Marion County jury makes it a short trial for three time offender

Nov. 16—FAIRMONT — The Marion County Division II Jury had a mystery to solve Wednesday.

Was the Kenneth Bruce Jackson sitting in the courtroom the same one as the Kenneth Bruce Jackson who was convicted for two prior felonies in Wayne County, Michigan?

The jury decided it wasn't much of a mystery. It indeed was the same Jackson.

After deliberating for roughly 30 to 45 minutes, the jury in Judge David Janes' courtroom handed down a guilty verdict to Jackson, 30, on a third or subsequent felony offense, which now gives him the label of recidivist.

Jackson was convicted in 2016 of home invasion and in 2018 of breaking and entering of a vehicle to steal greater than $1,000 and/or receiving or concealing stolen property. His ostensible third felony is related to a conviction from April, when a Marion County jury found Jackson guilty of selling Fentanyl within 1,000 feet of a school.

In what was a short trial, Marion County Lead Prosecutor Jeff Freeman easily overcame Jackson's paper-thin defense. At stake was whether or not this would count as Jackson's third felony, or first, if the Michigan felonies were excluded from the case in West Virginia. The punishment for a third felony, recidivist, is confinement to a state correctional facility for life.

Matthew Christian Brock, Jackson's attorney, relied on a two pronged defense strategy. He hoped to establish enough doubt in the state's evidence by questioning how conclusive the records the state relied on were. At the same time, he sought to overturn the state's assertion that the two felonies in Michigan did count toward the one in West Virginia. On cross examination, his line of questioning argued that the definitions for the crimes Jackson committed in Michigan have no exact equivalent in West Virginia, therefore the felonies don't carry over because West Virginia deals with the same types of crimes in different ways from Michigan.

However, Freeman had something Brock didn't — evidence.

The state provided two witnesses and four exhibits with which to make its case. By contrast, Brock submitted neither witnesses or exhibits to make Jackson's case, instead relying solely on cross examination of Freeman's witnesses to make Jackson's argument. Jackson himself did not take the stand.

Freeman's witnesses were Lt. Michael Keller of the Fairmont Police Department and Leslie Schrauder, of the Marion County Adult Probation office. They both testified to having independently retrieved different records that confirmed Jackson was indeed the same Jackson who was convicted in Michigan in 2016 and 2018. Freeman used court paperwork from the 2016 and 2018 convictions to press his point.

What was perhaps the nail in the coffin was that Jackson himself, when reviewing his criminal history with Schrauder in the post-trial pre-sentencing interview, admitted to her that he was in fact, the same Jackson as the one in Michigan.

Testimony from both witnesses was mainly kept to yes or no answers.

In closing arguments, Freeman reiterated the evidence, asking the jury to convict Jackson as a three-felony recidivist. Brock simply offered if one could truly know if it was the same Jackson from the paperwork without any photographic evidence.

The jury called it an early day for everyone.

Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com