Noura Jackson Case Analysis | Prosecutorial Misconduct in Matricide Trial

hello this is dr grande today's question is can i analyze the case of nora jackson just a reminder i'm not diagnosing anybody in this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoy this video please like it subscribe to my channel consider supporting me on patreon and check out my podcast on youtube bella grande media i will put the relevant links for those items in the description for this video first i'll go through a brief background i'll move to the timeline of the crime then offer my analysis laura jackson was born on march 17 1987. in 2005 when she was 18 she lived with her 39 year old mother jennifer jackson in memphis tennessee jennifer who worked as an investment banker had divorced jackson's father when jackson was a baby now moving to the timeline of the crime on june 5 2005 laura jackson called 911 at 5 am she said i need an ambulance right now someone broke into my house my mom is bleeding she's not breathing when the police arrived they found the body of jennifer jackson on the floor of her bedroom jennifer had been stabbed 50 times she was naked and had a wicker basket over her head the police thought maybe this was because whoever killed her did not want to look at her face like somebody close to her usually when somebody covers the face of a murder victim that means the murder was a relative or a lover somebody like that and not a stranger investigators notice broken glass on the kitchen floor it had come from a door separating the garage and the kitchen the door had three horizontal glass panels the middle one was broken out at first they were confused as to why the assailant didn't break out the one closer to the lock upon closer inspection they realized there was a hidden lock near the second panel one that was not visible from outside the door how did the assailant know the lock was there none of the neighbors had seen an intruder that morning investigators talked to jackson's on-again off-again boyfriend he had called her at midnight on the night that her mother was murdered he told the police that he hung up the phone before she answered after this he went to sleep in his residence which was 90 minutes from jackson's home jackson said that she discovered her mother's body after coming home from being out all night she had attended various parties drove around alone stopped to get gas and stopped at a taco bell during her initial interview she failed to mention she also stopped at a walgreens just after 4 am and bought first aid tape and liquid bandages this is about an hour before she called 9-1-1 the police noticed that she had adhesive tape between her thumb and forefinger on her left hand this was covering a small cut she would later explain that she cut her hand on a broken beer bottle although she told her friends something different this case was assigned to a 40 year old prosecutor named amy weirich she created a theory about what had happened jackson was upset because she did not want to follow her mother's directions like jackson was rebellious jackson murdered her mother so she could steal money which she could use to continue her party lifestyle so there's two parts to the theory jackson was rebellious and greedy this seemed like a far-fetched theory daughters don't murder their mothers very often but the prosecutor was convinced due to a few other circumstances when jackson turned 16 she started communicating again with her father he owned a convenience store in memphis he was shot and killed at that location his homicide was unsolved norah jackson had been arguing with her mother about selling a few cars that jackson inherited from her father after his murder in addition jackson's estate was worth 1.5 million dollars jackson had something notable to gain from her mother's murder jackson was arrested and charged with first-degree murder on september 29 2005 as she was completing a babysitting assignment she was unable to pay the half a million dollar bond so she sat in jail for three and a half years awaiting trial dna found in the bedroom where jennifer jackson was murdered came from two or three people the police could not identify these people the dna did not belong to nora jackson there was actually no physical evidence tying jackson to the murder nor jackson's trial started in february of 2009 amy weirich and another prosecutor named steven jones called witnesses that made jackson look like a potential killer witnesses described jackson's drug use sexual activity and party lifestyle she was using alcohol and marijuana they even brought up opioids which he was prescribed for endometriosis one neighbor overheard jackson demanding money from her mother the neighbor said that jackson was in a rage one of jackson's aunts said that jackson was not happy about potentially being sent to boarding school this is something that jennifer apparently discussed jackson's half-uncle heard an argument involving the cars which were inherited by jackson interestingly a potential conflict was uncovered jackson's half uncle and two aunts were suing jackson for jennifer's life insurance policy and the remainder of her estate one of jackson's acquaintances named andrew hammack who said they were friends with benefits testified that sometime between 4 and 5 am on the day of the murder nora jackson called him and asked him to come over to her house andrew said that this request was out of the ordinary and he did not drive over i guess he checked the benefits list and that was not one of the available options the prosecution made it seem as though norah jackson called andrew hammock so that she would be with somebody else when she discovered the body in her closing argument wyrick made an exclamation in front of the jury she said quote just tell us where you were that's all we are asking nora unquote her statement was a not so subtle attack on norah jackson's right to remain silent so the prosecutor was making nora look bad because nora chose not to testify nor jackson's defense attorney was hesitant about having her testify on her own behalf specifically she was worried about cross-examination jackson was on a lot of psychotropic medications for anxiety and depression which could have compromised her performance on the stand her defense attorney called no witnesses she noted that the dna evidence revealed unknown suspects and that jackson had a manicure not long before the murder how did she kill her mother with a knife without sustaining any damage to her fingernails nora jackson was found guilty of second-degree murder on march 27 2009 the jury did not go with the first degree murder charge jackson was sentenced to 20 years and nine months in prison she was given almost three and a half