THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 10, 1996 TAG: 9601100416
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Chauncey Jackson, the teenager accused of murder who was recaptured on Christmas Day and charged with 15 crimes allegedly committed while on the lam.
Jackson, 17, is scheduled to be tried for capital murder on Jan. 25 for the 1994 shooting death of Richard G. Bonney Jr. No date has been set for motions on the death penalty issue.
Authorities say Jackson confessed to the Aug. 31, 1994, killing of Bonney, 27. Co-defendant Calvin Outlaw has been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 68 years in prison.
Prosecutors had not planned to go for a death sentence until Jackson failed to report for a bond hearing and was charged with new crimes while on the run. Jackson turned down an offer to plead guilty to the murder in exchange for a life sentence.
Jackson appeared in juvenile court Tuesday on the new charges of armed burglary, wearing a mask, attempted robbery, robbery, four counts of abduction and seven counts of firearm use. But the case was continued until Feb. 20. Those offenses allegedly occurred at about 7 p.m. on Dec. 10 at a house on Todd Street in Campostella. Police say they involve four victims, one of them an 11-year-old.
Prosecutor Lisa Caton told the judge Tuesday that Jackson, who is being held in the Norfolk Jail, and his grandmother have been making telephone calls to victims and their families. Juvenile Court Judge Lester V. Moore Jr. ordered Jackson not to contact them.
Jackson was charged as a juvenile and the case moved to adult court in September 1994. Jackson was indicted in Circuit Court, but a judge there never reviewed the case before charges went to the grand jury. This step is required by a state law that took effect July 1994.
Judge Lydia Taylor released Jackson on a $20,000 personal recognizance bond. She ruled that prosecutors had to indict Jackson to try him for murder. A grand jury indicted Jackson again on Dec. 6, but Jackson was not home when police went to his house to arrest him that afternoon, and he failed to show up for a bond hearing the next day. by CNB