Prosecutors began ordering witnesses to arrive at the federal courthouse downtown to give testimony in June and July.
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 inFlorida News Articles & Reporting
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 News Articles & Reporting
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 News Articles & Reporting
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 News Articles & Reporting
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.
Posted inFlorida News Articles & Reporting
U.S. Supreme Court denies appeal for Duval man executed Tuesday
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea to block the execution of a Florida man who was convicted of gunning down a Jacksonville couple more than 30 years ago.
Posted inFlorida News Articles & Reporting
Florida Supreme Court denies Duval Death Row inmate’s appeal ahead of execution
The Florida Supreme Court upheld a decision by a Duval circuit judge that rejected relief for a Death Row inmate – despite signed affidavits by two prosecution witnesses who said they were coerced by the state to lie. Michael Bell is scheduled to die on July 15.
Posted inFlorida News Articles & Reporting
JSO blocks release of emails in days after fatally injured inmate was taken to hospital
In the three days after Charles Faggart, a 31-year-old father and food truck vendor, was rushed to UF Health with fatal injuries from the Duval County jail, Sheriff T.K. Waters sent and received no email – or at least none that the sheriff’s office is willing to disclose – according to heavily redacted records obtained by The Tributary.
Posted inFlorida News Articles & Reporting
Cops had a choice of witnesses. They used the liar to put a Jacksonville man on Death Row
A cache of records recently obtained by The Tributary paints a vivid portrait of Sidney Jones, who was at once a petty thief, burglar, gunman, and liar, as well as a longtime paid police informant whose controlled buys gave cops probable cause for arrests.