years credit for time served and could have earned up to another three years for good behavior so from the moment she was sentenced she could have been released in under 15 years before her conviction jackson really struggled in jail she had collected a number of disciplinary offenses it's like she was going for the whole set she didn't do any better in prison either she racked up offenses like possessing morphine fighting and kissing an inmate the prosecutor would go on to enjoy tremendous success in her career after this she was appointed district attorney in shelby county after the current district attorney resigned she was then elected to that position in both 2012 and 2014. a friend said that wyrick's husband was talking about the family moving into the governor's mansion one day either he thought the governor wouldn't mind or he believed wyrick would be the governor the other prosecutor in this case stephen jones followed a motion five days after the guilty verdict it was to submit an omitted statement specifically a handwritten note written by andrew hammack which was given to the police a few days after the murder again andrew was in a friends with benefits relationship with norah jackson and was the one witness who placed jackson at the crime scene jones admitted that the police had given him the note in the middle of the trial he put it in his notebook and forgot about it so the defense was never made aware of the note here's what the note indicated andrew wrote that he left his cell phone with a friend and later was rolling on ecstasy meaning he was using the illegal drug mdma the note made it look as though andrew never did receive a call from jackson saying that he should come over cell phone records showed that he texted jackson and that she called him but the records did not indicate if the call was answered this note meant that andrew hammock could have been considered a plausible suspect by the jury he had contradicted his alibi in a sense this note could have also shed light on another occurrence about a week after the murder a friend of andrew hammock visited a police station and said they didn't know where he was on the night of the murder and since that night he had been acting strangely the police never bothered to follow that lead laura jackson's conviction was overturned in 2014 for two reasons one was the failure to turn over that note the second reason was the outburst by amy weirich during her closing arguments which criticized jackson for remaining silent the court ruled that this criticism is off limits to any conscientious prosecutor nor jackson was not set free after her conviction was overturned she was facing a second trial and the judge did not grant her a bond hearing in addition to the exculpatory note written by andrew hammack which increased her chances of being found not guilty there was other evidence that may have helped jackson in the retrial as i mentioned the 2004 murder of her father was never solved this was not touched on during her trial her father owned a convenience store but he also ran a limousine service when he was murdered a surveillance camera captured the killer ransacking the store what was the killer looking for there was a rumor that a prostitution ring was renting the limousines and they had videotapes of certain clients in compromising positions jennifer was the one that collected the belongings of norah jackson's father from the convenience store after his murder perhaps those videotapes were there considering that jennifer jackson's home was also ransacked the night she was murdered it makes this seem as though these two crimes may be connected another possibility here is that jackson's father was involved in something like drugs and that's what the assailant was looking for the judge assigned a different prosecutor for the retrial it would not be amy wyrick the new prosecutor often jackson a plea bargain specifically an alford plea this is a plea where the defendant admits the state had enough to prosecute them however they maintain their innocence if nora jackson would plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter her sentence would be reduced to 15 years when factoring in time for good behavior she believed that she would be released from prison the same day if she pleaded guilty nor jackson was ambivalent about pleading guilty she had strong feelings in both directions in the one sense she wanted to maintain her innocence which technically she could do with an alfred plea but it's still pleading guilty on the other side she really wanted to be free she wanted to have a chance to have a baby and felt as though time was running out now jackson did not want to plead guilty and then have to go back to prison she had already told the prisoners there that she was fighting for her innocence and she thought they would react poorly to the news that she had pleaded guilty so again she was hoping to plead guilty and immediately be released on may 20 2015 jackson signed the alford plea she thought she would be released the same day but as it turned out she did not have enough credits to be released she was sent back to prison to serve 15 more months apparently no one knew how to add or subtract jackson was released after serving a total of 11 years she found a job at an auto body shop working as a receptionist and moved in with her girlfriend who she had met in prison jackson would find out after her release from prison that because her endometriosis was largely untreated there a hysterectomy was now indicated adopting a child was not really an option because jackson and her girlfriend were both convicted felons now moving to my analysis was nora jackson actually guilty this is an interesting case because many people believe that she was and her sentence was reduced essentially because of a technicality and some misconduct and other people believe that she is truly innocent she was a victim and that misconduct was really just a way to frame her for a crime she didn't commit let's look at the factors both foreign against the idea that norah jackson was guilty starting with the inculpatory evidence nora jackson had a motive to kill her mother there was a massive financial incentive her behavior was rebellious she had been angry from time to time she was using drugs she was defying her mother's authority there were serious problems in that relationship jackson's behavior in jail seemed to reinforce this image of a person with behavioral problems nora jackson was always on her phone but between 1 13 am and 3 18 am on june 5 2005 which was likely when the murder occurred there was no activity on her phone the 911 jackson if her mother had been shot she replied no how would she know that jackson didn't tell the police about cutting