Child-murder case against mom dismissed; detectives weren't told ex-boyfriend confessed
Melissa Shawneece Jackson was scheduled to go on trial next week in St. Louis for first-degree murder in the May 2011 death of her 18-month-old son.
Instead, her lawyer was notified Monday that all charges against the 30-year-old have been dropped. The reason: A former boyfriend admitted to a patrol officer that he had killed Marquell Jackson and dumped the boy’s body in a trash container. However, the ex was never charged because homicide detectives say they weren’t told of the confession, Jackson’s lawyer, Scott Rosenblum, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
A spokeswoman for the St. Louis Circuit Attorney confirmed that charges had been dropped, but declined to discuss specifics. A city police spokesman said the case may have been compromised because “an officer had information critical to the investigation and did not share it with homicide detectives,” the newspaper recounts.
An investigation into the boy’s death continues, and a police internal affairs investigation is being conducted of the department’s handling of the case.
Jackson had maintained her innocence throughout the prosecution and spent 10 months in jail before she was released on bail early this year.
“They didn’t have much against Melissa except for some strange circumstances,” Rosenblum told the newspaper. “It seemed to me they had a better suspect that they decided never to look at.”
Hat tip: KMOV.
