JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville man who was sentenced to two life terms for the 2010 attempted murder of two men successfully appealed his conviction and sentencing and has been granted a new trial.
The sentences carried a 20-year minimum mandatory sentence and were scheduled to run consecutively.
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Ruben McCloud had also been sentenced to 20 years for shooting into an occupied car.
McCloud had been convicted in 2011 on two counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting or throwing deadly missiles into a vehicle.
According to the First District Court of Appeal, after the defense's motion to disqualify the trial judge was granted, the judge who took over the case could not competently rule on McCloud's motion for a new trial. The appellate court ruled that because McCloud's conviction depended entirely upon the jury resolving conflicts in evidence and credibility of witnesses, the successor judge, who did not conduct the trial, could not weigh the credibility of competing witness testimony.
The appellate court reversed the conviction and sentence and remanded McCloud for a new trial.