From the Pitch: “Bernard Jackson‘s sentencing is scheduled for September 30, 9 a.m.” He could be sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is also charged with rapes in the same area where five rapes occurred between September 2009 and February 2010.
UPDATE: He was found guilty in July on seven counts of rape stemming from assaults in 1983 and 1984. He was sentenced to 18 consecutive life sentences today by a Jackson County judge.
Jackson was convicted on charges of breaking into the Waldo homes of several women who lived alone. He raped and robbed them.
He was ultimately convicted of 18 felonies including the seven rape charges, seven counts sodomy and four robbery charges. The sentence was the maximum allowed.
In November 2016, prosecutors dropped the remaining charges against Bernard Jackson. He will spend the rest of his life in prison. By dropping the additional charges, his accusers will be spared the ordeal of a trial.
“When considering plea agreements, each case is different and prosecutors have to assess the strength of their evidence, said Joe Bednar, a lawyer in private practice who formerly handled sex crimes cases in the Jackson County prosecutor’s office.”
Jackson was sentenced well before the Missouri General Assembly passed a sweeping bill in 1994 that reformed and toughened the state’s sentencing procedures.