Cheyanne Jessie

This case is interesting in the fact that I am unsure completely what the motive was in the murders. Prosecutors do not always know what a motive is but they know that juries want to know “the why” and are more likely to convict if they can understand why the murder occurred. Defense attorneys more often than not, have a completely different motive or reason, that is if they admit that their client was responsible. If they do not admit their client is responsible for the crime they will often place the blame elsewhere. The defense will also tend to “jump around” which is not necessarily a bad strategy since their goal is simply create “reasonable doubt” while the prosecution has to “prove” their case.

In this case the prosecutors claimed that Cheyanne Jessie murdered her father, Mark Weekly and her six year old daughter, Meredith Jessie, to preserve her relationship with her boyfriend, Matthew Munroe. The defense would claim that Munroe was the actual murderer and that Cheyanne only confessed to “because she was scared of him.” I must say that I found nothing in my research to back up the defense theory and while the prosecutors theory has more merit I am unsure that I believe it was simply that simple to Cheyanne Jessie.

In August of 2015 law enforcement in Lakeland Florida received a report from Cheyanne Jessie that her father and her daughter were missing. It was said that Cheyanne made this report at the urging of her family. Fifty year old Mark Weekly and his six year old granddaughter, Meredith Jessie had not been seen since July 18^th. It is unclear whether Cheyanne was living with her father with her daughter at the time of their disappearance or if she was living with her boyfriend, Matthew Munroe in a camper on property owned by his family. Regardless, once law enforcement arrived to follow up on the missing persons report it appears that pretty quickly Cheyanne confesses to murdering her father and daughter and tells investigators where they can find the bodies.

Investigators were led to a shed in the backyard of the home next to Mark Weekly's home. The home, was the home of Mark's landlord, who apparently was out of town for quite some time. It was said that Cheyanne was the only person with a key to the shed. Inside they found two plastic totes. One tote had a lid attached while the other simply had blankets and bedding covering it. Inside the tote without the lid was the body of Mark Weekly. Inside the other tote was a pink blanket, a child's bracelet, a pink stuffed dolphin along with the body of Cheyanne's daughter, Meredith. Both of the victims had been stabbed at least a dozen times. Mark Weekly had been shot in the head three times while Meredith had one gunshot wound to the back of the head.

Obviously Cheyanne Jessie was arrested. She was charged with two counts of first degree murder. My research said she was also charged with one count of tampering with evidence but according to the Florida Department of Corrections that may have been obstruction of justice. Her trial would begin in June of 2019 and would last four weeks with one of those weeks solely devoted to jury selection.

Prosecutors would argue that Cheyanne murdered her father and daughter in order to save her relationship with her boyfriend, Matthew Munroe. Cheyanne and Matthew had dated for a short time before Cheyanne and her daughter moved into a camper with him on land owned with by his family. Matthew at some point gave Cheyanne a ring but would later testify that he was having second thoughts about getting married due to issues involving Meredith.

By all accounts Cheyanne had a rough life. It was said that as a young child she lived with her mother where she was physically and sexually abused. At the age of four she was removed from her mother's home and placed with her father to be raised. It was said that when she went to live with him she had several “developmental difficulties” as well as trouble walking and talking. An elementary schoolteacher of Cheyanne's would testify at some point about her learning disabilities and the fact that in the fourth grade she was at a second grade level both academically and emotionally. Let me fair in saying that I heard nothing more about whether things on these levels changed, nor did I hear anything really about her cognitive mental ability, although we will touch on that later. The teacher also indicated that while her mother was no longer in the picture at all, her father did not seem to be around much either. But again, to be fair, I am uncertain to how truthful this was and to what extent.

