The aborted review demonstrates the limitations of a unit set up to fanfare, the first of its kind in Florida, to seek justice for the wrongly accused
Author Archives: Nichole Manna
Nichole Manna is The Florida Trib's Senior Investigative Reporter. She has been with the organization since 2023 and has covered the criminal justice system for more than a decade.
Nichole has extensively covered conditions at the Duval County jail and in 2024 received first place from the Green Eyeshade Awards in online investigations for her reporting of medical neglect at the facility. That series of stories was recognized with awards at the local, regional and national level. She took home the first place prize for a feature story in a small newsroom from the Online Journalism Awards in 2025 for her series, ‘Cold-Blooded’, which dissected a 1993 death penalty case and questioned whether the defendant received a fair trial.
Prior to joining The Trib, Nichole was an investigative reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas where she was a Livingston Award finalist for a series of stories about a neighborhood with the lowest life expectancy in the state. Her work helped get residents access to free pop-up clinics and they continue to receive help with food disparities.
She is currently working with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network to produce an investigative project.
You can reach her at nichole@floridatrib.org.
Posted inCold Blooded
The ‘hanging judge’: Legacy of Jim Crow looms over Jacksonville Death Row case
An examination by The Tributary shows that Judge Hudson Olliff possessed retrograde views on race that were an open secret in Jacksonville’s legal community but less understood by the general public.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Local Government
‘Force is ugly, but’: JSO seldom punishes cops accused of abuse
Jacksonville Sheriff’s officers inconsistently report when they’ve injured civilians, thanks in part to a vague use-of-force policy.
Posted inFlorida
‘They just tackled me to the ground.’ Man left severely injured during JSO arrest
After a struggle with several officers, Michael Norris, who was not armed, was hospitalized with multiple facial, elbow and rib fractures, along with a hemorrhage in his right eye, bruising up and down his body and pain in his lungs from being unable to breathe during the attack, according to UF Health records The Tributary reviewed.
Posted inFlorida
Federal prosecutors subpoena first responders in controversial Duval jail death
Prosecutors began ordering witnesses to arrive at the federal courthouse downtown to give testimony in June and July.
Posted inFlorida
Feds to take lead in controversial Duval jail death investigation
The scope of the federal investigation into the death of Charles Faggart is unclear, and State Attorney Melissa Nelson did not say what conclusions her office has drawn about the case.
Posted inFlorida
Jacksonville cop should have disclosed hit to driver’s face, experts say
Experts told The Tributary that Officer Donald Bowers should have reported his hit to the face of William McNeil Jr. after he smashed the car’s window to drag McNeil out of the car.
Posted inBehind the Story
JSO officer in viral stop had third, unspoken reason why he pulled driver over
The officer later told integrity investigators that he saw the driver’s SUV leave what JSO believes to be a drug house.
Posted inFlorida
Black drivers ticketed more for traffic violation that prompted viral Jacksonville stop
Driving in the rain without headlights, the reason William McNeil Jr. was pulled over before he was hit and then dragged from his car by Jacksonville sheriff’s deputies, is an exceedingly rare infraction in Duval County. But it is less rare if you are Black like McNeil, according to more than three years of traffic-stop data obtained by The Tributary.
Posted inFlorida
Ranking officer during Duval jail death has spotty past
A Jacksonville jail sergeant suspended in the aftermath of the violent death of a chef in April was hired despite having been kicked out of the Marines and having a history of arrests for domestic violence.