JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for two Jacksonville men accused of murdering elderly family members, State Attorney Melissa Nelson said Tuesday.
The news came the same day Nelson's office announced first-degree murder indictments for Scott Rolnick and Phillip Smith, whose cases she said were among the "most brutal our office" has handled this year.
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Grand juries also returned indictments for two suspects charged in the high-profile slaying of a witness last fall as well as a street performer suspected in a 43-year-old cold case homicide.
Rolnick, 52, was arrested June 6, hours after his mother, Mary Anne Rolnick, 76, was found stabbed and strangled at home. Police said he was covered in blood at the time and had his mother's Cadillac.
Smith, 38, was taken into custody after a traffic stop in Locust Grove, Georgia, in January. The body of his missing 74-year-old aunt, Janice Fulton, was found in the back seat of the car, according to court documents.
"Elderly victims can be among the most vulnerable in our community and our office will use every legal tool available to pursue justice for these victims," said Nelson.
Also indicted were Jecorian McCray, 24, and Dakarai Maxwell, 17, two stepbrothers charged in the September 2016 shooting death of a man whose home they were suspected of burglarizing in 2014.
Police said McCray ordered a hit on Joe Brenton, 48, to keep him from testifying when McCray's burglary case went to trial. They said McCray, worried about prison time, persuaded Maxwell and others to take part.
"The murder of a witness is an attack on the criminal justice system itself," Nelson said of the case.
The fifth indictment was for Johnie Miller, a 60-year-old New Orleans street performer who's accused of fatally shooting store clerk Freddie Farah during a 1974 robbery attempt at the Grand Park Food Store. Miller was arrested in May after police said technological advances led to a fingerprint match.
Said Nelson: "I'm appreciative of the diligent work of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit detectives who never gave up on this case, and their commitment brought the victim's family answers to long-waited questions."
Farah's son, Bobby Farah, said the indictment was a long time coming.
"My family has been very supportive and they're excited to see justice being served," he said. "A lot of us thought we'd never see this day. I happened to not be one of those ones. I knew that one day, somebody would tell me something that would give me some closure. And we're headed in that direction."
Miller is expected back in court Thursday morning.