JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It was January 23rd, 2007. Andrea Boyer came to work at an Orange Park animal clinic. It was early in the morning. She was the only one there, or so she thought.
Police say Michael Renard Jackson, was there too, waiting for her. They say he raped Boyer, beat her to death with a fire extinguisher, then left her in a pool of her own blood.
Boyer's sister-in-law Heather Fletcher said, "It's inconceivable."
She says what's even more inconceivable now is the fact that Jackson is getting another chance at freedom. On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court overturned his 2010 conviction. A 5-2 majority found that a videotape of his interrogation prejudiced his Clay County jury because investigating officers repeatedly expressed their view that he was guilty.
Fletcher said, "Yesterday when we got this news at noon, it went back to the feeling exactly like the day she died."
State Attorney Angela Corey helped prosecute the case herself. She said, "We were shocked. And that is not an understatement." She says she and her co-counsel are disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision. "I believe, in light of overwhelming evidence of Michael Jackson's guilt, that we believe that if this was error, it was harmless."
That overwhelming evidence included Jackson's DNA. But because the justices took issue with part of that videotaped interrogation, the once-convicted killer will now get a new trial.
And for the Boyer family, there's only one acceptable outcome. "To make sure he gets the death penalty again because he keeps putting my family through an absolute nightmare for a third time," said Fletcher.
Corey says her office has requested another hearing, in hopes the Supreme Court will reconsider.
Jackson was already a convicted rapist, before he was charged with Boyer's murder. In 1986, he raped a Jacksonville teenager at knife point. He served 20 years of a 30 year sentence.
