John Jackson
Hillsborough
County, Florida
Date of Crime: December 19, 1983
John William Jackson was convicted of the murder of Marie
Porter. At about 4:30 a.m. an assailant raped and stabbed Porter in
her house trailer on Drawdy Road in Plant City, FL. The victim went to
a neighbor for help and told him that “an orange picker, Michigan tag” had
done it. She died shortly thereafter. An autopsy revealed a
bruise on her right wrist which was determined to be a bite mark.
Jackson, a 31-year-old Caucasian male, had lived in the vicinity of the
victim's trailer from approximately July 1983 until a few days before the
crime when he moved a few miles away. He lived in the yards of various
neighbors, either in a tent or in his car. He denied knowing the
victim or her husband. The police took impressions of his teeth and
collected samples of his pubic and head hair.
His former neighbors, Charles and Patricia Fuller said Jackson told them
that he learned that the victim had been raped, stabbed, and bitten. He made
this statement before the police had released the information that the
victim had been bitten.
At trial Dr. Richard Souviron, a forensic odontologist, concluded that the
bite mark on the victim's wrist was consistent with Jackson's teeth
impressions. FBI Agent Michael Malone, an expert in hair and fibers
analysis, identified two head hairs found on the victim's pajama top as
being indistinguishable from Jackson's hair sample. These hairs were
identified as having been forcibly removed. Negroid hairs were found
in a window screen and a Negroid pubic hair was found in the combed pubic
hair of the victim along with several other strands of Caucasian hair which
were not identified. Jackson's defense moved for a judgment of
acquittal due to the insufficiency of the evidence, but it was denied.
In 1987 a district appeals court made the following determinations regarding
the three pieces of evidence that formed the state's case against Jackson: (1) Jackson's knowledge that the victim was bitten could have been inferred
by him as police had already taken teeth impressions from him. (2) The
bite impression evidence was not probative of guilt because the bite expert,
Dr. Souviron, testified “this was not a positive bite ...” and “I certainly
hope [the detective] didn't arrest John Jackson on this bite.” (3) The hair evidence lacked sufficiency because Agent Malone had testified
“it's not a fingerprint, no. I cannot say that that hair came from John
Jackson and nobody else.”
The appeals court noted that even if the prosecution case was stronger, the
law required the evidence to be inconsistent with any reasonable hypothesis
of innocence. The court indicated there was reasonable evidence that
someone else committed the crime: (1) The victim's dying words pointed
to an “orange picker, Michigan tag,” while Jackson's car had a Florida tag. (2) A Negroid pubic hair was in the victim's pubic hair combings. The
court concluded by vacating Jackson's conviction and granting his motion for
a judgment of acquittal. [11/10]
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Reference:
Jackson v. State
Posted in:
Victims of the State,
Central Florida Cases, Insufficient Evidence
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