One of several men charged in connection with the death of a 15-year-old Gwinnett boy will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Rico Dehaven West was found guilty today and a few minutes later a judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Nicholas Jackson was killed after six men broke into his parents’ Norcross home on Autry Street, off Holcomb Bridge Road on Feb. 2. Police say the group was hoping to steal about $1 million in cash and 50 kilos of cocaine thought to be hidden inside the house. Instead, they found Nicholas playing a video game. The assailants chased the teen into a bedroom and a gunman blindly fired six shots into the door, according to the police report.
Nicholas Jackson Sr. told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2012 that his son was shot in the heart.
The elder Jackson said he believes his son startled burglars who had broken into the home by kicking in a door.
“He got up to see what the ruckus was,” the father said. The shots seemed to be fired as the suspects retreated, he said at the time.
Prosecutors in the case say West was part of the armed crew, but that he never fired his weapon, according to Channel 2. West did, however, describe parts of the crime during recorded phone calls.
Shortly after the break-in, police arrested the six men after pulling over a van they were riding in, roughly one-third of a mile from the Jackson home. In the van police found two pairs of latex gloves, a roll of duct tape, ski masks and four handguns.
While in jail awaiting trial, West was found to be in possession of contraband in the form of a key. While it wasn't clear what type of key West was hiding, he was moved to the "super max" portion of the county jail, into his own cell, according to a 2012 interview with a Gwinnett County Sheriff's spokesman.
In May 2013, Nicholas Jackson Sr., the boy's father, was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison, after pleading guilty to distributing cocaine a couple of months earlier.
Jackson Sr. testified at the trial of one of the defendants in his son's murder in October and said he had sold drugs "off and on" for 15 years. Jackson said he resumed dealing cocaine when the real estate market tanked, but his family did not know he sold drugs.
“I tried my best to keep it from them,” Jackson testified at the time.
During that October trial, murder charges were dropped against Timothy Johnson, after he agreed to testify against the other six members of the crew. Johnson, who drove the getaway vehicle, received a 15-year prison sentence in exchange for his testimony.
Johnson testified that Jason Dozier acknowledged firing shots into the teen’s bedroom door along with co-defendant Anthony Lumpkin.
Dozier was found guilty of murder in October and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Lumpkin was found guilty in November, according to Channel 2.
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