Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating
new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help
the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm
to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.
Donald Lee JACKSON Jr.
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Kidnapping
- Robbery
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: October 9,
1986
Date of birth:
August 3,
1956
Victim profile: Michelle Seagraves,
22
Method of murder:
Shooting (.41
handgun) - Strangulation with a strap
Location: Franklin County, Indiana, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on June 7, 1988. Commuted to life in
prison on August 19, 1992
JACKSON, DONALD
LEE, JR. # 54
OFF DEATH ROW SINCE 08-19-92
DOB: 08-03-1956
DOC#: 881974 White Male
Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Eugene A. Stewart
Venued from Dearborn County
Prosecutor: James D. Humphrey
Defense: Terrance W. Richmond,
Ronald Richmer
Date of Murder: October 9, 1986
Victim(s): Michelle Seagraves
W/F/22 (No relationship to Jackson)
Method of Murder: shooting .41
handgun; strangulation with a strap
Summary: Michelle Seagraves was
kidnapped as she was getting into her car in an apartment complex
parking lot in Columbus, Ohio.
Witnesses identified Stuart Kennedy as driving
Seagraves' Ford Grenada while holding a woman down in the seat.
Other witnesses identified a Corvette following the Ford Grenada
from Columbus to Moores Hill, Indiana. The license plate of the
Corvette showed it registered to Jackson.
On the same day, the Peoples National Bank in
Moores Hill was robbed by 2 men matching the description of Jackson
and Kennedy. The Ford Grenada was identified as the getaway car.
Jackson was arrested at his home in Columbus,
Ohio as he was getting into the Corvette. Officers recovered $5000
in cash, a .45 handgun, and a submachine gun from the car. Jackson
gave a complete confession, directing Officers to the body of
Seagraves.
An autopsy showed she had been strangled with a
strap still on her neck, and shot once in the back of the neck
through her head. Jackson also directed Officers to the bloody
clothing worn by Kennedy and Jackson discarded in a dumpster.
Conviction: Murder, Felony-Murder(Robbery),
Felony-Murder(Kidnapping), Robbery (A Felony), Kidnapping (A Felony)
Sentencing: June 7, 1988 (Death
Sentence, 50 years, 50 years consecutive)
Aggravating Circumstances: b (1)
Robbery, b (1) Kidnapping
Mitigating Circumstances:
uncertainty as to triggerman
On January 25, 1993 Franklin County Circuit Court
Judge Eugene A. Stewart sentenced Jackson to 60 years imprisonment
for Murder in compliance with Indiana Supreme Court Opinion setting
aside death sentence and mandating a term of years; to run
consecutively with 50 year sentence for Robbery (A Felony), and 50
year sentence for Kidnapping (A Felony), for a total sentence of 160
years imprisonment.
Dad determined to keep daughter's killer in
prison
One of pair who abducted, murdered 23-year-old
is seeking clemency
By Alan Johnson - The Columbus
Dispatch
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Ed Gray talks willingly about the daughter he lost, answering
questions without hesitation about her life, death and the infant son
she left behind.
But when Gray holds up his hand and becomes silent,
it's time for the questions to stop. He can take no more and must
retreat into his private grief.
The West Side man is speaking out 22 years after
Michelle Marie Gray Seagraves, 23, was kidnapped outside her home,
taken to a small town in Indiana and murdered, because one of her
killers is seeking clemency.
Donald Lee Jackson Jr., 52, formerly of Columbus,
has petitioned Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to commute part of his 160-year
sentence, making him eligible for parole -- not soon, but eventually.
A public hearing will be held in Indianapolis on the clemency request
on Jan. 6 followed by a meeting of the Indiana Parole Board on Jan.
20.
A second man, Stuart S. Kennedy, 48, of West
Chester, Ohio, also was convicted in Seagraves' abduction and murder,
but he has not requested clemency. Both men originally were sentenced
to death, but the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the death sentences.
Kennedy is serving a 118-year sentence.
Earl Coleman, assistant to the parole board, told
The Dispatch that Jackson has a "very slim chance"
of being granted clemency given the severity of the crime and length
of his sentence. His first clemency request was rejected in 2007. But
as in Ohio, Indiana governors have unlimited authority in granting
clemency once they receive a non-binding recommendation from the
parole board.
Gray is taking no chances.
"I am for the death penalty and always have been,"
Gray said. However, because Jackson isn't going to be executed, Gray
wants him to die behind bars, not out on the street. He is urging
friends, neighbors and anyone who will write to send Indiana
corrections officials letters opposing Jackson's clemency.
"I just want to get the word out," he said.
The first news that Seagraves was missing and
possibly kidnapped appeared in a short story inside The
Dispatch on Oct. 10, 1986. Within a few days, however, the
abduction and murder of the single mother of a 2-year-old son was
making grim headlines:
Murder
victim had bright hopes
Police later confirmed that Jackson and Kennedy
cruised West Side neighborhoods that day in search of a car to steal
to use in a bank robbery. When they saw Seagraves outside her
Whitethorne Avenue apartment, she was warming up her blue Ford Granada
and her infant son, James, was still inside their home. Kennedy shoved
her into the vehicle and took off.
With Jackson following him in his white Corvette,
Kennedy drove 135 miles to Moores Hill, Ind., a small town 30 miles
west of Cincinnati that he had previously visited. In a wooded area a
mile outside town, Seagraves was bound, beaten with a rock, strangled
and shot several times in the back of the head.
Using Seagraves' car, the duo robbed the Peoples
National Bank in Moores Hill, getting away with $88,527. They ditched
the stolen vehicle and returned to Ohio in Kennedy's Corvette.
Although the point of stealing a vehicle was to
have a less noticeable getaway car, the white Corvette was their
downfall anyway. Several Moores Hill residents spotted the sports car
and reported the Ohio license plate to Indiana authorities.
Jackson was arrested 24 hours later at his home in
Columbus; Kennedy was picked up near Cincinnati.
In 1992, the Indiana Supreme Court overturned both
death sentences, essentially ruling it couldn't be determined who
Seagraves' actual killer was.
"We just couldn't believe it," Gray said. "This
whole thing tore our family apart on both sides. It devastated us."
The slain woman's mother, Charlene, died of cancer in 1997.
Coleman, the Indiana parole official, said even if
Jackson is given clemency, it would only cut his sentence down to
about 60 years, potentially making him eligible for parole in 20 years
or so, given time off for good behavior, obtaining a college degree
and other factors.
"Many of these guys are facing very long sentences,"
Coleman said. "To them, clemency is a lot like buying a lottery
ticket. … They're thinking about all the good things that might happen
and waiting for Saturday night."
