At left: Mahogany Jackson. Top row, left to right: Giovonnie Clapp, Blair Green, Francis Harris, and Teja Lewis. Bottom row, left to right: Si’nya McCall, Jeremiah McDowell, Brandon Pope, and Airana Robinson. (Images: Birmingham Police Department)
Five of the eight defendants charged in the murder of an Alabama mother were denied bond on Monday for allegedly participating in the protracted “torture” of the victim before her death.
Although Though Giovannie Clapp, 23, Blair Green, 25, Teja Lewis, 26, Si’nya McCall, 23, and Ariana Lashay Robinson, 23, did not personally kill the victim, Mahogany Jaquise Jackson, 20, Judge Kechia Davis maintained that they each played a role in her death, according to Birmingham Fox affiliate WBRC.
Jackson was found dead, shot in the head, at an illegal dump site in the 1700 block of Laurel Avenue the morning after messaging her family that she was being held hostage and asking them to call the police.
Officers soon made eight arrests. The aforementioned five defendants are charged with felony murder, first-degree kidnapping, and first-degree sodomy, according to AL.com.
Francis “Ace” Harris, 25, who is the suspected gunman, Jeremiah “Kodak” McDowell, 18, and Brandon Pope, 24, are charged with capital murder during a first-degree kidnapping and capital murder during first-degree sodomy. They are being held without bond.
Birmingham homicide Det. Mark Green testified about a witness reaching out to police as investigators were at the location where Jackson’s body was found. This witness said that Harris told him about shooting the victim and identifying everyone involved in the kidnapping.
According to testimony, Jackson, who has a 3-year-old daughter, arrived at Pope’s home on McMillon Avenue. She believed she was going to hang out with friends.
Instead, what reportedly started was an ordeal in she was stripped naked, handcuffed, beaten, spat on, and sexually assaulted at gunpoint. She was shot after messaging her relatives, officers said.
“I’ve been kidnapped,” she wrote, according to WBRC. “Send help. Don’t call,” Jackson messaged her family.
Cops claimed to find a total of five videos that showed the alleged assaults. The eight defendants appeared in various parts of the videos, according to authorities. The first video allegedly took place at Pope’s residence.
For example, Lewis allegedly straddled her while punching Jackson head. Jackson said they “had won” and told them to let her go, according to testimony.
The remaining four videos happened at Lewis’ residence, apartment 3 at Serenity Apartments in southwest Birmingham.
“This was a horrific attack perpetrated against Miss Jackson,” Jefferson County Deputy District Attorney Charissa Henrich said. “She was subjected for a period of time to — there’s really no other way to say it — torture which ultimately led to her death.”
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