Jury selection in Tiffany Cole's resentencing begins in Duval County

Tiffany Cole is one of three women on Florida’s death row. Jury selection in her resentencing proceeding, which was granted after Hurst, started yesterday in Duval County.

Tiffany Cole is one of three women on Florida’s death row. Jury selection in her resentencing proceeding, which was granted in light of Hurst v. Florida (2016), started yesterday in Duval County.

Cole and her two codefendants, Alan Wade and Michael J. Jackson, were each tried separately for crimes that occurred in 2005.¹ All three were originally sentenced to death following the juries’ recommendations for death. The jury’s recommendations for death for each were as follows:

• Tiffany Cole: 9-3 for both victims²

• Alan Wade: 11-1 for both victims³

• Michael J. Jackson: 8-4 for both victims⁴

After Hurst, Cole and her codefendants were granted resentencing proceedings in light of the jury’s nonunanimous recommendations for death.⁵

Cole is the last of the three to be resentenced. In late 2022, Wade was resentenced to life when the jury did not unanimously determine that the aggravation outweighed the mitigation on either count.

Excerpt of the jury verdict on Count 1 from Alan Wade’s 2022 resentencing

Because the jury did not unanimously make this determination, the jury did not proceed to voting on the appropriate sentence.

Excerpt of the jury verdict on Count 1 from Alan Wade’s 2022 resentencing

NOTE: This is similar to what happened in Nikolas Cruz’s case, as TFDP explained here.

In May 2023, Jackson’s resentencing proceeding went forward under Florida’s new capital sentencing scheme. The jury recommended death by a vote of 8-4. In mid-August, Jackson was resentenced to death following the jury’s recommendation. (The latest on Jackson’s case from TFDP here.)

Cole, like Jackson, will be resentenced under Florida’s 2023 statute. In June, Cole, through her attorneys, filed various motions challenging the application of the 2023 statute to her case. Earlier this month, the Court entered three, one-page Orders denying those motions.

Per the docket, jury selection continued this morning.

News Articles About Cole’s Case

• News4Jax

1. A fourth codefendant, Bruce Nixon, “was also involved in the crimes but pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and received concurrent sentences of forty-five years in prison.” Wade v. State, 156 So. 3d 1004, 1010 (Fla. 2014).

2. Cole v. State, 36 So. 3d 597, 603 (Fla. 2010).

3. Wade, 156 So. 3d at 1012.

4. Jackson v. State, 127 So. 3d 447, 451 (Fla. 2013).

5. For a full explanation of Hurst, see the TFDP five-part series available here.