Savannah Roper's anguished wails shrieked across the 911 tape as she watched her pimp bleed to death, shot through the heart by a sheriff's deputy.
The woman, then a 17-year-old prostitute, was almost incomprehensible that night more than four years ago. However, her words were much more clear on Wednesday, when Roper testified that Fulton County Deputy Richard M. Jackson tried to rape her and then killed Alan Griffin, 22.
"All Alan said to me before he died was he loved me and for me to keep my head up," Roper told a Fulton County Superior Court jury on the first day of testimony in the murder trial for Jackson, 44. The case was tried once before, resulting in a hung jury.
Roper, who used to work nightly along Cleveland Avenue under Griffin's direction, was three months pregnant with his child at the time, and later miscarried.
A few years earlier, the Dalton native had moved to Atlanta as an underage girl in accompany of another man. She worked for Griffin outside an apartment complex known for making drugs and sex available.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross described Roper as "a graduate of the school of hard knocks," whose workplace was likely outside the comprehension of jury members.
Jackson, who was off duty and not in uniform on the night of the shooting, said he acted in self-defense after he insulted Roper, who complained to Griffin. The deputy, who was suspended after the shooting, armed himself after the pimp returned with a 9mm pistol looking for payback, said Kenya Herring, Jackson's lawyer.
"They don't know he is an off-duty deputy," Herring said before testimony opened in Superior Court. "They think he is a John who got out of line. This is a homicide. Homicide is not murder."
Ross said the deputy was the aggressor. At midnight on July 15, 2006, Jackson drove Roper to the back of the apartment complex in his red pick-up truck, pulled out his Glock 9mm pistol and tried to tear her skirt off after refusing her demand for payment, the prosecutor said.
Jackson fired a round at Roper as she fled to the front of the complex, and Griffin grabbed his pistol and went to confront Jackson, who hid behind a dumpster and shot Griffin, Ross said.
Police arrested Jackson in a nearby wooded area. The deputy retreated and waited to be discovered by officers, his lawyer said. However, Wednesday's testimony showed there was no record of Jackson calling 911 to report he was a a law enforcement officer under attack; in contrast, Roper and other people complex called immediately to report the shooting.
"He doesn't stand around like a sitting duck," Herring said.
Jackson claimed other people shot at him. Four shell casings were found, including three on the ground and one in the pick-up, testimony showed.
Griffin is dead because he "attempted to come to the defense of his prostitute girlfriend," Ross said.
The case languished for nearly two years after Atlanta Police arrested Jackson on the night of the shooting. No indictment came until the District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit, which investigates officer-involved shootings, took an interest.
Investigators interviewed Jackson and found contradictory statements, Ross said. In 2008, Jackson was indicted and resigned from the sheriff's office.
"You may not agree with the way Alan Griffin lived his life, but you are certainly not going to agree with the way he died," Ross told jurors. "No man is above the law, especially one who is sworn to enforce it."
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