There was evidence presented at the trial that Meredith did have some issues and at some point she was placed in an in-patient psychiatric hospital at some point. That being said I heard of nothing specific that she may or may not have been diagnosed with. Matthew Munroe was pretty much a star witness at the trial. He testified that he was unhappy in the relationship and most, if not all, of that revolved around the relationship or “turmoil” between Cheyanne and her daughter. He claimed that Meredith was not just disrespectful but violent. He stated that despite having in-patient treatment, going to therapy and having medication things were not changing. At some point Cheyanne and Meredith went back to live with Mark Weekly for “several weeks” before they returned to live in the camper but according to Munroe nothing really changed and the “fighting” between mother and daughter continued. Munroe testified that there were several discussions between himself and Cheyanne about what to do and at some point she had discussed putting Meredith up for adoption, but it was not something she seriously pursued. He also testified that Weekly had agreed to take Meredith in on the condition that he “received monetary assistance” but that Cheyanne did not follow up with this either.

Prosecutors would argue that Mark Weekly and his granddaughter were likely murdered on July 18^th as that was the last they were seen. They presented text messages that Matthew Munroe received after that date, many occurred on the 22^nd. It appeared that the messages were coming from Mark Weekly and stated that he had discovered he was “dying of cancer” and that he had taken Meredith to Georgia “to live out his days.” Prosecutors argued those text messages were sent by Cheyanne from her father's phone.

Prosecutors also argued that Cheyanne also knew exactly what she was doing and that what she did was wrong. They pretty had to do this, they were seeking the death penalty in this case so they did not want there to be any excuses made. They pointed out that in one of her initial interviews with investigators she claimed that she and her father had an argument and “she killed him as he attacked her with a knife he took from her.” She continued to say that it was Weekly who stabbed Meredith who was “trying to help her.” None of this explains the gunshot wounds to the head. Prosecutors also pointed out that the fact that she hid the bodies in the manner in which she did, cleaned up the area, and even used her father's phone showed that she knew what she was doing and that what she had done was wrong.

As I mentioned earlier, for their part the defense argued that Munroe was actually the murderer and that Cheyanne had confessed because she was afraid of him. When Munroe testified at the trial they drilled him it seems but all I could find is that they argued that his testimony at trial differed from what he had initially told investigators. I have to be fair though in the fact that I did not find what these differences were. There was talk or an indication that the defense may have accused Munroe of changing his story because I found something that stated Cheyanne had gotten pregnant with Munroe's baby at some point but she had had an abortion. I got the impression that the defense indicated that this abortion had angered Munroe and his family and that may have been the reason for the changing testimony.

In the end the jury did not believe the defense theory and on July 17, 2019 Cheyanne was found guilty on all counts. The court then went into the penalty phase where the issues of Cheyanne's past abuse was discussed. There were also medical doctors who testified about diagnosis' made. I believe this is also where Cheyanne's previous schoolteacher testified. It was said that brain scans were done and it revealed that she had “significant abnormalities” and that these abnormalities would cause her to “have unpredictable and uncontrollable rage and aggression.” There was testimony that she was diagnosed with “major depressive disorder (i.e. bi-polar) and suffered from numerous psychological deficits.”

Then the jury came back with their recommendations as far as her sentencing. They recommended that Cheyanne receive life in prison in the death of her father and the death penalty in the death of her daughter. In order to come to that latter conclusion every member of the jury must agree. The judge is not allowed to impose the death penalty if it is not recommended but in the same respect the judge also does not have to give the recommended sentence. Then, not long after the penalty phase was over one of the jurors wrote a letter to the court accusing another juror of misconduct for intimidating another juror. It appears that this allegation stated that the other juror had intimidating another to come to the decision to vote for the death penalty. There was hearing, which delayed the sentencing from the judge. Then it appears that as 2019 moved into 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic hit her sentencing was delayed even more. Courts were closed and not functioning. Cheyanne was finally sentenced in February of 2021.

The judge cited Cheyanne's past childhood abuse, her psychiatric issues and brain abnormalities as his decision to not issue the death penalty and he sentenced her to serve two life sentences with an additional five years for obstruction of justice. I suspect that the judge made this decision because there may have already been evidence, or he suspected that there could be evidence, that would have overturned a death penalty. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that those who have lower IQ's are not eligible for the death penalty. While the defense, and it seems at least some of the victims families (many of who were also Cheyanne's family), were happy, the prosecutors expressed their dismay to the media. They still felt that the death penalty was appropriate in the death of Meredith.