a truth-teller don’t believe anything he has to say,” Nichols said. “It could potentially make the defense case worse. So again, everybody’s going to question and argue to the jury why this individual is giving testimony different than what he gave before.”
Nichols said the defense would have to argue people lied at previous trials and to encourage the jury not to give a death penalty in a case where people potentially lied.
“The really hard part would be to no longer let Nixon testify,” he said. “And if Nixon was not permitted to testify by the defense, if the defense calls him, and the judge says no, easily create appellate issues, which is the last thing everybody wants in this case.”
Nichols says the state will respond by leaning on the evidence presented in those trials, regardless of Nixon getting back on the stand.
The judge planned for Nixon to meet with people to explain what his role is on the witness stand.
The court goes back in session at 10 a.m. Monday