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Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Executed Offenders (Tommy Jackson)

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers the following information on Tommy Ray Jackson who is scheduled to be executed Thursday, May 4, after 6 p.m.:

FACTS OF THE CRIME

In the late evening hours of November 17, 1983, Tommy Ray Jackson and his accomplice, James Clary, kidnapped University of Texas student Rosalind Robison from the parking lot of the Petroleum Engineering Building on the U.T. campus in Austin. After being kidnapped and sexually assaulted she was driven in her car to Williamson County where she was shot in the head at close range by Jackson. Her body was discovered in a gravel pile one month later.

Jackson and James Clary met at the Dismas Halfway House in Austin, where they had discussed stealing a car to be used in future robberies. On the morning of November 17, 1983, Jackson and Clary left the Dismas Halfway House. After spending much of the day at various locations in East Austin, the two began searching for a car to steal. Jackson had a weapon, and the two carefully looked at several locations in the vicinity of the University of Texas campus, and ultimately decided to look on the campus itself. Between 11 p.m. and midnight, Clary and Jackson focused their attention on the parking lot next to the Petroleum Engineering Building located on U.T. campus. They spotted Rosalind walking toward her car. Using their weapon, they kidnapped Rosalind and drove away in her white Oldsmobile Delta 88.

After discovering that Rosalind had no money, they went to the nearest ATM, and got some cash with Rosalind's ATM card. They then proceeded north on IH-35, during which time Jackson raped Rosalind in the back seat of the car. They exited IH-35 in Williamson County, and stopped in a remote area where Clary had sexual intercourse with the victim. According to Clary, because he used Jackson's name in the presence of Rosalind, she was executed. Clary and Jackson took Rosalind from the car , with her hands bound, and led her near a gravel pit where she was shot at point blank range in the back of the head by Jackson. After Jackson tried to hide the body by covering it with loose gravel, he and Clary left the scene in Rosalind's car. Jackson kept the car until he was arrested.

Rickey Johnson, an acquaintance of Jackson and Clary, who lived within blocks of the Dismas Halfway House, testified that sometime prior to Thanksgiving in November of 1983, Jackson was looking for a gun and that he (Rickey Johnson) rented Jackson a gun for twenty dollars. This gun was returned to Rickey Johnson after Thanksgiving by his brother, James Johnson. After Jackson was arrested, Rickey found out that the Austin police were looking for the gun. Initially, when a homicide investigator with the Austin Police Department contacted Rickey, he said he didn't know anything about the gun and tried to hinder the police probe by hiding the gun in a local storm drain. Ultimately, however, Rickey Johnson led homicide investigators to the weapon where they retrieved it from the sewer. Rickey's brother, James, testified and admitted that he received the weapon from Clary after Thanksgiving and returned it to Rickey. Ronald D. Richardson, a DPS firearms expert, conducted a ballistic examination on the bullet removed from Rosalind's body, and testified that it was fired from the handgun Jackson had rented from Rickey Johnson.

