GUILTY TN - Jennifer Jackson, 39, stabbed to death, Memphis, 5 June 2005

Jackson accepted an Alford plea on voluntary manslaughter charges Wednesday. The maximum sentence she would face is 15 years, with the possibility of parole after 9. She has already served 9 and a half years in prison which means she is eligible for parole...

The State Supreme Court overturned Noura’s first conviction because of prosecutor misconduct, but Noura had doubts about another trial...

Jackson was convicted in 2009 of second-degree murder. She was accused of stabbing her mother, Jennifer Jackson, at least 50 times in 2005.

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The State Supreme Court overturned Noura’s first conviction because of prosecutor misconduct, but Noura had doubts about another trial.

A special Prosecutor said he offered the plea because the facts just weren’t there, and charges against her were circumstantial.

Also, things like her prior drug and alcohol use and sexual activity were not going to be admissible this time around...

Jackson was convicted in 2009 of second-degree murder.

She was accused of stabbing her mother, Jennifer Jackson, at least 50 times in 2005.

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Noura Jackson, 28, sobbed at Jail East when her attorneys told her about a plea offer that would shave years off her prison stint. After nearly a decade behind bars, she soon would be free — but at a cost.

Her first words, “But my mom! No one will ever figure out who killed my mom.”...


Jackson refused prosecutors’ initial offer to confess to the slaying and apologize.

She insisted on maintaining her innocence and only agreed to a plea deal Tuesday after prosecutors met with her attorneys at a Cooper-Young coffee shop and offered to allow her to enter the Alford plea. That meant she didn’t have to admit guilt but had to accept the punishment and burden of being a felon...

Jackson initially wanted a chance to prove her innocence before a new jury, but grew increasingly skeptical of receiving a fair trial while waiting in vain for nine months for a bond hearing.

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Jackson, 29, will walk out of the Mark H. Luttrell Correctional Center near Shelby Farms with her belongings at some point Sunday, Tennessee Department of Corrections spokesman Neysa Taylor confirmed, adding that they do not reveal the time a prisoner is released.

And Jackson will be completely free, at least as relates to this charge, Taylor confirmed.

"She's completed her term. She goes home without supervision. She's not going to be on probation, not on parole," Taylor said. "She's going to go home."

Jackson's sentence was originally due to expire next March, but it was reduced thanks to good behavior while behind bars, said her attorney, Michael Working.

Jackson's release will be the latest chapter in an 11-year odyssey that includes a conviction for second-degree murder in the death of her mother; charges that prosecutors acted improperly in the case; a ruling that was supposed to lead to a new trial; and ultimately, Jackson's acceptance of an Alford plea. Such a plea meant that she didn't have to admit guilt but accepted the 15-year sentence on a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter. She has maintained her innocence.

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One of the lawyers who prosecuted Noura Jackson in the killing of her mother testified Wednesday that he "just forgot" about a witness statement that wasn't turned over to her defense attorneys until after the murder trial was over.

“The problem is that I forgot all about it,” assistant district attorney Steve Jones testified Wednesday during his disciplinary hearing.

A panel of attorneys is hearing the disciplinary proceeding in which Jones is charged with professional misconduct. The Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee has asked the panel to order "such disciplinary action as it may deem appropriate."

The Tennessee Supreme Court in 2014 threw out Noura Jackson's second-degree murder conviction and ordered a new trial. The court found that Weirich made a "constitutionally impermissible comment" on Jackson's right to remain silent and that the prosecution violated Jackson's right to due process by failing to turn over the witness statement until after the trial.

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For the first-time ever, the judge in the Noura Jackson case is speaking out. Not only does he think Jackson stabbed her mother to death in their East Memphis home, he thinks she may have had help.

"There is no question she committed the murder in my mind," said Judge Chris Craft, Shelby County Criminal Court Judge. Craft presided over Jackson’s three-week trial for the 2005 murder of her 39-year-old mother, Jennifer Jackson. He saw every piece of evidence, all the graphic crime scene photos. Someone stabbed Jennifer Jackson more than 50 times in her East Memphis home in June 2005. Prosecutors portrayed her 18-year-old daughter Noura as an out-of-control party girl.

"Why would someone kill their mother? It was because she was shutting down her lifestyle and was going to send her somewhere where she wouldn't be able to have sex and drugs. And there was the motive for her killing," said Craft.

Craft told us he believes Jackson killed her mother that night, and for the first time the judge revealed this theory. "She may have had the help of one of her boyfriends, because there were several stab wounds. Some were deeper than others," said Craft.

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"I honestly didn't think she would be convicted because of the lack of DNA evidence," said author Lisa Hickman, who was also in the courtroom for the entire trial. Hickman wrote a book about the murder called "Stranger to the Truth." Hickman says she was surprised by the verdict because the case was based completely on circumstantial evidence.

"Circumstantial evidence just drew a tight noose around her and there was no way she could get out of it," said Craft.

For Hickman, one of the most striking things was the cut on Noura Jackson's hand.

"That's always been something I could not get past. The cut on the hand, the trip to Walgreens. Very difficult to brush that aside," said Hickman.

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In an exclusive interview, Senior Local I-Team investigator Jeni Diprizio spoke with the juror who spent three weeks listening to the testimony. He was convinced Jackson was not guilty.

Roberts sat in on the entire trial. When deliberations began, he was randomly selected to be an alternate juror, so he was sent home. If he had stayed, the trial may have ended with a hung jury.

"I wouldn't have found her guilty myself," said Roberts. He says he often wonders what happened while jurors deliberated.
"It actually bothers me she was found guilty because in my mind I'm trying to see what did they see that I didn't see and I still don't know," said Roberts.

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Shelby County Assistant District Attorney Steve Jones did not intentionally or knowingly fail to timely disclose evidence in the case of Noura Jackson, lawyers said Thursday in clearing the prosecutor of misconduct charges.

Lawyers who decided the case brought by the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee found there "should be no professional sanction associated with an isolated, inadvertent" rules violation.

"Under our system of criminal justice, prosecutors have enormous power and exercise tremendous discretion; therefore, prosecutors must always be held to the highest ethical standards," they said in the order. "Nevertheless, prosecutors are still human beings who make inadvertent mistakes. Although these mistakes could have grievous consequences to the prosecutors and, more critically, criminal defendants, there are other avenues for addressing those consequences."

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Lawyers hearing Jones' case found his account of what happened with the evidence — a handwritten statement by witness Andrew Hammack — to be "entirely credible."

Jones said he received the statement during the trial, briefly reviewed it, put it in the flap of a notebook and forgot about it.

"None of the evidence in this matter suggests (Jones) acted intentionally," according to the lawyers' written decision. "Nearly all of the witnesses attested to (Jones') integrity and candor, and even Jackson's defense attorneys did not allege that (Jones) had intentionally withheld Hammack's handwritten note."

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Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich goes before a disciplinary board of attorneys Thursday and Friday on a complaint about her conduct in the 2009 murder trial of Noura Jackson. Weirich, who was an assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, made a comment during closing statements to the jury in which she called on Jackson to just explain what had happened in the murder of her mother. That was after Jackson had exercised her Fifth Amendment right not to testify. The Tennessee Supreme Court overturned Jackson’s conviction based on that and evidence the prosecution did not turn over to the defense that might have been helpful to the defense.

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