Circuit & County Court

Michael Jennelle, the 53-year-old former resident of Palm Coast convicted in a March trial on seven counts of raping and molesting his granddaughter over several years, when she was between 7 and 9, was sentenced to life in prison today. One of his two victims described it as “his lifetime in prison for the lifetime of our memories that he’s left us.”

Jayden Jackson, the 22-year-old son of a Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy, had played down his responsibility when he struck and killed Shaunta D. Cain, 51, with his car as he drove north on U.S. 1 in November 2022. Today, Jackson rejected a plea deal of four years in prison followed by probation. His attorney, Josh Davis, told Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols that Jackson will submit to an open plea when he is sentenced next week, risking significantly more than four years in prison. 

C.J. Nelson, the 24-year-old Palm Coast resident whose reckless gunplay caused the shooting death of his 18-month-old niece at a Ranwood Lane house in September 2023, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Family members and friends of Ja’Liyah Allen, the victim, and of Nelson–all members of the same family–filled several pews in the gallery.

Two days after he declined yet again to risk life in prison if convicted at trial, Derrius Bauer, 30, this morning signed a plea agreement and was sentenced to 15 years, a term that between time already served and gain time ahead, may have him out of prison when he’s 38. For the court, prosecutors and the Flagler County Sheriff’s detectives who cracked the case, the plea ends the longest and most expensive investigation in the Sheriff’s Office’s history.

Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols’s 30-year prison sentence for Tyrese Patterson closes the book on four cases that sent four young men to prison for long terms, one of them for life, over what the judge described as the “stupid, senseless” behavior that led to the killing of 16-year-old Noah Smith in a shootout in Bunnell in January 2022.

Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols attempted again to convince Derrius Bauer, 30, to take a plea deal that would have him out of prison in eight and a half years rather than risk life in prison if convicted on a murder charge, as was his friend Marcus Chamblin last year in the same courtroom. Bauer was adamant against a plea. Trial will be set for late summer or early fall.

The Seventh Judicial Circuit’s Nominating Commission today sent seven names to Gov. Ron DeSantis in a pair of short lists of candidates for a Volusia County Court appointment and a Circuit Court appointment. The Seventh Judicial Circuit includes Flagler, Volusia, St. Johns and Putnam counties. Circuit Court judges theoretically may be assigned to a bench in any of the four counties at any point during their service. Also today, the court announced that the 43 judges in the circuit have re-elected their colleague, Circuit Judge Leah R. Case, to another term as chief judge.

CJ Nelson Jr., the 23-year-old Palm Coast resident facing a manslaughter charge in the shooting death of 18-month-old Ja’Liyah Allen on Ranwood Lane in September 2023, pleaded to the charge on Wednesday and will be sentenced on April 3. He faces up to 30 years in prison, but is unlikely to get that maximum.

Stephen Monroe again declined a deal of 25 to 50 years in prison today for the murder of 16-year-old Noah Smith three years ago in Bunnell. Monroe faces life in prison if convicted. His trial starts Monday. Monroe is the last of four defendants in the gunfight that resulted in Smith’s death as he stood on the stoop of his house in Bunnell and was struck by a bullet not intended for him. He was on probation for robbery at the time of his arrest.

It was an unusual, if not an unheard-of scene in Circuit Court this morning, before Judge Dawn Nichols. Derrius Bauer’s mother stood at the podium in front of the judge, sobbing, begging her son, who was sitting a few feet from her, to take the plea the state was offering him. Bauer is insisting on going to trial on a charge of first-degree murder. He is alleged to have conspired with Marcus Chamblin in the murder of Deon Jenkins at a Palm Coast Circle K in October 2019.

A jury of three men and three women found Daniel Rodriguez, 27, guilty on all charges of sexually assaulting and molesting a young boy he had groomed and befriended since he was 10, and started abusing when he was 11, until he was 13. The abuse took place in Palm Coast between 2020 and 2022. Rodriguez faces mandatory life in prison without parole when he is sentenced at a later date. The judge will have no discretion to lessen the sentence.

Michael Wayne Jennelle is a 53-year-old Palm Coast resident. He’s been at the county jail for the last year and a half. Earlier this week Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols set his trial for Jan. 13 on charges of raping and molesting his granddaughter for several years when she was between 7 and 10. No plea appears forthcoming. Reflecting on two “compelling” one-hour interviews of the child, the judge asked Jennelle whether he was willing to put the child through the trauma of trial. He unhesitatingly said he was.

Over the past year, Stephen Monroe and Derius Bauer have seen all their co-defendants in murder trials take pleas and agree to long prison sentences, including 55 years and life in prison in two cases. Bauer and Monroe are both up for capital murder charges stemming from unrelated killings. If they’re convicted at trial, they would face mandatory life prison terms without parole. Neither wants to deal. Their trials were scheduled today.