JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As the resentencing trial for one of the men convicted in the murder of Reggie and Carol Sumner resumed Monday morning, one of the key questions on everyone’s minds was quickly answered.
After shaking up the courtroom last week when he tried to change his testimony from a previous trial, Bruce Nixon, one of the co-defendants in the murder case, would not be returning to the stand, Judge Michael Weatherby said.
Before prosecutors resumed their case, Weatherby informed the jury that Nixon was “not available to either side as a witness.”
“You should draw no inference at all from his absence. You should also disregard Mr. Nixon’s testimony that took place Thursday afternoon,” Weatherby instructed the jury.
Prosecutors then began Monday’s testimony by having Nixon’s original testimony read into the record.
“(Prosecutor) Did anyone take Alan Wade kicking and screaming into this crime? (Nixon) No sir. (Prosecutor) Did anyone threaten him? (Nixon) No sir.”
Wade, Michael Jackson, and another co-defendant, Tiffany Cole, were all sentenced to death for killing Reggie and Carol Sumner. The Jacksonville couple was kidnapped, robbed, and buried alive in 2005.
Wade and Jackson had their death penalty sentences thrown out because they weren’t unanimous jury recommendations.
During Wade’s resentencing trial Monday, his defense team admitted Wade committed a horrible crime but doesn’t deserve to die.
“While some crimes do deserve the death penalty, some defendants do not,” Wade’s attorney said.
The defense shared that Wade had a broken family life, a history of drug abuse, and typical immaturity as a young adult.
The state countered, confirming through co-defendant Nixon’s original testimony, that Wade was fully aware of the plan to kill the Sumners and that he knew right from wrong.
Prosecutors questioned an adolescent development psychologist, Dr. Lawrence Steinberg.
“(Prosecutors) So, I want to make sure that I understand in late adolescent 18, 19, 20, that they are capable of empathy correct? (Dr. Steinberg) Yes. (Prosecutors) And they definitely understand the difference between right and wrong? (Dr. Steinberg) Absolutely.”
Wade’s father testified that he was not allowed to be around his son and shared his reaction to his son’s crime. “I couldn’t believe it was my son,” Alan Wade Sr. said.
Wade Sr. also said that he would have come around whenever he could. “(Prosecutor) You were there if he needed you? (Wade Sr.) Yes.”
The loss remains painful for the Sumner family. “My brother and sister-in-law are gone and will never return,” Jean Clark said. “Where are they now? Can I see them? Can I call them on the phone? No, I cannot.”
The defense is trying to convince the jury to give Wade life in prison. As the state is pushing for the harsher death penalty. Unique to this resentencing trial is that the jurors get to ask questions as the trial goes on.
Opening statements and witness testimony for Wade’s resentencing trial began Thursday -- and included bombshell testimony from Nixon, who was himself convicted of six felony counts of murder, kidnapping and robbery of Carol and Reggie Sumner but was not sentenced to death.
While on the stand, Nixon changed his testimony from what he’d given on the stand previously, and Weatherby warned Nixon that he was exposing himself to perjury charges and that he didn’t want him on the stand unless he knew what he was doing.
The judge decided to have someone talk to Nixon about the ramifications of taking the stand -- and the decision was announced Monday morning that he would not be testifying for either side.
Also on the stand last week was the Medical Examiner who performed the Sumners’ autopsies, a transcript from Carol Sumner’s daughter was read, and the lead detective in the case testified. This detective was the only one cross-examined, and it was all about Wade’s involvement.
The state said Wade had a check on Reggie Sumner’s account for $8,000, and that he was there when Jackson and Cole impersonated the Sumners while on the phone with police.
The defense responded by getting the detective to agree that Jackson was the mastermind behind all this and that the detective didn’t know if Wade was present during that phone call.