Jacoby Jackson, 33, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for special circumstance murder on Wednesday.
On April 9, 2023, Tulare firefighters and police officers responded to a massage business on K Street. Upon arrival, they found an adult female in one of the massage rooms with signs of strangulation and bruising to her face and neck.
Firefighters extinguished a fire in a separate room of the business. The victim died a few days later.
Through investigation and video surveillance, officers identified Jackson as the last person to enter and exit the business. He was in the building for one hour and 45 minutes. Smoke began billowing from the building only a few minutes after Jackson was recorded leaving with a towel draped over his head.
Jackson was also seen attempting to enter a car parked outside the business with the victim’s keys but was unable because it was not her car. Jackson was arrested on April 18, 2023, in Stanislaus County for being found with a different car stolen from Visalia earlier that morning.
He was then brought back to Tulare County.Jackson exercised his constitutional right to a speedy trial and opted not to delay his jury trial. On August 2, 2023,he was convicted of first-degree murder with the special circumstance that the murder was committed during a robbery, arson of an inhabited structure, and vehicle theft.
Additionally, the court found true the enhancements and allegations that Jackson possessed a prior strike offense (bank robbery) and prior serious offenses.
