ORLANDO, Fla. — Testimony was full of emotion Monday as Jennifer Fulford's family tearfully testified about what they lost when the Winter Park personal assistant was murdered in September 2017.
- Sentencing phase for Scott Nelson started Monday
- He was accused in slaying of Winter Park nanny in 2017
- Juror was dismissed Monday for remark about case
- RELATED:
"Jennifer Fulford was my wife, my best friend and quite honestly amazing," Robert Fulford said in the courtroom at the Orange County Courthouse.
"She often seemed to know what people needed even if they did not," he said. "When grocery shopping she seemed to know everybody in the store. She took care of three households. She would buy what she needed and then would buy a sub sandwich for somebody outside who looked hungry to her."
A jury in late June found Scott Nelson guilty of first degree murder, robbery, and kidnapping in the 2017 death of Fulford, a Winter Park personal assistant.
Nelson could face the death penalty.
The jury also heard Monday from Jennifer Fulford's son and daughter.
"My mom was my best friend. I mean that in every sense of the phrase," Hanna Geist said.
Robert Fulford, the husband of Jennifer Fulford, testifies Monday in court. (Jeff Allen/Spectrum News 13)
Geist testified from Texas. She said her life will never be the same.
"I will live the rest of my life without having my biggest supporter to cheer me on and lift me up," said Geist.
As the penalty phase of the trial began, prosecutors say they expect the jury to recommend death for Nelson, because they say Fulford's murder was cold, calculated and pre-meditated.
A defense attorney asked the jury to spare the 55-year-old's life and recommend he serve life in prison, saying Nelson grew up in an abusive family and suffers from several mental disorders that led to him spending most of his adult life in prison.
At one point Monday a juror reported another juror for talking about how he was doubtful he could recommend the death penalty.
"I'm going to have trouble committing someone to death with what I've been told already, and it wasn’t me trying to persuade anybody else in the room," said the juror. "I shouldn't have said it obviously."
The judge dismissed that juror because jurors cannot talk about the case outside of deliberations.
An alternate juror will take his place.
The state rested their part of the penalty phase of this trial on Monday afternoon.
Nelson's defense attorneys are expected to take several days calling witnesses to the stand in their effort to convince jurors to spare Nelson's life. They only need to convince one of those twelve jurors to vote against the death penalty for Nelson to get a life sentence in prison instead.
In Florida, the jury must vote unanimously to recommend a death sentence.