JAYDEN MARION - 18 months - / Convicted: Mother's boyfriend, Donald Jackson - Revo, NV

Reno man sentenced in child murder case

Jackson gets life with possibility of parole in 20 years


Dec. 23, 2013   |



Donald Jackson, on trial for the murder of an 18-month-old boy, during the first day of his trial Monday Dec. 2, 2013. / Marilyn Newton/RGJ file photo



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Defense attorney John Ohlson shows the jury a photo of Jayden, 18-months old . The youngster was murdered in Aug. 2012 and the mother's boyfriend, Donald Jackson, is on trial Monday Dec. 2, 2013 for his murder. Marilyn Newton



The Reno man found guilty Dec. 5 of first-degree murder of a 1-year-old boy was sentenced Monday in Washoe District Court to life with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

Donald Jackson, 23, was sentenced by Judge Scott Freeman of Washoe District Court, who added five years to the sentence for child abuse. The terms are to run consecutively.

Natasha Thompson, the child’s mother, said Monday that Jackson, that her former boyfriend , left her without a reason to live because he robbed her baby Jayden Marion of his childhood and adulthood.

The defendant’s mother, Caroline Cole, said she was sorry for the death of the young boy but added her son was not a murderer. She said he was a good boy who avoided trouble and played basketball in high school.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Greco, leading the final trial with the DA’s office before retirement, said the 18-month-old boy’s autopsy showed a “pulverized” liver and that Jackson had beat the boy for months on the days he watched him while Thompson was at work.

The defense, led by Reno attorney John Ohlson, argued Jackson found the young boy unconscious on Aug. 8, 2012 before seeking help from nearby residents in their Reno apartment. They said the boy suffered from complications of polycystic kidney disease and that there were no witnesses, admissions or key crime scene evidence to find Jackson guilty.

Jackson, who did not testify during the trial, told Freeman on Monday he took responsibility for his actions in the moments after finding the child unconscious and that he is sorry if the death was a consequence of something he had done trying to save the child’s life.

Jackson told police he did nothing to the child before finding him unconscious and looking for help, the prosecution said.

Greco requested cross examination after Jackson’s revised story moments before sentence. Freeman denied cross examination, but allowed a brief supplemental argument from Greco.

“If Mr. Jackson had wanted to offer that story to the jury, he could have in an attempt to acquit himself,” Greco said after sentencing. “However, he chickened out and refused to testify in front of a jury.”

Ohlson argued life without parole is reserved for the most evil of society, which Jackson is not, he said.

Freeman said Jackson’s lack of criminal record and his young age weighed on his decision to give the possibility of parole after 20 years instead of life without the possibility of parole, which the prosecution sought.

“Sometimes life without the possibility of parole is reserved for some of the most evil offenders,” Freeman said. “I don’t know if you are evil or not. This is an incredibly evil act — probably the most evil that one can do to a child. But I don’t know. I don’t know. So sometimes we leave it up to the prison to decide what they want to do with you under the circumstances.”


http://www.rgj.com/article/20131223/NEWS01/312230039/Reno-man-sentenced-child-murder-trial

Another POS mother.  Another POS man.  Another dead baby.      


This mother should have been prosecuted for allowing her boyfriend to torture and abuse her baby.         Now she acts like the victim.