WARREN — Two Trumbull County inmates convicted in the 2001 murder of a Howland man will face new sentencing hearings after federal appeals courts ruled their death sentences were improperly imposed because of judicial bias and procedural errors.

Nathaniel “Nate” Jackson, 52, is scheduled for resentencing in early 2026 before Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Ronald J. Rice. His co-defendant, Donna Roberts, 68, was granted a similar hearing following a May 9 ruling by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The decisions stem from the murder of Robert Fingerhut, Roberts’ ex-husband, who was fatally shot in his home in a plot orchestrated by the pair while Jackson was in prison. Investigators recovered 19 recorded phone calls and nearly 300 letters detailing the murder plan. Jackson carried out the killing two days after his release.

Both defendants were originally sentenced to death in separate trials overseen by the late Common Pleas Judge John Stuard. The Ohio Supreme Court later ordered resentencing, but upheld the death penalties after new hearings. Federal judges, however, found flaws in the process.

In August 2024, a Sixth Circuit panel — Judges Raymond M. Kethledge, Amul R. Thapar and Chad A. Readler — ruled Jackson’s sentence unconstitutional because of judicial bias and improper exclusion of evidence. The same panel cited that decision in overturning Roberts’ sentence this month.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has appealed Roberts’ case, arguing state courts correctly upheld the sentences.

“Under the Constitution of the United States, decisions by the Court of Appeals must be applied in the state system unless the U.S. Supreme Court reverses them,” said Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins.

If not resentenced to death, both inmates will receive life sentences. Their guilt is not in question; all courts have affirmed their aggravated murder convictions.

The re-sentencing process will include new mitigation hearings and jury recommendations, similar to a 2017 Cleveland case where a three-judge panel re-imposed the death penalty for triple murderer George Brinkman in 2023.

Jackson’s hearing is tentatively set for February 2026. No date has been scheduled for Roberts pending her appeal.