Fired Charlotte Police Officer's Cases Likely To Be Dismissed

Cases Handled By Jailed Charlotte Police Officer May Be Dismissed



Charlotte-Mecklenburg Prosecutors may have to dismiss more than 50 cases brought by a police officer who last week was charged with sexually assaulting two women.

Prosecutors are now reviewing criminal cases where former Officer Marcus Jackson was the primary witness.

Assistant District Attorney Bruce Lillie said more than 50 cases – mostly misdemeanors and traffic offenses – may have to be thrown out. Among them are charges of domestic violence, assaults on females, drunken driving and driving while license revoked. Those cases also include three felonies – armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and assault by strangulation.

“We're closely reviewing these cases to determine whether we can continue to prosecute them,” Lillie said. “Hopefully, we'll be able to proceed on some of these cases without the officer. If we can, we will.”

Lillie said prosecutors might be able to get convictions in the domestic violence and assault cases if the victims show up for court to testify. If they don't, and Jackson is the only witness to the crimes, the charges will have to be dismissed, he said.

Jackson, 25, was arrested Dec. 30 and charged with three counts of sexual battery, second-degree sexual offense, kidnapping, extortion, indecent exposure and two counts of felonious restraint. He is being held in the Mecklenburg County jail on $360,000 bond.

In announcing last week's arrest, police said the first alleged sexual attack occurred on Dec. 18 but wasn't reported to police until Dec. 28. The second incident was reported Dec. 29 and allegedly occurred the day before.

The young women told investigators the sexual attacks occurred after Jackson had pulled them over on traffic stops, police said. Jackson was on duty and in his marked patrol car at the time, police said.





Fired Charlotte Police Officer Had History Of Domestic Violence

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting two women in his patrol car had previously been accused of domestic violence, and in 2005 was ordered not to own or carry a firearm, according to court documents.

Court records show that two women previously accused Marcus Ramon Jackson of attacking and threatening them, before he became a police officer. Judges granted both women restraining orders, forbidding Jackson from contacting or going near them. One judge prohibited Jackson from carrying a firearm during the two weeks of the restraining order.

He wasn't convicted of any crimes in those cases.

CMPD hired Jackson in September 2008, and assigned him to patrol the Eastway Division in east Charlotte.

Police said they conducted a criminal and civil background check on Jackson, and were aware of a domestic complaint from 2003.

A court found him not guilty of violating a restraining order and his arrest record was expunged, police said. Until Thursday, CMPD was unaware of the 2005 incident.

Jackson, who is being held on $360,000 bond, made his first appearance in court by video Thursday. He asked the judge to unsecure his bond so he could get out of jail without putting up any money.

"Is there any way you can uplift the secured bond for sake of being near loved ones?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, I can't do that," Mecklenburg District Judge Tom Moore replied.

A woman who told reporters she was Jackson's mother left the courtroom with three men after the hearing. "We don't have nothing to say - nothing at all...," one of the men told an Observer reporter.

On Wednesday, Jackson, 25, was arrested after two young women told investigators he had pulled them over on traffic stops and sexually assaulted them. He was on duty in a marked patrol car at the time, according to police.

The first incident allegedly occurred on Dec. 18 but wasn't reported until Monday. Police Chief Rodney Monroe said Jackson - wearing his uniform and driving his police cruiser - pulled over a 17-year-old girl, forced her into his car, drove to another location and forced her to commit sex acts.

CMPD began its investigation after a relative of the girl called police Monday.

As detectives investigated the allegations, Monroe said, a 21-year-old woman reported Tuesday night that she too had been assaulted by Jackson under similar circumstances. That assault, she said, occurred on Monday.

Police would not say what time on Monday they received the first complaint, or how much time passed before the second attack occurred.

"We worked the investigation around the clock with our Internal Affairs Division and Sexual Assault Unit," said police spokesman Capt. Brian Cunningham. "Within 24 hours of identifying Mr. Jackson as the suspect, evidence was collected, he was interviewed and arrested, and his employment was terminated. ... We believe that we acted in a swift and appropriate manner."

Arrest warrants obtained Thursday provide some details of the crimes Jackson is accused of committing.

Jackson offered not to write one of the victims a ticket in exchange for her performing oral sex on him, according to one of the warrants. Jackson and the victim did engage in the sex act, the warrant says.

Court documents reveal that Jackson's past included two allegedly violent episodes in Mecklenburg County. The first was in 2003 when Jackson, then 19 and a student at UNC Charlotte, was dating a 15-year-old Harding High School student.

The girl's mother sought a restraining order against him in May 2003. "The defendant threatened my daughter by telling her 'she was going to get hers and catch one,'" the mother wrote.

Jackson tried to hit the teen with a car and pushed her into a locker, according to the mother's complaint. He was later summoned to court after being accused of violating a restraining order, but was found not guilty in August 2003.

In 2005, Jackson was working at Off Broadway Shoes on South Boulevard and still studying at UNCC when his 21-year-old girlfriend sought a restraining order against him.

"The defendant grabbed me by the face several times, screaming and yelling...," the girlfriend wrote in her complaint. "The defendant hit me in the back of the head, slapped my face, pushed me down in the floor, forcing (me) in (a) walk-in closet."

The judge ordered Jackson to stay away from the victim and not own or carry any firearms. But no criminal charges were brought.

On Wednesday, Chief Monroe said "it would be naïve" to believe Jackson hadn't assaulted other women while on duty, and asked anyone who believes they were victimized by him to contact police.

Police spokesman Cunningham said Thursday no other women had come forward.

"We continue to look into Mr. Jackson's past traffic stops, in-car video, and citizen contact data for potential issues," he said. "This is part of our ongoing investigation."




Forbes List Of America's Most Dangerous Cities...Charlotte Is No. 14!

To determine our list, we used Charlotte's Violent Crime statistics from the FBI's latest uniform crime report, issued in 2008. The violent crime category is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

We evaluated U.S. metropolitan statistical areas--geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics--with more than 500,000 residents.

No. 14 Charlotte, N.C.

(Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C. metropolitan statistical area)

Population: 1,635,133

Violent Crimes per 100,000: 721



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, CMPD, Forbes, WBTV, Google Maps