LAKELAND, Fla. — The jury in the Cheyanne Jessie trial on Friday recommended a death sentence for Jessie for the murder of her daughter, Meredith. They also recommended life in prison for the murder of Mark Weekly, Jessie's father.

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Jessie was convicted on July 17 of stabbing her father, 12 times and shooting him 3 times, as well as stabbing six-year-old Meredith several times and shooting her in the back of the head in 2015.

The jury voted 10-2 on the question of the death sentence for the slaying of Mark Weekly. The lack of a unanimous vote led to the life sentence. They were, however, unanimous in their vote regarding Meredith's murder.

There will still be a series of hearings prior to the judge issuing a sentence for Jessie. The next hearing is scheduled for August 28.

 

Closing arguments

Earlier Friday, Jessie's attorneys took one last opportunity to try to sway the jury away from a death sentence for their client, reminding jury members of Jessie's abusive childhood and intellectual disabilities. Attorney J. Jervis Wise told jurors no good would come out of sentencing her to death.

“Life in prison ... a long life thinking about this, having this burden to bear is worse than death. An early death is an easy out,” said Wise.

Prosecutors, on the other hand, said Jessie's childhood abuse was no excuse for the vicious murders she committed.

“Ask yourself if you can conceive any set of facts that would outweigh the murder of two people, one of them being your own child,” said assistant state attorney Kristie Ducharme.

Witnesses say Jessie "emotionally and mentally disabled"

The state also addressed defense witness testimony from the day before that pointed to Jessie possibly being emotionally and mentally disabled due to brain abnormalities caused by her childhood abuse. 

On Thursday, Jessie’s former teacher, Barbara Dixon, testified that while Jessie was in her fourth and fifth grade classroom she was emotionally and mentally disabled.

Dixon said knew that Jessie lived with her father and didn’t have her mother in her life. She believed Jessie’s father wasn’t around much since he never came to the school to pick up her report card or for her individual education plan or IEP meetings. 

Dr. Joseph Wu, a neuropsychiatrist out of California, also took the stand. 

He told the jurors Jessie had an abusive mother who lost custody of her to her father when she was four. 

Wu said assessments showed her brain had evidence of a traumatic brain injury from the abuse. 

“She was so developmentally delayed, which would be clearly consistent with someone who was severely abused and neglected," Wu explained. "You know, not even able to wipe herself from using the bathroom, not knowing how to use utensils, not being able to speak very well."

Wu said the neglect and abuse resulted in abnormalities in her brain, or temporal lobe epilepsy, which he said under stress leads to someone flaring out of control with unpredictable and uncontrollable savage aggression and rage. 

“She has traumatic brain injury. She was under tremendous stress," Wu said. "This was a perfect storm. A combination of factors resulting in a perfect storm."

Notably, Jessie had not been diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy at the time of the murders.

While cross-examining Wu, prosecutors asked how numerous mental health professionals missed the epilepsy when they evaluated Jessie throughout the years.

Wu said psychologists aren’t trained to discover this form of epilepsy. 

Jessie reportedly told Wu that before the murders she was stressed about an abortion and overwhelmed with having to give up her daughter to her father, due her not being able to manage her daughter’s behavioral issues. 

During closing arguments, however, prosecutors reminded jurors that Jessie had an "average IQ" and was able to maintain several jobs.

Family of victim not in favor of death penalty

Despite the gruesome murders, Mark Weekly family said Friday they do not want Jessie to receive the death penalty.

“It’s been enough time. I say just sentence her to life — forget the death penalty," said Janita Weekly, Mark's sister-in-law. "Just let her live her life out in prison."

Janita went on to say the family doesn’t want Jessie to be sentenced to death because they suspect it would lead to a series of appeals and more court dates.

"We are ready to put an end to all of this," she said. "It’s been going on long enough.”