Defendant Sentenced for Fatal Stabbing in Carmichael

DATE: April 1, 2022

CASE: Stephen Jackson (Case #19FE020421)

PROSECUTOR: Deputy District Attorney Bret Wasley, Homicide Unit

The Honorable Stephen Acquisto sentenced Stephen Jackson to 26 years to life in prison.  On March 4, 2022, a jury convicted Jackson of the first-degree murder of Jaitu Keys.  The jury also found true the allegation that Jackson personally used a knife in the commission of the murder.

On November 9, 2019, Jackson and a friend went to a high school football game together. After the game, Jackson asked the friend to come inside his house but she declined.  He then hid a device with GPS tracking in the trunk of her car. The friend left and went to meet the victim in Carmichael. The victim joined the friend in her car and sat in the front passenger seat to talk.  Jackson approached the car, smashed the front passenger window and stabbed the victim four times, including once in the heart.  The friend drove the victim to the hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

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