After rejecting plea deal, man accused of double murder storms out of court
A day after rejecting plea deals in a Miami Gardens double murder, the two men accused of the killings came back to court — and apparently reconsidered their decision.
But the spontaneous hearing Wednesday morning before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ellen Sue Venzer ended with one of the men storming out of the courtroom — unleashing a profanity-ridden tirade — and neither changing their not guilty pleas.
The day before, Reginald Louis Jackson, 40, rejected a 40-year plea deal state prosecutors offered for the killings of 70-year-old Annette Anderson, a church minister, and her grandson 20-year-old Tyrone Walker Jr.
In July 2013, Anderson and Walker were found bound, gagged, tortured and shot to death in Anderson’s home, according to police. Anderson was an ordained minister with the Jesus People Ministries Church and hosted weekly Bible study sessions. Walker, nicknamed TJ, had been in South Florida for only three months, moving from Jacksonville to attend ITT Tech.
READ MORE: Men accused in Miami Gardens execution-style murders reject a deal. What’s next?
Jackson’s co-defendant Roderick Martin, 39, wanted to plead guiltyfor a 25-year sentence but wasn’t able to because the offer was contingent on Jackson accepting his plea deal.
Again on Wednesday, Jackson declined to plead guilty — rushing toward a door leading to the holding cells — because his family was not present in court. Martin, who still wanted to accept the deal, couldn’t — but rejected another offer to cooperate and testify against Jackson.
Jackson and Martin had their attorneys contact prosecutors to plead guilty after the Tuesday hearing.
“You had me bring them over,” Venzer told Jackson’s attorneys. “I said yes, really out of respect for y’all .... I’m not playing games. We’ve been doing this for 13 years. Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Outburst in court
Seated in the jury box, Jackson, who was handcuffed to Martin, said he was faced with accepting a “boatload of time” and wanted his mother and wife present. They had been at the courthouse earlier, he said, but left when they saw that Jackson’s name was not on the hearing calendar.
Jackson got more agitated as he spoke to the judge — and as his attorney Jimmy Dellafera tried to reschedule the change of plea hearing.
“Leave it alone, Jimmy,” Jackson said, raising his voice. “Man let’s ride.”
Jackson — still handcuffed to Martin — walked toward the correctional officers by the door. Martin, who was still seated, spoke with Jackson, trying to convince him to accept the deal.
Jackson stomped out of the courtroom, dragging Martin behind him.
After officers took Jackson to the back, Dellafera said Jackson was “taking this plea.” For several minutes, he and several corrections officers tried to sway Jackson into returning to the courtroom. But he refused.
Martin was escorted back into the courtroom on his own. He begged prosecutors to let him accept the deal; however, they declined, citing how his offer depended on Jackson accepting the deal.
The duo will be back in court on May 6 to face a jury.
If Jackson and Martin are convicted at trial, prosecutors said they intend to seek seven life sentences. The pair are charged with a slew of offenses, including murder, robbery, kidnapping and burglary.
Jackson’s sister, who was in the courtroom, sobbed as Jackson’s attorneys spoke to her.
Execution-style murder
When Anderson and Walker were found, their bodies appeared to have been inside the home for a few days, according to police.
Within weeks, detectives arrested Jackson, a neighbor whose fingerprints and DNA were found inside the home. Police tracked Jackson to his girlfriend’s apartment in Opa-locka. There, they found a 2001 two-door silver Acura that matched the video surveillance of a car leaving Anderson’s home.
Jackson, authorities say, made two phone calls to Anderson’s home on July 13, shortly before she was killed. DNA and cellphone records tied Martin to the crime scene, according to police.
Jackson and Martin were initially facing the death penalty for the murders. In 2022, a judge found Jackson intellectually disabled, which bars him from the death penalty. Prosecutors appealed the judge’s ruling, which the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed last December.
On March 30, prosecutors waived the death penalty for Martin. In the months before the crime, Jackson had been released from prison after serving a five-year sentence for a series of burglaries. Jackson, at the time of the murders, was on probation — and Martin was out on bond awaiting trial for an unrelated charge of illegally carrying a firearm.
This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 2:55 PM.
