Twins ERIC and JOSHUA JACOBSON - 7 yo (2010) - Wellington FL

WELLINGTON, Fla. — A woman
and two small children were found shot to death this morning in an
exclusive gated neighborhood, dead at the hands of a husband and father
who crashed his car west of Delray Beach after the killings and
confessed to paramedics, authorities said.


Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies found the bodies of the woman and two
children, neither of whom appeared older than 7 or 8, slumped inside a
house at 11580 South Sea Court in the Isles community, authorities said.
County records show the house is owned by Neal M. Jacobson, 49,
and his wife Franki Jacobson, 53.
Authorities wouldn't immediately say whether the Jacobsons were involved in the
shooting, though a silver GMC Envoy sport utility vehicle registered to
Neal Jacobson sat at the suburban Delray Beach crash site this morning,
roped off by yellow crime scene tape.
Jacobson, a former mortgage broker who lived in New Jersey before moving to
Florida, is listed as president of HGH Organics Corp., a newly formed
company that sells human growth hormone over the Internet out of a U.S.
441 suite in Wellington, records show.
Franki Jacobson described herself as a writer and illustrator on an
Internet social networking site for children's authors.
Deputies rushed to the Wellington house after the car crash this morning at West
Atlantic Avenue and U.S. 441 west of Delray Beach. The driver told
paramedics he had just killed his family, said Deputy Eric Davis,
sheriff's office spokesman.
After the crash, the driver was taken to Delray Medical Center, Davis said.

WEST PALM BEACH —
Neal Jacobson, the Wellington father accused of shooting dead his wife and
twin sons, will be represented by a public defender, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Jacobson listed significant assets in his application for a public defender,
including $600,000 in deposits or money market accounts, $100,000 in real
estate equity, $7,800 monthly in rental income, $28,000 annually in
dividends.

He also listed $2.3 million in liabilities and debts, according to the
affidavit.

Prosecutors, in a request for his pre-trial detention, wrote that Jacobson
told State Attorney's Office Investigator Bill Fraser that he had $600,000
that he could liquidate within hours.

But in a request to a judge, Public Defender Carey Haughwout wrote that any of
Jacobson's possible assets are marital assets which belong to the estate of
his wife. "Mr. Jacobson does not desire to use any marital assets in
order to hire an attorney. Any marital assets should go to the estate,"
she wrote.

Haughwout asked a judge to determine whether Jacobson must utilize the marital
assets to hire an attorney or whether he is entitled to court-appointed
counsel.

Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp this morning decided the matter by appointing the
Public Defender's Office to represent him.

If Haughwout keeps his case, she will be representing two high profile accused
killers. She also is representing Paul Michael Merhige, charged with killing
four family members and wounding two more in a Thanksgiving Day shooting in
Jupiter.

Jacobson is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of
his wife, Franki, and sons Eric and Joshua.

"I went off the deep end," he told rescue workers after crashing his
car afterwards, according to an affidavit.

After killing his family, Jacobson drove his 2002 GMC Envoy south from his
$765,798 home, at 11580 South Sea Court in the gated Isles neighborhood, and
crashed. They found him stained with blood, with a .38 caliber revolver and
extra ammunition.

What friends, family and authorities say is that it appears Jacobson sank
deeper and deeper into depression. The once successful mortgage broker from
New Jersey left his company and moved to Florida to care for his ailing
father, who died in 2007. His best friend died shortly before the shooting.

Jacobson, 49, had lost money in bad investments and hated himself despite his
beautiful wife and brilliant twin sons, they have said.

