A heated courtroom moment disrupted what was expected to be a resolution in a years-old double murder case.
MIAMI, FL – A man accused in a 2013 double homicide walked out of a Miami-Dade courtroom Wednesday after erupting in anger when he did not see his mother present, abruptly derailing a planned guilty plea that would have avoided a trial.
Reginald Louis Jackson, 40, had been expected to plead guilty alongside co-defendant Roderick Martin, 39, in connection with the killings of 69-year-old minister Annette Anderson and her grandson, 20-year-old Tyrone Lenard Walker Jr. The two victims were found on July 16, 2013, bound and gagged with gunshot wounds to the backs of their heads inside a Miami home.
Jackson and Martin appeared in court handcuffed together on a day not originally scheduled for their cases, after attorneys indicated both men intended to accept plea agreements. According to WTVJ, the deals would have resulted in a 40-year sentence for Jackson and 25 years for Martin.
Courtroom outburst halts plea agreement
The hearing shifted when Jackson scanned the courtroom gallery and did not see his mother. He began shouting and refused to proceed with the plea.
“I want my mom,” Jackson said, according to WTVJ.
Jackson referenced a previous hearing involving his grandmother, telling the court she had attended and died three months later, which he described as the last time he saw her. Still handcuffed to Martin, Jackson then began walking out of the courtroom, bringing the proceedings to a halt.
The judge rejected the plea agreements following the disruption.
Case stems from 2013 killings in Miami home
The charges against Jackson and Martin include two counts each of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and robbery, among other offenses. The case has remained unresolved for more than a decade.
Anderson was a minister at Jesus People Ministries, and Walker had recently moved to Miami to study electrical engineering at ITT Institute while working at a Burger King.
Both defendants remain in custody and are scheduled to return to court on May 5.
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