BY KATHY WILLIAMS
HERALD DEMOCRAT
The jury took little more than five minutes to declare Marcus Jackson not guilty of interfering with the duties of a public official. The trial leading up to the verdict took the better part of a day. It included the defendant asserting constitutional rights and questioning missing video and audio recordings and the prosecution's accusations of a "pack of felons" testifying for the defense.
However, the aspect of racism was voiced just once, by Assistant District Attorney Donnie Carter, when he asked one of the officers involved if he were a racist and the officer replied he was not.
The judge, Carol Siebman, County Court at Law No. 2, the six-person jury, all the prosecutor's witnesses and attorneys for both sides were white. The defendant and all of his witnesses were African American, two of whom were county jail inmates on traffic charges, but with felonious criminal histories. Deputies escorted them into court in orange jail jumpsuits, shackled hand and foot.
The events
The prosecutor contended that Jackson speeded up when Denison Police Officer John Watt turned on his patrol car's overhead lights at 1:30 a.m., May 26, 2007. Further, he contended Jackson drove his car from the right lane to the left lane of Spur 503 in front of the officer. Jackson's actions, the prosecutor said, were intended to prevent the officer from pulling over James Nelson's car, which was in front of Jackson's.
The defense contended that Jackson pulled over to the right shoulder from the right lane, in which he was driving and following Nelson, because when Watt turned on his lights, Jackson thought he was being pulled over -- or maybe both cars were being pulled over. That's the proper, legal response for a driver, the defense attorney noted. Jackson's attorney said when Watt pulled his and Nelson's cars and stopped Nelson, Jackson thought just Nelson was pulled over and Jackson pulled back onto the road. Then he saw a second Denison police officer, Benjamin Ray, pull over with his lights on, so Jackson again moved to the right and stopped.
Witnesses descriptions of the traffic stop were confusing because the activity took place on Spur 503 as it enters U.S. Highway 75. Drivers in the right lane must continue straight ahead, and the left lane turns toward Sherman. So all drivers were at the same time reading traffic signs and reacting either to the officer's lights or the suspect drivers' actions.
The only action that could have been viewed as interference, Jackson and the people riding in his car testified, was that when Jackson was stopped he gave officer Ray a card from the NAACP asserting his and his passengers' rights to remain silent and consult an attorney. It also states they will comply with every request the officer makes, whether they agree with it, and will not touch or make threatening moves toward an officer. And they will consent to a "pat down" search for the officers safety, in front of a patrol unit's camera.
Defense attorney Pam McGraw, working with the Grayson County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, represented Jackson free of charge. NAACP President Erik Jackson testified that about a month before the traffic stop in question, Marcus Jackson had attended an NAACP meeting at which the program Covenant of P.R.I.D.E. (Public Respect, Integrity, Duty and Ethics) was explained and launched. A panel of four attorneys explained people's rights and duties when they are stopped by police officers.
The Covenant of P.R.I.D.E. card
The card, admitted into evidence at the trial, was presented to every law enforcement agency in the county, Erik Jackson testified. This was so that officers would be familiar with its content when a driver handed it to them.
Anatomy of a traffic stop
According to state law, patrol cars must be equipped with cameras that start filming automatically when an officer activates his overhead lights. Also, officers wear body microphones and have in-car microphones that are supposed to record everything that happens for the safety of those involved in a traffic stop.
The State Legislature also required, and in many cases paid for, the cameras to automatically record every stop in order to develop statistics. These statistics are used to monitor racial profiling, or whether police actions are racially based. Each police agency must make an annual report of the race, age, gender and offense of all traffic stops to the city council or county commissioners court.
On May 26, 2007 neither body microphones nor automatically triggered video cameras on police units were available from either officer who took part in the arrest. Watt said that his equipment (body microphone and video camera) malfunctioned and that when he noticed that his video camera was not recording he turned it on manually. The video available showed a beginning of shift test indicating the camera was working. Then it started up again, recording the cars parked and the voices of two men sitting in the back seat of Watt's patrol car after they were arrested.
Nelson, who Watt said he pulled over because he saw him drive away from a club and knew he did not have a driver's license, was not arrested. Another occupant of Nelson's car, who also has no driver's licensed, was allowed to drive his car away from the scene. Another occupant of Nelson's car, Greg Jones, went to jail on traffic warrants. The sound recording is of Marcus Jackson and Jones talking about their arrests and expressing their confusion about who was pulled over.
While Watt was dealing with Nelson's car, Ray came to Jackson's car and Jackson told him his name, his address and gave him his driver's license, his proof of insurance and the NAACP Covenant of PRIDE card. Jackson and the occupants of his car testified that Ray then asked the others' their names and other questions, like where were they going. They said that Jackson told them they didn't have to say anything "the card does our talking for us."
Ray testified he did not ask anyone in the car but Jackson any questions. He said he took the three items Jackson had given him to Watt.
Watt earlier had testified that he had never seen the PRIDE card before and did not read it at the scene because "it was too dark and dangerous to do so." Ray later testified that Denison Officer Jessey Grissom had showed a copy of the card to both him and Watt. Both officers testified they had not read the card, even after the 2007 event.
Asked why he did not turn in the sound recordings from his microphone or his car video, Ray said it is not his practice to do so on a routine traffic stop when he is just assisting another officer. McGraw asked what happens to those videos, and Ray said he believes they are destroyed after 90 days if they are not submitted as evidence.
Watt testified that he called Ray for assistance after consulting with the shift supervisor about being interfered with in his stop. Ray said that is why it was Watt's stop and not his.
The prosecution asked Wesley Short, whose company maintains the recording and radio systems for the Denison Police Department, about the problems with Watt's body microphone and camera.
The recording which the prosecution entered into testimony includes indicator lights that show both of Watt's microphones were working. Short told the prosecutor it is possible the lights were on, but the camera and microphone were not working. "These systems have lots of bugs and quirks in them." Short answered the defense attorney that it was possible to manually shut off the camera and microphone. He said the officers are not really schooled in this. He said the city, which used video tape in 2007, now has more reliable DVD equipment.
Both police officers had been members of DPD for less than a year in May 2007.
In his closing argument, Carter told the jury the case was about the truth, not about special interests or outside interests. "You heard the officer say that he attempted to pull the driver over and the defendant interfered with that attempt. Mistakes were made, he should have reported the broken equipment. The other officer should have turned in his tapes. But did these officers conspire together? ... that there are two differing versions is not reasonable doubt. There are only two roads here ... either there is a rogue officer or a crime was committed."
McGraw countered that the only interference of a public officer was the act of a driver telling his passengers not to answer questions. "Did anyone interfere with Officer Watt's ability to pull someone over? No. since they both moved over. How many of us here have wondered when an officer's lights go on who is being pulled over?"
She reminded the jury that Erik Jackson had told them about the NAACP program to offer people protection. "That protection is a video" ... and no video was available to protect either the officer or the defendant.
After the not guilty verdict, Marcus Jackson, who had not testified said, "I got the right verdict. I'm glad they recognized that I did not do it."
Watt said he was just glad it was over. Since he works the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, he had been awake about 26 hours and had a shift starting in just seven hours.