Maria Salazar, the roommate of Rosalind, informed the jury that on the evening that Rosalind disappeared she was wearing a gold Seiko watch, with a small white face, and little safety link chain. Additionally, she confirmed that Rosalind kept in the trunk of her automobile a tool kit, blanket and orange towel in case of a road emergency. Pam McKinney, a female acquaintance of both Jackson and Clary, said that she had met Jackson some six months prior to his arrest. Further, she reported that neither Jackson nor Clary owned a car; however, on the Friday morning prior to Jackson's arrest, Jackson and Clary showed up at McKinney's home in a white Oldsmobile. At that time Jackson drove McKinney to various locations in Austin, during which time she noticed a lady's purse in the front passenger area of the vehicle. She also testified that Jackson was in possession of a lady's gold Seiko watch and had tried to give it to her sister, Linda Lindly. In addition, she witnessed Jackson the next morning wash his face with an orange towel he had taken from the vehicle. McKinney later turned the towel over to police investigators. Linda Lindly, Pam McKinney's sister, who also lived with her at the East Austin address, testified that on November 18, 1983, she had Jackson take her to a local clinic, and as transportation Jackson was driving a white Oldsmobile Delta 88. While in the vehicle she spotted a brown purse on the front floor board; Jackson informed her that the purse "belonged to the friend's wife who had loaned him the car." Her testimony also revealed that on the weekend following Rosalind Robison's disappearance, Jackson was freely spending money buying "beer, liquor, food, weed and whatever we asked for." Ms. Lindly partially confirmed McKinney's testimony in that she also testified that Jackson had requested that she keep a gold Seiko watch with a safety chain. Lindly, however, refused the request. Moreover, Lindly witnessed Clary in possession of a small caliber handgun identical to the murder weapon. Anita Hall, the passenger in the vehicle at the time of Jackson's arrest, testified that when she first met Jackson he had no car; but that three days later he was driving the white Oldsmobile.

When Jackson was arrested by officers of the Austin Police Department, a checkbook was found that contained Rosalind's ATM card. Republic Bank of Austin confirmed that Rosalind held an account with the bank and had been issued an ATM card. The bank also revealed that on November 17, at 11:39 p.m., a $50 withdrawal was transacted with the card on an ATM in Austin. Pubic hairs removed from the back seat of Rosalind Robison's car, matched Jackson's pubic hair. Finger prints found on Rosalind's personal effects, recovered from the trunk of the car, were also identified as Jackson's.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On February 10, 1984, Jackson was indicted in the 277th District Court of Williamson County, Texas, for the capital murder of Rosalind Robison while in the course of committing and attempting to commit the offenses of robbery, kidnapping, and aggravated sexual assault, which occurred on November 17, 1983. Jackson was tried before a jury upon a plea of not guilty, and on December 3, 1984, the jury found him guilty of the capital offense. On December 4, 1984, following a separate punishment hearing, the jury answered affirmatively the two special sentencing issues submitted and sentenced Jackson to death. Jackson's conviction and sentence was automatically appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and it was affirmed on February 3, 1988. Jackson then petitioned the United States Supreme Court for writ of certiorari, which the Supreme Court denied on June 3, 1988.

Jackson filed an application for habeas corpus relief in the trial court on October 17, 1988. The trial court held an evidentiary hearing, and on November 17, 1994, the court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law, followed by supplemental findings and conclusions on August 31, 1995, recommending that relief be denied. The Court of Criminal Appeals denied relief based on the trial court's findings and conclusions on October 2, 1996.

On October 17, 1996, Jackson filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. The district court denied habeas relief on August 10, 1998, but granted permission to appeal on October 8, 1998. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of habeas corpus relief on October 29, 1999. Jackson's petition for writ of certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court on March 20, 2000.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

Ivory Tealer, Jackson's cousin, testified that he and Jackson, along with another individual, used a shotgun to burglarize the house of Wilbur Woods in Luling, Texas, three years prior to Jackson's murder trial. During the burglary, the men confronted Woods; one held a gun on Woods while another ransacked the house, eventually shoving Woods's 10 year-old son with a shotgun and holding it to the back of his head. The family was then forced into a closet while the men robbed the house. A former bank president also testified to details of an armed robbery of his bank by two men, for which Jackson was convicted. The witness, the bank president's son, a teller, and a customer were ordered to go inside the bank and get down on their knees with their hands held up, while one of the men held a gun on them. The witness was then ordered to open the safe in the vault. After taking the money, the men ordered the four victims into the vault and shut the door. The man's son, who also worked at the bank, stated that it was Tommy Ray Jackson who pulled a pistol on him. Jackson was also convicted of burglary of a vehicle in Guadalupe County. In addition, Jackson was convicted of theft by check on a prior occasion.

