Twins kidnapping suspect to remain in federal custody pending trial
A Columbus woman accused of stealing a car with 5-month-old twins inside last month and setting off a national search will remain in jail pending a trial on federal trial.
Nalah T. Jackson, 24, waived her right to a detention hearing Wednesday and U.S. District Magistrate Judge Kimberly A. Jolson ordered Jackson to be held in federal custody until her trial on two counts of kidnapping a minor. If Jackson is convicted of the counts as charged, she faces 20 years to life in prison on each count.
If Jackson had opted to have the detention hearing, federal prosecutors would have argued that Jackson should remain in jail pretrial.
"That's based on the fact that each count carries up to life in prison and the counts as charged do contain acts of violence toward minor children," Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily K. Czerniejewski said at Jackson's first appearance in federal court last week.
The case against Jackson in Franklin County Municipal Court was dismissed Wednesday at the request of Franklin County prosecutors. A person can only be tried for a crime once.
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Jackson is accused of stealing a Honda Accord on Dec. 19 that Wilhemina Barnett, the mother of 5-month-old twin boys Kason and Ky'air Thomas, had left running with them in the backseat while she went into a Donatos Pizza in the Short North to pick up a Door Dash food order to deliver.
The following morning, Ky'Air was found in the parking lot outside the Dayton International Airport wrapped in a blanket and in a car seat. Kason, Jackson and the Honda were still missing.
On Dec. 22, after two women tipped off Indianapolis police, Jackson was arrested. The women, who are cousins, then went to the area where they first met Jackson and found Kason inside Barnett's car, which was sitting in the parking lot of a pizza shop in downtown Indianapolis. They went to a nearby restaurant to alert Indianapolis police inside and officers retrieved Kason, who was taken to a local children's hospital for medical examination before being turned over to family.
The recovery of Kason occurred just as a winter storm was bearing down on Indianapolis and the Midwest and was a Christmas miracle for his family.
Jackson is also facing misdemeanor charges in Franklin County of telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing from an unrelated incident that occurred in November in Gahanna. Additionally, Jackson is charged with multiple traffic violations, including driving while under suspension and failure to stop at an accident from an incident that occurred on Dec. 2 at the intersection of Route 33 and Frantz Road.
Those charges may also be dismissed depending on the outcome of the federal kidnapping charges.
jlaird@dispatch.com
@LairdWrites
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Twins kidnapping suspect waives detention hearing, to remain in jail
