State v. Jackson
| Decision Date | 02 September 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. 2010–0944.,2010–0944. |
| Citation | 141 Ohio St.3d 171,23 N.E.3d 1023,2014 Ohio 3707 |
| Parties | The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. JACKSON, Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
Timothy J. McGinty, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney, and Saleh S. Awadallah and Mary H. McGrath, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee.
David L. Doughten and John P. Parker, Cleveland, for appellant.
{¶ 1} Jeremiah Jackson appeals as of right from his aggravated murder convictions for killing Tracy Pickryl and from his other felony convictions. A three-judge panel imposed the sentence of death for Pickryl's murder.
{¶ 2} We affirm Jackson's convictions and sentence of death.
{¶ 3} Evidence introduced at trial showed that Jackson shot Pickryl while robbing the Soap Opera Laundry in Cleveland. Her murder ended a crime spree that began with Jackson's attempted murder of Stanley Bentley and included a series of six robberies in Cleveland, Sandusky, and Lorain between June 2 and June 18, 2009.
{¶ 4} Jackson and Bentley became friends while working together at the same company in 2006 and 2007. On the evening of June 1, 2009, Jackson visited Bentley outside Bentley's Cleveland residence. Jackson carried a bag with a gun inside, and he showed the gun to Bentley. The bag was left inside Bentley's home. Jackson departed later that evening, but before he left, Bentley told him not to forget his bag.
{¶ 5} Between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m. on June 2, Jackson and Maurice Harrison went to Bentley's home, and Jackson told Bentley that he had come to pick up his bag. Bentley told Jackson, According to Bentley, he got scared because Jackson became angry. Bentley then called his mother, Alfreda Rice, and told her what was going on. Jackson and Rice knew each other, and Jackson took the phone and talked to her. Jackson told Rice that he needed $500. Rice responded that she did not have any money and hung up.
{¶ 6} Bentley and Jackson continued to argue about the bag. Bentley saw Jackson put on a pair of work gloves and reach into his pocket. Bentley told Jackson that he had to go to work. Jackson replied, "You're not going to make it." Bentley then felt a "jolt" to the left side of his body. He jumped out a window and ran to a neighbor's house. The police were notified, and Bentley was taken to the hospital. He had been shot in the abdomen and remained in the hospital for more than two weeks.
{¶ 7} Around 11:30 p.m. on June 15, 2009, Jackson and Harrison walked into the Super Wash Laundry in Cleveland. They entered the office where Charles Caldwell, the laundry attendant, was seated and told him to put his head down and his hands up. Caldwell testified that one man carried a gun and the other man carried a bag. Jackson and Harrison then took approximately $200 from the cash drawer and some money from Caldwell's pockets and fled the scene. Surveillance cameras videotaped the robbery, and that tape was shown at trial.
{¶ 8} At trial, Katrina Dickerson testified, as part of a plea bargain, that she had driven the getaway car. Dickerson stated that on the evening of June 15, 2009, she had driven Jackson and Harrison to the Super Wash Laundry and that they had gotten out and robbed it. She also testified about her involvement as the driver during four other robberies and the robbery and murder at the Soap Opera Laundry.
{¶ 9} Around 11:50 p.m. on June 15, 2009, Jackson, Harrison, James Dixon, and Dickerson entered Hobo Joe's Bar in Cleveland. One of the men hit Steven McKenty, a customer, in the head with a pistol and took his wallet, $117 in cash, and his cell phone. Another robber put a pistol to the head of James Sedivy, the bartender, and threatened to shoot him if he did not cooperate. That robber rifled through Sedivy's pockets and took money from the cash register. The robbers then left the bar.
{¶ 10} Around 1:45 a.m. on June 17, 2009, Jackson and Dixon entered the Brickhouse Bar in Cleveland. Jackson and Dixon sat down at the bar and ordered a Corona and a tequila.
{¶ 11} About 15 minutes later, a third man entered the bar and directed Dwayne Buchannan and Monique Irby, two customers, to get on the floor and empty their pockets. Jackson then jumped over the bar, put a gun to the face of Jennifer Testa, the bartender, and took about $200 from the cash register. The three robbers then fled.
{¶ 12} At trial, Christopher Smith, a forensic scientist with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, testified that he had examined the DNA on swabs that had been used to collect matter from the rim of a glass and a Corona beer bottle left on the bar. He testified that the DNA found on the glass was a mixture consistent with contributions from Dixon and Jackson. He also explained that Jackson could not be excluded as the source of the DNA found on the beer bottle. Smith determined that "the expected frequency of occurrence of the DNA profile from the swabs from the beer bottle * * * is 1 in 160,800,000,000,000,000 unrelated individuals."
{¶ 13} Around 5:00 a.m. on June 17, 2009, Jackson, Harrison, and Dixon entered the lobby of Howard Johnson's Inn in Sandusky, Ohio, in Erie County. Jackson showed his gun to Katherine Schaffer, the desk clerk, and she gave them approximately $250. The robbers also stole a surveillance monitor from the office, and Jackson took Schaffer to a storage area and bound her with duct tape. The robbers then fled. At trial, Schaffer viewed surveillance-camera pictures taken during the robbery, and she identified Jackson as one of the perpetrators.
