In the early morning of December 13, 1986, a 30-year-old woman, identified as B.S., reported to police that a man had abducted her from the parking lot of the Omelette Shoppe in Marrero, Louisiana. B.S. told police that early in the evening on December 12, 1986, she had stopped at Smitty’s Lounge in Marrero to drop off some raffle tickets for the owner, Smitty, to sell. Smitty wasn’t there, but his son, Kevin, was behind the bar. B.S. had a drink and spoke with Kevin while waiting for Smitty to return. B.S. said that she was on her way to a shopping center and would stop back later. Kevin asked her to pick up some concert tickets for him and she agreed.
Several hours later, B.S. returned to the bar and stayed until early in the morning of December 13, 1986. Shortly before she left, B.S. told a friend at the bar that she was going home but planned to stop at the Omelette Shoppe to get some breakfast to heat up later for her son.
When B.S. arrived at the Omelette Shoppe, she got out of her car from the passenger side since an accident had left the driver’s door inoperable from the inside. As she stepped out, a scrap of paper fell to the ground. Believing it to be something that had come from her purse, B.S. picked it up and shoved it in her pocket so she could examine it later.
At that moment, she felt an object in her back and a hand grasped her shoulder. A man told her to walk to a nearby car. When she reached the driver’s side, the man opened the door, struck her with the object in his hand, and, as she fell, shoved her into his car. She said they struggled and although she blew the horn and kicked on the windows, no one came to her assistance.
B.S. said the man stripped off most of her clothes. He then dragged her into the back seat and began biting her. He removed his shorts and performed oral sex on her. He attempted to rape her vaginally, but was unable to do so because B.S. was struggling so violently, so he forced her to turn over and raped her anally.
The man then got dressed, leaving B.S. naked on the floor of the back seat. The man took $14 from her purse and began driving. When they neared the overpass at the West Bank Expressway, he threw her clothes onto the back seat and told her to get dressed. Eventually, he stopped in a neighborhood where he told her he would have sex with her again and no one would intervene.
B.S. said the man ordered her out of the car, and he got out. As soon as she got out, she began screaming and fighting. When a man from the neighborhood out walking came over to assist her, the attacker got into his car and fled.
The woman was taken to the hospital, where her clothing and a rape kit were collected.
The slip of paper that B.S. had put in her purse turned out to be a bank deposit slip. On the back side was a note apparently written to her. When the police contacted the bank, they were informed it was for an account in the name of 26-year-old Willie Jackson and his mother. A background check showed that Jackson had been convicted of robbery as an accomplice and had served three years in prison.
B.S. also identified Jackson’s mother’s car as the vehicle that the attacker was driving. When the police searched Jackson’s mother’s house, they found a sweater that resembled the description of the attacker’s sweater. The sweater had the name “Milton” on it. The police presented a photographic lineup that included a photograph of Milton Jackson, who was Willie Jackson’s brother. B.S. said he was not her attacker.
Eight months earlier, Willie Jackson had moved 185 miles away to Natchez, Mississippi to work in a lumberyard. The police put his photograph into a photographic lineup, and B.S. identified him as her attacker.
Willie Jackson was arrested on January 12, 1987. B.S. identified him in a live lineup. On February 5, 1987, a Jefferson Parish grand jury indicted him on charges of attempted aggravated rape and first-degree robbery.
Prior to the trial, Jackson’s defense attorney, who had been paid $6,000 for his services, told Jackson’s family he wanted to hire an expert to examine the bitemark evidence that the prosecution had said it would present and needed an additional $3,000. The family declined to come up with any more money and the defense did not call an expert at the trial.
Jackson went to trial in Jefferson Parish District Court in August 1989.
B.S. identified Willie Jackson as her attacker.
Dr. Robert Barsley, past president of the American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO), told the jury that the bitemarks on the victim were made by Jackson, saying, “My conclusion is that Mr. Jackson is the person who bit this lady.”
A forensic analyst testified that no semen had been detected in the rape kit.
The defense called two witnesses who testified that Jackson was in Natchez at the time of the crime.
On August 26, 1989, the jury convicted Jackson of attempted aggravated rape and first-degree robbery. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Days after Willie Jackson was convicted, his brother, Milton confessed to the rape.
Martin Regan, Jr. and Karla Baker of Regan and Associates in New Orleans, Louisiana took on Willie Jackson’s case. They filed a motion for a new trial based on new evidence. Milton had given a statement that he committed the crime and that he wrote the note on the bank slip.
The motion also said that Kevin Smith, the bartender at Smitty’s, said that he saw Milton in the bar the same night as B.S. and that Willie was not in the bar. The defense noted that B.S. said her attacker had said during the attack that because of his military service, he could not meet women. Milton was an Army veteran. Willie was not a veteran.
The defense also proffered an independent forensic odontologist who concluded that the bitemarks were not from Willie Jackson, but from Milton. In addition, a handwriting expert concluded that the note on the bank statement had been written by Milton, not Willie.
The brothers admitted that they decided to let Willie stand trial because they believed he would be acquitted based on the strength of his alibi. According to Milton, he and B.S. had agreed to consensual sex, but they got into an argument that turned physical when she demanded payment. The motion was denied. And in May 1992, the Louisiana Supreme Court refused to hear a further appeal.
In 1995, the lawyers filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus asserting that Willie had received ineffective assistance of counsel because he had not brought in an expert to challenge the prosecution’s bitemark expert. The petition was granted in May 1996, but in July 1997, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned that ruling and denied the petition.
The court held that a “battle of the experts” would not have been sufficient to overcome the evidence of the bank slip and B.S.’s identification.
In June 2003, DNA testing was ordered in Jackson’s case. In 2004, ReliaGene Technologies, Inc., a private DNA testing laboratory, reported that Willie had been excluded as the source of semen found on the B.S.’s pantyhose.
On August 24, 2005, Jackson’s convictions were vacated, and he was granted a new trial. He was released from prison that day.
The evidence was then sent to Bode Technology Group, another private DNA laboratory. The testing, completed in 2006, excluded Willie and identified Milton as the source of the semen.
The prosecution dismissed the case on May 26, 2006. By that time, Milton was serving a life sentence for a rape committed in 1998.
Willie Jackson was later awarded $480,000 in state compensation.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 08-03-2026
