Hearing set in Medina County for Nate Summerfield, accused killer of Ashland mom Lynn Jackenheimer

CLEVELAND - The man accused of murdering Ashland mom Lynn Jackenheimer will make his first court appearance Friday morning.

Nate Summerfield is scheduled to appear before a Medina County Common Pleas Court judge at 10:45 a.m. for his extradition hearing.

NewsChannel5 will stream the hearing in its entirety once the footage comes in. The judge did not permit live streaming.

Summerfield was arrested on Aug. 15 following a month-long nationwide manhunt.

Jackenheimer disappeared over the July Fourth weekend while vacationing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with Summerfield, her estranged boyfriend. The 27-year-old Summerfield is accused of stabbing and strangling the mother of two to death before dumping her body 30 minutes from their beach cottage.

North Carolina chief assistant district attorney, Nancy Lamb, has been assigned to prosecute Summerfield. But a backlog of cases will likely push any trial proceedings back to 2014.

If Summerfield does not fight extradition, he could be sent to North Carolina "in days." But if he does fight it, a governor's warrant would need to be obtained and served to Summerfield within 90 days.

The legal process for Summerfield in North Carolina is well under way. Evidence against him will be presented to a grand jury Sept. 10 "whether he has been returned to North Carolina or not," Lamb said in a phone interview from her office in North Carolina.

After that, the legal process begins to slow down quite a bit. Superior Court, which handles all felonies, meets for one week once a month. This is part of the reason Lamb said they have a backlog of cases. Including the district attorney, Frank Parrish, their are 12 prosecuting attorneys which cover seven counties, seven agencies and seven sheriff's departments.

The Outer Banks Voice published an article in February claiming "five cases have been pending for time periods ranging from 270 to almost 1,600 days." Lamb said the article was incorrect and there is no case that's been waiting for prosecution that long.

The same article also pointed out there have been several complaints about how long it takes to get to pending cases. At one point, their were six complaints wanting Parrish to step down from office. In March, a judge found "no probable cause" to have him removed.

Part of Lamb's job includes quality control and handling complaints. She only takes on cases if necessary, if the DA's request it.

Lamb has been on the job for 28 years and has only lost one murder case. One came to a hung jury, ultimately ending with the person later convicted in a retrial.

At this point, Lamb can't say if they will pursue the death penalty against Summerfield, saying "it has yet to be determined."

North Carolina has not executed someone since 2006.

While there is no state moratorium, there is an issue with doctors being present at executions and whether that violates their oath.

When -- or if -- the trial finally begins, how long it last will depends on whether or not the State of North Carolina seeks the death sentence. If it isn't a capital case, Lamb said she's prosecuted a murder suspect in one week.

"A capital case could take four to five to six weeks," Lamb explained. If not more.

Once Summerfield arrives in North Carolina, he's expected to be housed at the Dare County Detention Facility.

"It's unlikely Mr. Summerfield will be allowed to have a bond because of the circumstances that exist," Lamb said.