‘Hallelujah’: Family grateful for guilty verdict in 1985 kidnap, murder of 17-year-old Leslie McCray – News4JAX

‘Hallelujah’: Family grateful for guilty verdict in 1985 kidnap, murder of 17-year-old Leslie McCray  News4JAX

After 41 years of grief, unanswered questions and relentless persistence, the family of Leslie McCray heard the word they had longed for since Christmas Eve 1985: Guilty. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After 41 years of grief, unanswered questions and relentless persistence, the family of 17-year-old murder victim Leslie McCray heard the word they had longed for since Christmas Eve 1985: Guilty. In a bench trial (no jury), Judge Meredith Charbula convicted David Nelson Austin, 65, of first-degree murder, two counts of armed kidnapping and one count of armed sexual battery in the 17-year-old’s stabbing death. “I wanted to jump up when she said guilty on the first charge and just shout, ‘Hallelujah!’” said Joey Bray, McCray’s first cousin.

“I knew I couldn’t. But God was in that courtroom today, and He saw fit to us having justice for Leslie.” Gene Nichols, an attorney not associated with the case, shared that a bench trial is rare for a first-degree murder charge. “In this case, the state attorney’s office waived the death penalties prior to trial,” he said. When the agreement was made to just have a bench trial, then the state attorneys office took death off of the table, which allowed for this to be a case at the judge. Would be able to legally decide themselves." RELATED: Judge convicts man of