DRUGS AND/OR ALCOHOL - There was no evidence of drug or alcohol use connected with the instant offense.

If this execution is carried out, it will be the 212th execution since executions resumed in Texas in December 1982 and the 48th since General Cornyn took office. This is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Katherine Hayes in the Capital Litigation Division.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

Tommy Jackson was sentenced to death for the November 17, 1983 kidnapping and murder of Rosalind Robison. Rosalind was a 24-year-old student at the University of Texas, from Terre Haute Indiana. She was an engineering student and was kidnapped from the campus and forced to withdraw money from an ATM machine. She was then taken to a rural area between Pflugerville and Round Rock where she was shot once in the head with a .25-caliber pistol. Her body was found nearly a month later, buried under a pile of gravel. Jackson was arrested 4 days after the murder outside a grocery store in Austin, driving Rosalind's car. In April of 1977, Jackson had been sentenced to 10 years in the Federal penitentiary for bank robbery and was released on parole after serving only three years. He was sent to prison in Texas in February of 1982 for a burglary of a motor vehicle charge and was paroled after serving one year of a four-year sentence. "He literally put the girl on her knees, bound her hands behind her, put the bullet through her head and goes to a party," said Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson. "He's the most cold-blooded, most evil, most psychopathic killer I've ever seen."

Last Statement of Tommy Ray Jackson

APBNews Online

"Texas Executes Man for 1983 Rape-Murder; Twice-Paroled Robber Denies Killing.

May 5, 2000 - HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A twice-paroled bank robber and burglar became the 13th person put to death in Texas this year when he was executed for the 1983 shooting death of a University of Texas student. Tommy Ray Jackson, 43, insisted he was innocent of the murder of 24-year-old Rosalind Robison, although he was arrested driving her car and was carrying her automated bank teller card. "I cannot show any remorse for something I did not do," he said in his final statement. "If I did, I'd be faking, and there's nothing fake about me." Evidence showed Jackson and a companion, James Clary, disabled an alarm to escape an Austin halfway house where both were sent following their parole from prison.

Shot victim in the head

The victim, an engineering student from Terre Haute, Ind., was emerging from a building late at night when she was abducted, forced to withdraw money from an automated teller machine, raped in her car and driven to a rural area. She was shot once in the head. "He literally put the girl on her knees, bound her hands behind her, put the bullet through her head and goes to a party," said Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson. "He's the most coldblooded, most evil, most psychopathic killer I've ever seen." Clary testified against Jackson and received a life prison term.

Jackson was the 13th inmate executed in Texas this year and the first of seven scheduled for this month.

Associated Press

"Man Executed for 1983 Rape-Slaying of UT Student," by Michael Graczyk. (May 4, 2000)

HUNTSVILLE - After a lengthy final statement, a twice-paroled bank robber and burglar who fled from an Austin halfway house was executed Thursday evening for abducting, raping and fatally shooting a University of Texas student more than 16 years ago. Tommy Ray Jackson, 43, insisted to the end that he was innocent of the Nov. 17, 1983, murder of 24-year-old Rosalind Robison although he was arrested driving her car and was carrying her automated bank teller card. He claimed the two were friends.

``I cannot show any remorse for something I did not do,'' he said before being injected with the lethal dose of drugs. ``If I did, I'd be faking, and there's nothing fake about me. I'm at peace. Please believe me. I figure that what I'm dying for is for what I've done in my past, not for killing Roz.'' He looked directly at her father through a window a few feet away and said, ``I called her Roz.'' There was no reaction from Dr. Roger Robison.

As the drugs began to take effect, Jackson whistled and sputtered. Just after he slipped into unconsciousness, thunder rumbled outside the Huntsville unit. The time of death was 6:24 p.m. Jackson is the 13th condemned Texas inmate to receive lethal injection this year and the first of six scheduled for this month. Two more prisoners are set to die next week.

