Assistant Ector County District Attorney Elizabeth Howard pleaded with a jury Thursday to send the man they convicted of aggravated robbery, Isaac Jackson, to life in prison. She told them he has proven time and again he can’t follow the rules, even in the courtroom.
A little more than an hour later, they gave Jackson 80 years. Five minutes after that, he disrupted the proceeding, standing up in the courtroom and causing four court security deputies to descend upon him, forcing him into his seat, handcuffing him and otherwise restraining him as he pleaded to be taken back to jail.
“I’m ready to go. I’d rather not stay here. Please remove me from the courtroom, pretty please,” Jackson pleaded with Judge James Rush. “There’s nothing else to do.”
Rush, not missing a beat, continued to thank the jury for their service and excused them.
Over the next half hour, Howard, her co-council Melissa Williams, and defense attorney Johanna Curry continued to prepare the paperwork needed for Rush to formally sentence 33-year-old Jackson. The defendant remain handcuffed behind his back with half a dozen deputies hovering inches away.
When it came time for Rush to ask him if he understood his appellate rights and if he had anything else to say, a subdued Jackson answered, “Yes, sir” and “No, sir.” After Rush imposed the 80-year sentence and a concurrent 10-year sentence for being a prohibited gun possessor, deputies attached leg irons to Jackson and led him out of the courtroom.
During Jackson’s trial this week in the 244th Ector County District Court, Williams and Howard told jurors Jackson walked into the Garden Rose Spa on East Seventh Street on March 21 in order to rob it. Jackson launched a 13-minute attack on the owner, Liying Chen, that left the 64-year-old with a small brain bleed, a fractured nose, a fractured knee and numerous bruises and lacerations, witnesses testified.
The prosecutors showed jurors more than 100 photos of Chen’s injuries and the bloody scene. They also played jurors video clips that showed Jackson repeatedly pistol-whipping the 100-pound Chen, trying to force the gun in her mouth, kicking and stomping her and dragging her by the hair from one length of the building to the other.
Jackson admitted to the attack, but said he went into the spa to get a massage and Chen refused to return his money when he changed his mind. He blamed the attack on the Xanax and the excessive amounts of cough syrup he’d consumed.
Jackson testified Thursday that after he served three years in prison for robbery, he promised to never again do drugs, but fell back into his old habits after losing a good-paying oil field job in Odessa during the pandemic.
Curry pleaded with the jury to show Jackson some mercy. While hundreds of photos of Chen’s injuries were shown, she argued many of them were duplicative and noted Chen was released from the hospital after three hours. She was simply told to use an ice pack and over-the-counter pain meds Curry said.
“The prosecutors want you to take a 12-minute span of time and try to ruin someone’s lifetime. It didn’t take two hours, it didn’t take 12 hours. It took 12 minutes,” Curry said.
Jackson has an addiction he’s never received help for, Curry said. She asked the jury to give him the opportunity to return home to his three sons so they’re not part of another generation of young black boys growing up without a father.
While her client didn’t show Chen mercy during the attack, he did leave her alive when he could have shot her, Curry said.
“He left her alive and we’re asking you to do the same for Issac,” Curry said.
During her closing, Howard said it was Chen’s life that has been ruined. She can’t close her eyes without seeing Jackson, she said.
Standing in front of the defense table, Howard looked at Jackson and, her voice dripping with sarcasm, said, “Thank you Mr. Jackson for not murdering her.”
A miracle, a higher power or the strength of her own physical being are the only reasons Chen is still alive, Howard said.
Howard and Williams reminded the jurors of Jackson’s numerous arrests and convictions and the testimony of jailers who said Jackson has gotten into trouble at the jail for starting a fire to smoke an illicit substance and for threatening to incite a riot at the understaffed jail.
A mother and daughter, Dedria and Patience Hightower, from Cold Spring testified Thursday about the night Jackson broke into their home 10 years ago when Patience was home alone and ransacked a bedroom. After he was taken away, a large kitchen knife was found on a book shelf outside Patience’s bedroom. The entire time Jackson was in the home Dedria was at work miles away and on the phone with 911 dispatchers and Patience, who was in high school at the time.
The prosecutors also noted Jackson consistently tried to blame Chen for the incident, insisting the money he took was his.
Howard also replayed the video of the attack. At least one juror studiously avoided watching it. Jackson never took his eyes off it.
The only way to protect society is to sentence him to life in prison, the prosecutors said.
On the court’s TV screen, they reminded the jurors of something Jackson said on the stand when asked where his violence comes from. When he’s on drugs, Jackson said they just tell him, “This is something I gotta do.”
Williams argued drugs don’t make people commit violent crimes, their character does.
“He’s never going to stop taking what he wants when he wants it,” Williams said. “Even when he’s in jail he can’t follow the rules and he can’t follow the rules when he’s in this courtroom. You saw that yesterday.”
Court security officers had to force Jackson back into his seat after he stood up twice Wednesday, courtroom observers said. He stood when Chen entered the courtroom and he stood when she left.
On Thursday, Jackson said he didn’t mean to “disrespect” Chen, but he thought if he could stand for the judge and the jury, he could stand for “the lady I caused all that harm to.”
Asked how the community could feel safe if he were someday released, Jackson said, “I feel like…you guys will just have to have faith I learned my lesson. I can’t use drugs. I can’t neglect my family like that.”