her hand or stopping at the walgreens she had multiple stories for how she cut her hand the broken window panel and the door suggested the assailant knew where the lock was the exterior doors in the garage were locked upon discovering her mother's body nor ran over to a neighbor's house and told him someone's breaking in my house he retrieved a firearm and went to the house but noah ran in front of him one would think that if she was worried about an intruder she would stay behind him the night of the murder it was hot outside but jackson was wearing a long sleeve sweatshirt one of the activities that nora engaged in on the night of the murder according to her account was driving around alone this always seems like a suspicious alibi the police noticed that there was water in the shower when they arrived now could have been there because jennifer had just taken a shower or perhaps it was nora jackson now moving to the exculpatory evidence jackson did not have any injuries on her consistent with a fight except that one cut on her hand there were no bruises and no other cuts she recently had a manicure but her nails were in perfect condition no dna or blood was found on jackson or in her vehicle none of her dna was at the crime scene no physical evidence whatsoever tied her to the scene no murder weapon was ever recovered the bloody clothes which presumably jennifer must have been wearing were never found unidentified dna was found on the bed sheets and other areas in the bedroom hair was found clutched in one of jennifer's hands it was blonde so it was clear it didn't belong to nora but the police never bothered to test it there was an alternate theory of the crime as far as her father's murder that is whoever killed her father killed jennifer andrew hammack's alibi fell apart offering another alternate theory of the crime there's one item of interest that isn't really inculpatory or exculpatory a drop of jennifer's blood was found on the front step this was the only place her blood was found except in the bedroom where there was a lot of blood perhaps this blood fell off the murder weapon as somebody was leaving the house so with all this evidence in mind what are my thoughts here was nora jackson guilty as far as actual guilt i believe that she was but i don't think she worked alone there are just too many coincidences and odd circumstances in this case to dismiss now looking at the legal standard i think she was not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt the investigation was terrible the prosecution didn't turn over evidence and again no physical evidence tied nor jackson to the crime scene this is another example of a case where the prosecution painted the defendant as low in conscientiousness highly disorganized rebellious out of control and yet they described a murder which would require the perfect execution of a master plan all of a sudden nora jackson has the combined skill of a mafia hitman and a ninja this reminds me of the jeff pelley case this case in indiana where several members of a family were murdered jeff pelley was convicted of the crime he was essentially described as anti-social he engaged a number of small crimes before that and then all of a sudden according to the prosecution he was able to kill four people in about 20 minutes without leaving any physical evidence what i find interesting about the jackson case is that nora jackson seems to represent herself as someone who has been exonerated for example she did an interview with amanda knox a woman who was convicted and later acquitted of a homicide in italy i believe amanda knox is actually innocent nora jackson did take a plea deal she's technically guilty and as i said before i think she's actually guilty she has not been exonerated as far as i know there were terrible things that happened to her as far as due process she was a victim of wrongdoing but that doesn't mean she's innocent one of the parts of this case that really makes no sense is the alfred plea nor jackson's conviction was overturned she had originally been sentenced to 20 years and nine months and she was offered 15 years as part of that alfred play she essentially gave up her chance of being found not guilty to of prison five or six years earlier than she would have now of course she could have been retried convicted again and sentenced to a longer prison term but that would have been an unlikely outcome she actually had a good case for the retrial in addition to that note being available as evidence the information about her drug use would have been excluded in addition i find it difficult to believe that she did not know the math of her sentence like she took the plea bargain and then was surprised to remain in prison for 15 additional months i have worked with a lot of people who have spent time in prison no matter how bad they are at math they can always tell you the exact day when they will get out prison sentences are the ultimate teacher of addition and subtraction and in some cases multiplication and division like in states that allow prisoner to get a percentage of the time off of their sentence this actually made me think that prison time calculations would be a great topic for word problems to help teach people math here's an example i came up with johnny got jammed up with extortion conspiracy and drug possession charges due to his friends ratting him out he's facing five years three years and 10 months respectively which must be served consecutively if he has two and a half years of time served and it can earn up to 15 percent for good behavior how much time will johnny have to serve i think that's a great example of a word problem that a lot of people who've been to prison can really connect with it's an applied math situation my final thoughts in the case of norah jackson when prosecutors break the rules they undermine confidence in the criminal justice system prosecutors have a tremendous negotiation advantage over people who are in prison because when people are in prison they want to get out prosecutors aren't in prison so it's no big deal to them prosecutors often leverage plea bargains to ensure or protect a conviction if norah jackson was guilty the misconduct of the prosecutors cheated the victim out of about five years worth of justice if nora jackson was truly innocent and she sustained 11 years worth of injustice those are my thoughts in the case of norah jackson please put any opinions and thoughts in the comments section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis of this topic to be informative thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

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Length: 21min 33sec (1293 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 14 2021