EXECUTION RULED OUT BY JURORS
Judge sentences Nelson to life in prison without the possibility of parole
Convicted killer Scott Edward Nelson should spent the rest of his life in prison — and not be executed, as he said he preferred — for kidnapping Jennifer Fulford from her employer’s Winter Park home and then killing her, a jury decided.
Nelson, who called himself “a homicidal maniac” in front of jurors this week and said he wanted to be sentenced to death, did not show emotion as the verdict was read. The 12-member jury deliberated for about 17 hours over two days on whether Nelson, 55, should face the death penalty for the brutal 2017 murder of 56-year-old Fulford, of Altamonte Springs.
Jurors found Nelson guilty last month of killing Fulford after kidnapping her Sept. 27, 2017, from the Winter Park home of Reid Berman, where she worked as a caregiver and house manager.
Fulford’s family was not in the courtroom. Assistant State Attorney Linda Drane Burdick said they declined to be present because they were honoring Fulford’s birthday Thursday.
She would have been 58. Circuit Judge Keith F. White sentenced Nelson to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder conviction, as well as three concurrent life sentences for the other charges of kidnapping, carjacking, robbery and tampering with a witness.
Nelson was a transient on federal probation from a 2010 bank robbery when he pushed his way into Berman’s home with a knife
after Fulford opened the door, he told detectives in an interview after his arrest.
After binding Fulford with zip ties and wrapping her in a comforter, he put her in the trunk of her own car and drove her to an ATM, where he withdrew $300 from her bank account, Nelson said.
Despite Fulford pleading for her life, Nelson drove her to a vacant field off Apopka-Vineland Road in southwest Orange County. He told detectives he wrapped duct tape around her entire head and stabbed her seven times before leaving her bound body in the field.
In the penalty phase, prosecutors argued Nelson was a “narcissist” who wanted an opportunity to “rail against the world,” so he murdered Fulford with a plan to get caught.
But his defense attorneys said Nelson’s history of chronic trauma, including mental illnesses, an abusive childhood and the extreme conditions he endured during 25 years of incarceration, left him with severe cognitive deficits. Nelson’s IQ is 82.
In their verdict, the jury said the aggravating factors did outweigh the mitigating factors as they considered capital punishment, but at least one juror voted for life in prison. To send Nelson to death row, the jury had to be unanimous.
Orange-Osceola Public Defender Robert Wesley did not want to comment on the verdict. After the trial, Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala, an opponent of the death penalty, said she was proud of the prosecutors and investigators who “worked diligently to gather evidence in their quest for justice for this community, including the family of Jennifer Fulford.”
“For the citizens of Orange and Osceola County serving as a juror on these types of cases, is not an easy task nor is the responsibility taken lightly,” Ayala said in a statement.
“We appreciate their time, attention and commitment to justice. We respect the decision of the jury and we are relieved to know this person will no longer be a threat to our community.” mcordeiro@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5774.