Deputy District Attorney Karen Thorp of the Long Beach Branch Office retried the matter following the special circumstances and death sentence reversal.
On March 9, 2010, jurors found true special circumstance allegations that Jackson committed multiple murders and that the murders were committed during the course of a residential burglary. Jurors subsequently recommended death in the penalty phase of the trial, returning their verdict April 1, 2010.
Jackson was convicted in January 1979 for the murder of Vernita Curtis, 81, on Aug. 29, 1977. Co-defendant Elton Boyd was convicted nine months earlier of the murder and residential burglary of Curtis. Boyd was sentenced to life in prison.
Jackson also was convicted of the Sept. 7, 1977, killing of Gladys Ott, 90. Co-defendant Stanley Wells was convicted in March 1978 for Ott's murder and sentenced to life in prison. Co-defendant Anthony Smith, a juvenile at the time of the crimes, was sentenced to a California Division of Juvenile Justice facility, formerly known as the California Youth Authority.
Both victims were beaten and strangled.