Neal M. Jacobson, the failed mortgage broker who confessed to
gunning down his wife and twin 7-year-old sons last month at their Wellington home, will now face the possibility of death himself.Palm Beach County
State Attorney Michael McAuliffe said Thursday that he will seek the
death penalty against Jacobson, who allegedly shot his family to death
as his financial empire crumbled around him.Also, a grand jury
formally indicted Jacobson, 49, on three counts of first-degree murder
with a firearm in the Jan. 24 deaths of his wife, Franki, and sons,
Eric and Joshua, McAuliffe said.Jacobson's arraignment is set for Feb. 22.Authorities
have said that, after killing his family — on a day the boys were to
celebrate their birthdays — Jacobson crashed his GMC sport utility
vehicle at U.S. 441 and West Atlantic Avenue west of Delray Beach.According
to an affidavit, Jacobson confessed to paramedics at the scene, telling
them, "I went off the deep end." In addition, he was bloody and was
carrying a .38-caliber revolver and extra ammunition.Jacobson
also told a Delray Medical Center nurse that he had swallowed 10 Xanax
anti-anxiety tablets in hopes of killing himself, the affidavit said.Authorities found his wife's and sons' lifeless bodies in their expansive one-story home in Wellington 's gated Isles neighborhood.Friends
also said Neal Jacobson had left New Jersey and moved to Florida to
care for his ailing father, who died in 2007, and had grown
increasingly despondent when businesses ventures failed.

Jacobson's 5-Page Suicide Note Released

Jacobson: 'I Just Could Not Go On Any Longer'
POSTED: 12:06 am EDT April 13, 2010
UPDATED: 9:20 am EDT April 13, 2010


WELLINGTON, Fla. -- A five-page suicide note offers an inside look into the mind of Neal Jacobson, who police said fatally shot his wife and twin 7-year-old sons.

The first two sentences of the suicide note read: "I could just not go on any longer. Everything in our lives has gotten so out of control."

Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies said Jacobson killed his family inside their Wellington home in January. The letter released by authorities on Monday is a five-page blend of apologies and his professional biography.

"I love my family more than anything else in this world and just could not handle what we are facing. Due to my poor judgment, I had put us in a position that we will lose everything we had built," Jacobson wrote. "I overindulged in the real estate boom. I do not know what happened to me."
Jacobson admitted in the letter that he forced his family to leave their comfortable life in New Jersey to move to Florida to chase the life he thought they deserved. Jacobson estimated they went from $2.2 million in cash in equity to $2.3 million in debt in just five years.

"There is no way my family will be able to recover and they are looking at being destitute. I cannot allow or live with this," Jacobson wrote. "I am quickly dropping weight and sliding farther down. (I) cannot sleep as the anxiety is eating me alive."

Deputies said they believe that anxiety partly led Jacobson to shoot his wife, Franki, three times, and his sons, Eric and Joshua, in their sleep. High on Xanax, according to reports, Jacobson crashed his car in Delray Beach later the same night. According to reports, Jacobson told paramedics, "I just killed my family."

Jacobson ended his letter by answering a question so many people have asked, "Why kill your family?"
"I am embarrassed and ashamed of what I have done, and taking your own life is bad enough, but taking that of your own flesh and blood is an act that cannot be understood. I myself cannot understand how I can possibly commit such an act, but I can only say I was desperate not to have my family suffer over so many years to come," Jacobson wrote.

The letter was found inside Jacobsen's home. A second, similar letter was found in his car.
After that explanation and a confession to investigators, Jacobsen pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance. He is scheduled to return to court next month. The State Attorney's Office is planning to seek the death penalty.

http://www.wpbf.com/news/23131891/detail.html

Trial for Wellington man accused of killing his family set for 2011
By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 3:32 p.m. Friday, May 28, 2010
Posted: 11:44 a.m. Friday, May 28, 2010




WEST PALM BEACH — A judge this morning set a firm date for the death penalty trial of Neal Jacobson, the Wellington man charged with gunning down his wife and twin sons.

Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp has decided that the trial will begin on April 11, 2011.

Jacobson, charged with three counts of first-degree murder, was not present for the hearing.

Jacobson, a failed mortgage broker struggling with debt and depression, shot his family on Jan. 24, the day his twin 7-year-old twin boys, Eric and Joshua, were to celebrate their birthday. He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder with a firearm.

Jacobson, 49, "just snapped", he told investigators.