{¶ 14} Around 5:45 a.m. on June 17, 2009, Jackson, Harrison, and Dixon entered a Walgreens drug store in Lorain. Kayla Gaughan, the cashier, was at the front register helping Robert Morrison, a customer, check out. Jackson approached Morrison, placed him in a headlock, and pointed a gun at his head. One of the other men then took money from the cash register. Jackson took Morrison's cell phone, wallet, and about $20 and pushed him into a closet. Meanwhile, the third man went into the pharmacy area and robbed Mallory Fay, the pharmacist. The robbers then left the store. Again, surveillance video captured Jackson's participation in the robbery.
{¶ 15} Dickerson testified that after the Walgreens robbery on June 17, 2009, they drove to Cleveland. She took Jackson, Harrison, and Dixon to different locations in the Cleveland area.
{¶ 16} During the trial, Detective Michael Kitchen testified that the police were able to obtain cell-phone records that indicated where Jackson's, Dickerson's, and McKenty's cell phones were between June 15 and 18, 2009. These records showed that between 4:40 a.m. and 5:05 a.m. on June 17, following the robbery of the Brickhouse Bar in Cleveland, Jackson and his accomplices drove to Sandusky, where the robbery of Howard Johnson's occurred. Jackson's movements were then traced to the Lorain area, where the robbery of Walgreens took place. Cell-phone records showed that around 6:30 a.m., Jackson and his accomplices returned to the Cleveland area.
{¶ 17} On the evening of June 17, 2009, Jackson contacted his friend Janica Jackson. At the trial, she testified that Jackson had asked her to borrow her car. He had offered her $100 and told her that he would return the car by 6:00 a.m. the next morning.
{¶ 18} Around 11:00 p.m. on June 17, Jackson and Dickerson got the car from Janica and Harrison joined them. Dickerson testified that she then drove to East 40th Street to pick up Dixon. Harrison exited the vehicle to find Dixon. Jackson and Dickerson then saw Harrison being arrested by members of the Special Weapons and Tactics ("SWAT") team on his way back to the car, so Jackson and Dickerson drove away.
{¶ 19} Jackson then told Dickerson to drive to a location near the Soap Opera Laundry. She testified that he exited the car and walked down the street.
{¶ 20} In the early morning hours of June 18, 2009, Tracy Pickryl and Christy Diaz were working at the Soap Opera Laundry. Around 4:30 a.m., Jackson walked into the laundry and approached them. According to Diaz, Jackson asked if he could have a discount because he had only a few items to wash. Pickryl replied that they could not give discounts. Jackson then pulled a gun and pointed it towards Pickryl's waist. He then demanded, "[C]ome on, give me the money." Jackson also pulled at a necklace Pickryl was wearing, but he was unable to break the chain.
{¶ 21} He directed Pickryl and Diaz toward the front counter. Jackson then pointed his gun at Pickryl's face and demanded, "[G]ive me the money." Diaz gave Jackson $6 from her pocket. But Pickryl told Jackson, "[W]e don't have no money here." Jackson repeated, "[G]ive me the money." Pickryl replied, "[D]ude, we don't have no money." Jackson grabbed Pickryl's necklace again and the chain broke when she pulled away. Jackson then grabbed Pickryl's bracelet, and she pulled back. According to Diaz, Pickryl turned her head toward Jackson and looked at him, and she looked down. Jackson then shot her in the face.
{¶ 22} Diaz testified that Jackson turned the gun on her and said, "[G]ive me the money." Diaz reached behind the microwave and handed him a pouch with money inside. Jackson pulled her toward a nearby office and tried to open it, but the door was locked. He then pointed the gun at her face and fired a shot. Diaz collapsed and thought she had been hit, because her ears were ringing and her face went numb. Jackson then ran out of the laundry.
{¶ 23} A surveillance video presented at trial showed Jackson coming into the laundry and taking Pickryl and Diaz at gunpoint to the front counter. Because of the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Worley
...13 N.E.3d 1051, ¶ 184 ; State v. Kirkland , 140 Ohio St.3d 73, 2014-Ohio-1966, 15 N.E.3d 818, ¶ 111, 113-115, 124 ; State v. Jackson , 141 Ohio St.3d 171, 2014-Ohio-3707, 23 N.E.3d 1023, ¶ 239-240 ; State v. Ferguson , 108 Ohio St.3d 451, 2006-Ohio-1502, 844 N.E.2d 806, ¶ 87, 88 ; State v. ......
-
State v. Mieczkowsk
...court. Venue is not a material element of the offense, and thus, it can be waived in the trial court by failing to object. State v. Jackson , 141 Ohio St.3d 171, 2014-Ohio-3707, 23 N.E.3d 1023, ¶ 142–143. Therefore, Appellant waived all but plain error. {¶ 97} Article I, Section 10 of the O......
-
State v. Ford
...IQ score." State v. Burke , 10th Dist. Franklin No. 04AP-1234, 2005-Ohio-7020, 2005 WL 3557641, ¶ 51 ; see also State v. Jackson , 141 Ohio St.3d 171, 2014-Ohio-3707, 23 N.E.3d 1023, ¶ 100 (based upon IQ scores and the Flynn Effect, trial court was justified in inquiring into whether an eva......
-
State v. Garrett
...at ¶ 327. {¶ 336} Fifth, we give weight to the support that he has from family members who testified on his behalf. See State v. Jackson, 141 Ohio St.3d 171, 2014-Ohio-3707, N.E.3d 1023, ¶ 301. {¶ 337} Finally, Garrett's remorse for killing Nicole and CD. is entitled to weight. Significantl......