District Attorney Keith Higgins announces that on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, Erving Lamar Jackson, 31, of Brunswick, GA, was found guilty by a Glynn County jury of Kidnapping with Bodily Injury, Aggravated Assault Family Violence, Battery Family Violence, Possession of a Firearm During Commission of a Felony, Theft by Receiving Stolen Property, and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Jackson was found not guilty of Aggravated Assault Family Violence (Strangulation). The jury deliberated for under one hour before reaching its verdict.
The evidence presented at trial showed that Jackson and the victim, LaQuambia Cliette, had previously been in a romantic relationship. On November 9, 2021, the victim received a call at work from Jackson, asking her to meet him and bring him food. Jackson told the victim that he was leaving town to move to North Carolina. The victim got off work and brought him food. Jackson asked the victim to take him a few places afterwards, which she did. During the evening, Jackson became paranoid. As the victim and Jackson were in the victim’s vehicle parked outside of their old address, Jackson pulled a gun on the victim and threatened to kill her.
Jackson forced the victim to drive several places over the course of several hours. At one point, in the early morning hours of November 10, 2021, near Tara Lane and Altama Avenue in Brunswick, Jackson jerked the steering wheel causing the vehicle to crash. Jackson got on top of the victim and started punching her in the face. Jackson then got out of the vehicle, fired a gunshot at a random vehicle, and proceeded to forcefully pull the victim out of the vehicle, and drag her approximately 50 yards by her shirt up into the yard of a residence on Woodland Way. Jackson then started beating on the door of that residence, which was captured on the residence’s doorbell camera. The camera showed Jackson acting erratic and waving and pointing the firearm he held the victim hostage with throughout the night.
Jackson left the front porch of the residence and threw the firearm in the bushes near the scene of the initial crash, which was later recovered by law enforcement. The victim ran for help after Jackson left the front door, but the resident, not knowing what was going on, held the victim at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived.
Corporal Martin Davis, formerly of the Brunswick Police Department, testified he found the victim lying in the yard of the residence, beaten, her face bloody, and her shirt ripped off. Jackson was arrested at the scene. The victim testified at trial to what occurred and to what she endured at the hands of the defendant.
The case was prosecuted for the State by Assistant District Attorney Leland McElveen, who stated, “Domestic violence is so prevalent in society today. Ms. Cliette showed courage by speaking out at trial against her abuser. The jury returned a verdict that spoke the truth and held a previously three-time convicted felon accountable for his heinous actions and their verdict assured that he will no longer be able to hurt anyone else.”
On April 23, 2024, Jackson was sentenced before Glynn County Superior Court Judge Roger B. Lane to a total sentence of Life without Parole plus 45 years under the Georgia Recidivist Act to run consecutive.
Members of the media with further questions may contact the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office at 912-554-7200.
