A state appeals court Friday upheld first-degree murder and sexual battery convictions of a man accused of killing a Clay County veterinary technician in 2007.
A three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal rejected arguments by Michael R. Jackson that prosecutors were improperly allowed during his trial to present evidence about a conviction in a 1986 sexual assault.
Jackson was indicted in 2007 in the rape, strangulation, and beating of a woman near a kennel cage at a veterinary clinic where she worked in Orange Park, according to Friday’s ruling.
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A jury found him guilty, but the Florida Supreme Court later tossed out the conviction, leading to a new trial. During that trial, prosecutors presented testimony from the victim of the 1986 assault and a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office detective who investigated the 1986 case.
Jackson’s attorney objected to presenting the evidence of the 1986 crime, but a judge allowed jurors to hear the testimony, and Jackson was convicted again.
A three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal on Friday upheld allowing the evidence in the case. “Here, the similarities in the sexual batteries are numerous,” said the ruling, written by appeals court Judge Harvey Jay and joined by Judges Eric Eisnaugle and Jordan Pratt.
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“Both occurred in Northeast Florida. Both victims were young women in their teens or twenties. Both suffered penile-vaginal penetration. Both crimes took place in the early morning hours while the victims either were or appeared to be alone. Both occurred in places where the victims went daily. Both transpired near where appellant (Jackson) lived. Thus, while the crimes are not identical, they have much in common.”
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