Evidence showed Jackson and a companion, James Clary, disabled an alarm at an east Austin halfway house where both were sent following their parole from prison and wound up on the University of Texas campus. Robison, an engineering student from Terre Haute, Ind., was emerging late at night from a building where she had gone to retrieve some notes when she was abducted, forced to withdraw money from her bank's ATM machine, raped in her car and driven north of the city to a rural area of Williamson County. She was shot once in the head with a .25-caliber pistol Jackson rented from an Austin street vendor.

Witnesses said Jackson spent the money freely later that night and over the weekend. Four days later he was arrested driving her car. It wasn't until a month later that Robison's body was found in a gravel pile.

``He literally put the girl on her knees, bound her hands behind her, put the bullet through her head and goes to a party,'' Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson, who helped prosecute Jackson, said this week. ``He's the most cold-blooded, most evil, most psychopathic killer I've ever seen.''

Clary, who turned 45 Wednesday, received a life prison term and testified against Jackson. When Robison failed to return home, her roomate reported her missing. Four days later, police pulled over her car with Indiana license plates. Jackson was behind the wheel.

Tommy Jackson Homepage (CCADP)

Please read carefully. I'll say in advance "Thank you". The year is 1984 in the county of Williamson in the State of Texas (death row capital of the world). I was then and there subjected to a capital murder trial by two (2) lawyers Jim Bob Brookshire and Don Higginbottom (both for the death penalty) were the individuals who represented me.

When the jury was picked I was to have my fate decided by a meteorologist, plumber, truck driver, housewife, store clerk, just to mention some of the 12 perspective jurors. Notice when faced with a capital case there is a life or death situation. Please beware hte humanity thing to do would be to have people qualified to deal with a life or death situation. Life and death is very, very serious business, why would someone put in the hand of an unqualified person someone life or death decision ?

When a hurricane is about to hit an area the mayor or the governor will call out the fire department, police, road construction crew (just to name a few) to handle the situation because they are faced with human lives. Now why couldn't I have had some people that was qualified to make a decision upon my life. faced with a death penalty is a very, very serious scenario. By having people more qualified to be on a jury when there is a life or death situation would most like have a more positive ending on the verdict that will be rendered.

What I would like to see is something like or close to having a total of 12 jurors from a law school. Lets say they are in the 4th or graduate level of the law degree. Now these individuals would be more qualified to know and be able to recite the law as the trial goes forth. Unlike housewife, plumbers cooks, construction workers. From reading the above I would like to say I was a victim of court abuse on the highest levels. There were numerous amounts of people lying, not knowing what they were talking about. Even officers of the law (what law) that admitted at a later hearing the did not say on the witness stand as the same as they wrote in their report. Not to mention in the Georgetown Sun newspaper in December 1984 the District Attorney Edward Walsh admitted to the journalist Ms. Sevay "After hearing Tommy Jacksons co-defendant take on the witness stand testifying against Jackson I have doubts as to whether I gave the death penalty to the right man. Jackson did not take the stand.

James Otis Clary made a plea bargain for a life sentence and testified against the defendent Tommy Ray Jackson. Inmate Jackson sits on death row for a crime he did not commit. James Clary sits on Jester IV unit for a crime he did commit. Inmate Jackson still fighting for justice and to hopefully one day be released back into society to become once again a productive citizen.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely, Tommy Ray Jackson

Tommy Ray Jackson's Pen-Pal Request :

43 year old, 5 feet 9 inches tall, weigh 163 pounds. Very good sense of humor, love sports such as; football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, handball, racketball. Callege educated: Associate Arts Degree in Behavior Psychology. My pastimes are reading, writing, listening to Jazz music. I consider myself able to get along with 99% of the world population. I'm a very patient person. I totally dislike profanity, child abuse, negativity, and disrespect. I guarantee to answer any and all letter responding to my single request guarantee to be totally honest at all times. Also will be willing to discuss any and all subjects your heart desires. Please write to me soon . . . But very soon. Honestly Yours