ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orange County jury found Scott Nelson guilty of first-degree murder Friday in the 2017 slaying of a Winter Park personal assistant.
- Closing arguments brief in Orange County trial of Scott Nelson
- He was accused in slaying of Winter Park nanny Jennifer Fulford in 2017
- In testimony, he blamed his parole officer for making him kill her
- RELATED:
Jurors deliberated for most of the afternoon at the Orange County Courthouse in downtown Orlando. They returned just after 4 p.m. and quickly read the verdict of guilty on all counts.
An Orange County jury found Scott Nelson guilty of first-degree murder Friday in the 2017 slaying of a Winter Park personal assistant.
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Nelson was charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery.
Closing arguments were brief for Nelson, who gave a shocking confession while taking the stand in his own defense a day earlier. He testified that he did, in fact, kill 56-year-old Jennifer Fulford inside the Winter Park home — but that his parole officer made him do it.
Nelson walked jurors through his thought process, saying he stabbed Fulford and then dumped her body because Nelson's parole officer caused him to lose his job, putting him out on the street.
On Friday morning Nelson's defense attorney tried to convince the jury that Nelson was only after Fulford's money.
Prosecutors argued that Nelson had plenty of time to think about what he wanted to do, from the time he kidnapped Fulford to when he took her to a wooded area and killed her.
"If you want to sit here, talk to me, and grill me for the next few...hours, I’m not doing this. I came here for one reason. (Parole officer) Julio Domingues is the reason Jennifer Lynn Fulford, that's it. That's all I have to say. You want anything else, talk to my lawyers," Nelson said.
When the prosecutor asked him whether his parole officer killed Fulford, on the stand, Nelson said, "No I did."
He added that it wasn't his intention to kill Fulford.
The Medical Examiner's Office determined that there were multiple stab wounds on her body.
Nelson also told the court that he almost killed his parole officer, saying, "I was going to shoot him. ... He's very lucky."
Sentencing will begin Monday, Judge Keith F. White said, and Nelson could face the death penalty.