Bernard Jackson was sentenced today. He received 18 consecutive life sentences for rapes committed in the Waldo and Armour Hills neighborhoods almost 30 years ago.
No trial date has yet been set for Jackson’s other unresolved criminal cases. Prosecutors accused him of two more recent sexual assaults in the Waldo area.
The Case
Jackson is accused of four rapes in the Waldo area in the 1980s. In February 2011, he was charged with 22 counts. These charges were related to two of the five “modern” Waldo rape cases. Jackson had been considered a “person of interest“ in these cases since May.
Bernard Jackson is a twice-convicted sex offender. He lived in a halfway house since late 2008. He faces up to 15 life sentences. DNA tests linked Jackson to evidence from the four mid-1980s attacks. All happened in the Waldo area. Read more here.
UPDATE: “Jackson County prosecutors announced Tuesday they are dropping the remaining criminal charges against Bernard Jackson — known as the “Waldo Rapist” — because it appears Jackson will certainly spend the rest of his life in prison.
Jackson’s convictions in 2011 for a string of rapes in the 1980s have withstood legal appeals, and he is currently serving 18 consecutive life sentences. He was also charged in a more recent string of attacks in 2009 and 2010, but prosecutors said that after discussions with victims, they decided not to prosecute Jackson for those crimes.
“We are in agreement with the victims in these cases that justice has been served, knowing that Jackson will spend the rest of his life in prison,” Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a statement.”