Jordan Cummins, the man found guilty of murdering two people outside Jackson’s annual St. Paddy’s Day parade in 2023, has been sentenced to life behind bars.
During Cummins’ sentencing hearing on Monday, Circuit Court Judge Faye Peterson called it a situation in which “there are no winners” after hearing victim impact statements from family members of Joshua Spann and Jubilee Simpkins. Cummins’ mother Angie Kellum, who was arrested during her son’s trial earlier this month for witness tampering, spoke on behalf of Cummins.
Peterson pointed out that all three mothers in the situation have lost or are losing, in the case of Kellum, a child with Cummins being sentenced to two life sentences in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The sentences are to run consecutively.
On March 25, 2023, Cummins, 29, shot Spann, 27, and Simpkins, 23, outside the Hal’s St. Paddy’s Parade on Jefferson Street near the state fairgrounds. While Cummins’ attorney argued self-defense, a jury sided with prosecutors who used evidence and witness testimonies to argue that Cummins was beating his girlfriend, Jenny Lukens, when members of the group Spann and Simpkins were in tried to intervene.
Spann was a volunteer firefighter while Simpkins was a daycare worker.
Cummins’ attorney Bill Kellum told media outside the courtroom that he plans to file an appeal in the case.