Nicole Jackson-Maldonado was 14 years old when she and a 12-year-old boy ran away from Florida United Methodist Children’s Home in Enterprise in 2021, broke into a home in Deltona, and shot at Volusia County Sheriff’s Office deputies with firearms she found there.
Deputies ultimately shot Jackson, who sustained non-life-threatening injuries. No officers were harmed.
Just 12 days shy of her 16th birthday, Jackson-Maldonado pleaded no contest to the charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by 40 years of probation.
Unlike her co-defendant, Jackson-Maldonado was charged as an adult.
Jackson-Maldonado had previously filed several documents to dismiss her court-appointed attorneys, arguing in one that she had been held in solitary confinement multiple times for nearly nine months because there was “‘no room’ in the juvenile area,” according to her petition to the court. That was dismissed because she could not legally file a petition pro se (on behalf of oneself, without an attorney) while she was still currently represented by attorneys.
After a closed hearing (no members of the public or news media or prosecutors were permitted to attend), Jackson withdrew her motions and agreed to a plea deal offered by the State Attorney’s Office.
Jackson-Maldonado’s charges included attempted murder, burglary and criminal mischief. She also pleaded no contest to five charges of “willful, malicious, or intentional burning of lands” and criminal mischief in Flagler County, stemming from an incident several months before the Deltona case.
Including time served, some 600 days, Jackson-Maldonado’s earliest release date is currently 2040. She would be 33 years old.
wow… I hope they have plans to give her the help that she needs… In my opinion, the sentence is a bit excessive for someone who is clearly not mentally stable.
She was 14 at the time they should rehabilitate her not lock her up for 20 years
She was a witness to Florida’s sex industry which is protected by law enforcement. Florida murders children all the time. Missing?