His wife was awake when he got a gun from his bedroom closet, Jacobson told a sheriff's detective.

She pleaded for her life and the boys' lives, Jacobson told the detective.

"Franki, there is no other way. There's just no other way," he was quoted in the report as saying.

Then, according to the report, Jacobson "told her they all had to go."

He shot is wife in the head two times.

Jacobson then reloaded his .38 Smith & Wesson Special revolver before going to the boys, each sleeping in his own bedroom.

Joshua was shot twice in the head, while a pillow covered it, according to a forensic report. Eric was shot four times in the head, twice with a pillow covering his head, twice without.

Jacobson told authorites that he also intended to kill himself. He was found later that morning slumped over and unresponsive after wrecking his GMC sport utility vehicle west of Delray Beach.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Jacobson. He entered a written plea of not guilty on Feb. 17.

susan_spencer_wendel@pbpost.com

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/trial-for-wellington-man-accused-of-killing-his-714757.html

Jacobson defense: Drugs contributed to triple murder

Posted: 3:05 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011

WEST PALM BEACH — A Wellington businessman who is accused of killing his wife and twin sons to spare them the pain of his financial collapse will apparently argue that the drugs made him do it.

Neal Jacobson's defense team on Tuesday asked Circuit Judge Steven Rapp to delay next month's trial to accomodate the hectic schedule of a Harvard-educated psychiatrist, who has spent his career blasting the medical establishment for the widespread use of anti-depressant and anti-psychotic drugs.

Dr. Peter Breggin, who has testified on behalf of numerous accused killers who were taking high-powered drugs, will testify that "psychotropic medications prescribed to Mr. Jacobson ... pivotally contributed to Mr. Jacobson's state of mind at the time of the crime," assistant public defender Elizabeth Ramsey wrote in court papers. A psychologist will testify that Jacobson is bipolar.

Breggin's testimony is to bolster Ramsey's argument that the 51-year-old former mortgage broker who faces the death penalty for his murderous January 2010 rampage should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defense, two psychologists said, will be a hard sell. Shortly before Jacobson shot his wife as she begged for her life and then shot his 7-year-old sons as they lay sleeping, he wrote two letters, trying to explain his actions.

"Taking your own life is bad enough but taking that of your own flesh and blood is an act that cannot be understood," he wrote. "I myself cannot understand how I can possibly commit such an act but I can only say I was desperate not to have my family suffer over so many years to come."

The letters show Jacobson knew the murders were wrong and that they were pre-meditated, psychologists Phil Heller and Steve Alexander said last year. Alexander labeled Jacobson an intense narcissist. In his letters, Jacobson decries his financial downfall as much as the loss of his family.

"Imagine going from a positive position of about $2.2 million (cash and equity) to a negative position," Jacobson wrote. "At our ages there is just no way to recoup what we had lost and be able to provide for our children."

In books and articles, Breggin claims such delusional thoughts are caused by medication. He calls it "medical spellbinding."

"In the extreme, medication spellbinding leads otherwise well-functioning and ethical individuals to commit criminal acts, violence or suicide," he writes on his website.

Rapp agreed to delay Jacobson's trial until Dec. 5, when Breggin will have finished testifying in three trials and wrapping up a textbook.

Prosecutor Andrew Slater, who objected to the delay, said his co-counsel will be State Attorney Michael McAuliffe. Last month, McAuliffe tried his first case since his election in 2008. He spent the previous 10 years in private practice, handling mostly civil matters.

McAuliffe will face fellow elected official, Public Defender Carey Haughwout. She often handles high-profile cases and is revered by defense lawyers for her legal chops.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/wellington-businessman-neal-jacobsons-defense-psych-drugs-contributed-1779278.html?cxtype=rss_crime_1341

JURY SELECTION FOR TRIAL 12/5/11

http://courtcon.co.palm-beach.fl.us/pls/jiwp/ck_public_qry_doct.cp_dktrpt_frames?backto=P&case_id=502010CF000836AXXXMB&begin_date=&end_date=