Tulare Man Found Guilty of April Murder
Late yesterday afternoon in Department 22 of the Tulare County Superior Court, South County Justice Center, TCDA prosecutors secured a guilty verdict against Jacoby Jackson, age 33, for murder.
On April 9, 2023, Tulare firefighters and police officers responded to a massage business on K Street. Upon arrival, they found an adult female in one of the massage rooms with signs of strangulation and bruising to her face and neck. Firefighters extinguished a fire in a separate room of the business. The victim remained unconscious from the time she was found until she died a few days later.
Through investigation and video surveillance, officers identified Jackson as the last person to enter and exit the business. He was in the building for one hour and 45 minutes. Smoke began billowing from the building only a few minutes after Jackson was recorded leaving with a towel draped over his head. Jackson was also seen attempting to enter a car parked outside the business with the victim’s keys but was unable because it was not her car.
Jackson was arrested on April 18, 2023, in Stanislaus County for being found with a different car stolen from Visalia earlier that morning. He was then brought back to Tulare County.
Jackson enacted his constitutional right to a speedy trial and opted not to delay his jury trial. At trial, he was convicted of first-degree murder with the special circumstance that the murder was committed during a robbery, arson of an inhabited structure, and vehicle theft.
Due to recent changes in California law, a separate proceeding was required to address remaining enhancements and allegations. After the jury reached guilty verdicts on the underlying charges, a judge found true the enhancements and allegations that Jackson possessed a prior strike offense (bank robbery) and prior serious offenses, that the crime caused great bodily injury, was violent in nature, and that the crime was of planning and sophistication.
Sentencing is scheduled for August 30, 2023, in Superior Court where Jackson faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The case was investigated by Detective Eric Wilson from the Tulare Police Department and was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Jessica Weatherly.
Media inquiries can be directed to the Office of the District Attorney, County of Tulare Assistant District Attorney Jessica Weatherly (559) 636-5494