Convicted Florida killer back in court to fight for a new trial

TAMPA - A convicted murderer who had already received a commuted death sentence, appeared in Hillsborough County Court to argue for the chance at a new trial. 

Kenneth Ray Jackson appeared before Judge Michelle Sisco as his attorney presented the motion for "post conviction relief" as he seeks a new shot at getting a reduced sentence in his murder case. 

The backstory:

It was October of 2007 when Cuc Thu Tran, a mother of three from Seffner, went on a morning run and didn't return. Her son reported her missing to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Separately, Sheriff's Deputies responded to a vehicle fire in the Bull Frog Creek area of Riverview.

Firefighters extinguished the vehicle's fire and recovered a woman's body inside of it.

Crime scene technicians began to process the scene to determine the identity of the victim and figure out where the vehicle came from. 

The victim was determined to be the missing Seffner mom. 

Tran had been abducted, raped and murdered before her body was left in the vehicle, a stolen Dodge van, and the van set on fire.

The forensic exam of Tran's body yielded DNA evidence left by the suspect. Fingerprints from the van also pointed to a suspect. 

The van was stolen by the same suspect as the rape and murder.

Kenneth Jackson was identified as that suspect and was charged with 1st degree murder, capital sexual battery, arson and grand theft auto. 

Upon his arrest, the legal process for his defense began.

The State Attorney's Office informed the court that they would seek the death penalty, and Jackson was assigned a team of public defenders that included a trial lawyer with experience in death penalty cases. 

It took 6 years before Jackson was actually put on trial for the murder. In October 2013, a jury convicted Jackson of the crimes and recommended the death penalty by a 10-2 vote.

Kenneth Jackson was sentenced to death and went to Florida State Prison.

The other side:

In 2016, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Hurst v. Florida that the State of Florida's death penalty verdicts were unconstitutional as written in Florida Law. Unless a jury delivered a unanimous verdict, no death penalty case would be upheld, according to the ruling.

This unexpected ruling upset the Jackson conviction since his verdict was 10-2. As his defense team mounted appeals, they applied for post-conviction relief based on the Hurst ruling. 

In 2019, Jackson again appeared in Hillsborough County court, this time for a new sentencing. 

His death penalty verdict was reduced to life-in-prison at that time.

Read more here: Death sentence overturned for convicted murderer, rapist

What we know:

Judge Michelle Sisco asked the defense to present their case for this motion for "post conviction relief" in an evidentiary hearing.

The defense called Kenneth Jackson to the stand to testify.

Jackson spoke about his murder trial and argued that he had inadequate counsel. This bad counsel from his defense attorneys was compounded by his lack of understanding of the criminal proceedings of the case.

His attorney presented the court with an IQ test of 75, which was presented as below average.

Jackson answered questions from his attorney as to how he did not understand the words in court and was not able to contribute well to his defense due to that lack of knowledge and inability to follow along in the process. 

He even accused his defense team of seeking to have him waive his speedy trial rights based on their own family concerns about having to get his kids after work.

The prosecution then got the chance to question Jackson directly.

The prosecutor showed the court how Jackson not only participated actively in his case, but even wrote court documents "pro se" which his defense presented in court.

Jackson admitted to writing those documents, but claimed to have help from other inmates.

When challenged about this, Jackson had to admit that what he wrote did get used by his defense team as he requested. 

The prosecution claimed that was hardly inadequate counsel.

The prosecution read the transcripts from one of those hearings where the judge had asked Jackson directly if he understood what was going on, he said yes at the time. In the transcript, the judge asked Jackson several questions regarding his defense, and, in each case, Jackson was satisfied.

The prosecutor then called a member of Jackson's original defense team to the stand. 

Greg Hill was a member of the Public Defender's Office in 2007. He was a part of the defense team assigned to Kenneth Jackson's case and had death penalty experience.

Hill described his defense team to the court as attentive to the needs of the client.

He claimed that his team did more for Jackson than they had for any other client that they defended. 

Documents that were a part of the original trial refuted the current IQ test claim, as the doctors at the time of the trial found Jackson to be competent, able to contribute to his defense and of average intelligence to understand what was happening in the case.

When asked about whether he had ever asked Jackson to waive his trial rights in order to be with his children, Hill explained that was not the case, ever.

His youngest son was 22 at the time of the trial, and Hill had no obligations to be with his kids, which would have been more important than defending his client.

What's next:

Judge Michelle Sisco thanked both the prosecution and the defense for their time in court today. She addressed Kenneth Jackson directly. She will review all the documents of the case and will make a determination in writing whether to grant the motion or not.

If she does deny the motion, Jackson will remain in Florida State Prison and is free to seek other appeal opportunities.

If she grants the motion, Jackson will be assigned a new public defender team to begin the process of putting together the next step in Jackson's effort to get a new trial.

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