WILMINGTON – For nearly three decades, the identity of the suspect in a Wilmington rape case was unknown.
Due to advances in DNA technology, however, the picture of an accused person revealed itself in March 2020. Freddie Anthony Jackson, a Pamlico County man who was serving time in Columbus County on robbery charges, matched to a 28-year-old rape kit.
Jackson is charged with two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sexual offense, one count of kidnapping and one count common-law robbery.
Monday, a jury was seated to determine the 56-year-old’s fate.
After nearly six hours of questions and challenges from Assistant District Attorney Connie Jordan and defense attorney Max Ashworth, 11 Caucasian and one Hispanic juror were chosen to decide Jackson’s guilt or innocence. Seven people of various ages line the box and will be sequestered during the course of the approximately week-long trial.
Prospective jurors were questioned on the sophistication of DNA evidence, fingerprints and whether or not they could judge a case fairly. They were also asked whether someone should have to pay for a crime 30 years later and whether they could remember events from that long ago.
“You should not be scared or afraid of serving as a juror,” New Hanover Superior Court Judge Frank Jones said. “We ask no more of you than that you use the same good judgment and common sense that you use in the handling of your own everyday affairs.”
While Jordan told the jurors they must decide Jackson’s guilt without a reasonable doubt, Ashworth said the pressure is on the prosecution to prove its case. In an unsuccessful attempt to relate to the new jurors, Holloway tried to compare the lack of reasonable doubt to the perfect meal at a fine dining restaurant: “complete satisfaction.”
“That’s the kind of feeling and emotion you want from the state’s evidence,” Holloway said.
According to the Wilmington Police Department, around 2 a.m. on Sept. 2, 1995, the then-25-year-old victim was working the late shift at a convenience store on North 23rd Street when a male suspect entered the property, looking for a large-sized Gatorade.
Charging documents from the New Hanover County District Attorney’s Office allege the victim was forced to the floor, sexually assaulted multiple times before the suspect took money from the register and grabbed a 12-pack of beer. The suspect was able to flee the scene on foot before law enforcement arrived.
The victim, who survived, is now 53 years old and was present in the courtroom. She will testify.
Evidence was collected at the scene, but under North Carolina law at the time, rape kits couldn’t be tested with a known suspect. It took a new state law, the Standing Up for Rape Victims Act, for the backlog of old rape kits to be cleared.
Signed by Gov. Roy Cooper on Sept. 19, 2019, the law requires all sexual assault kits be tested within 45 days of collection. Also, all state law enforcement agencies that receive a CODIS hit must notify the state crime lab within 15 days of an arrest in connection to the DNA match.
CODIS is the federal DNA database of all convicted felony offenders. CODIS hits occur when DNA evidence from an unsolved case matches that of a convicted offender or arrestee; however, an arrest can’t be made on a CODIS hit alone.
The WPD was able to run the rape kit and received a positive CODIS hit belonging to Jackson in March 2020. He was charged in October of that year, but due to Covid-19 restrictions, he was not transported to New Hanover County to face trial until last month.
Jackson was in the Columbus Correctional Institution in Whiteville serving a two-year sentence for common-law robbery and larceny convictions out of New Hanover County. He was scheduled to be released in November.
Jackson also has convictions from New Hanover County dating back to 1994 for assault on a government official, felony breaking and entering, burning of a church, common-law robbery and kidnapping. Jordan has procured the testimony of the kidnapping victim from December 1997, now deceased.
The assistant DA entered it into evidence to establish Jackson as a habitual felon and that it will not prejudice the jury in the current case.
Jackson sat quietly in the courtroom in a suit without emotion during the proceedings, as Jordan told jurors there was no statute of limitations in North Carolina on felonies.
“Regardless of how long it’s been, if you commit a crime, you have to pay for it,” Jordan told the jurors. “You could be 20 or 50 [years old].”
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