A Shreveport man convicted in 2019 of the 2016 slayings of his stepson and a neighbor, was retried and convicted again of the crimes following a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Ramos, that mandated unanimous juries in criminal trials.
The six-man, six-woman jury in District Judge Erin Leigh Waddell Garrett’s court deliberated 30 minutes before returning unanimous verdicts Wednesday, January 29, against Jerry Jackson, 57, charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.
On July 20, 2016, Jackson shot and killed his stepson, Kendrick Brown, and a neighbor, Michael Dillard, in front of the Bond Drive residence of his wife, Rhonda Brown. After the shooting, Jackson tried to hide the .22 caliber rifle he used in the slayings by giving it to a friend.  The friend notified the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s office, which in turn notified the Shreveport Police Department. The rifle was collected and matched to the .22 caliber casings at the crime scene. In addition, Jackson’s then-wife, Rhonda Brown, and a neighbor also testified that Jackson had shot the two victims.
Jackson originally was convicted in 2019. However, the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U.S. 83, in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires that guilty verdicts be unanimous in criminal trials, forced a retrial.
When Jackson returns to court for sentencing February 24, 2025, he faces a mandatory life at hard labor prison term for the murder conviction, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, and up to 40 years at hard labor for the manslaughter conviction.
Jackson was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Bill Edwards and Kodie Smith. He was defended by Sean Landry.
The case was docket No. 406516.
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