White Supremacist killer Jackson in court. Photo: NBC TV screen shot
A White supremacist has pleaded guilty in the first ever prosecution based on domestic terrorism murder charges in New York.
James Jackson, 30, brutally stabbed to death a Black man, Timothy Caughman, 66, in March 2017 and was charged with committing an act of domestic terrorism. Jackson pleaded guilty on four counts that included: first degree and second degree murder on domestic terrorism charges; second degree murder as a hate crime; and, fourth degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Jackson will be sentenced on Feb. 13, to life in prison without the possibility of parole, which is the maximum sentence permitted in New York state.
“White nationalism will not be normalized in New York,” the Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., said in announcing Jackson’s plea. “If you come here to kill New Yorkers in the name of white nationalism, you will be investigated, prosecuted, and incapacitated like the terrorist that you are. You will spend your life in prison without possibility of parole because there is no place in our city or our society for terrorists – domestic or otherwise.”
Vance said Caughman, who was accosted and attacked on a midtown street corner for no reason except his skin color was “executed for being Black.”
Jackson’s guilty plea represents the first-ever conviction in New York State for Murder in the First Degree in Furtherance of an Act of Terrorism, as well as Murder in the Second Degree as a Crime of Terrorism. Jackson killed Caughman on March 20, 2017 at around 11:15 p.m., by stabbing him in the back with a Roman-style sword. The unprovoked attack –Jackson wanted any Black target– occurred near West 36 Street on 9th Avenue.
Caughman staggered to the NYPD’s Midtown South precinct on West 35th Street and collapsed in the precinct lobby. Jackson, arrested the following day, later said his action was a “political terrorist attack” and a “declaration of global total war on the Negro race.”
He said he killed Caughman because he was Black and alone on a dark street. The White supremacist said his action was meant to “inspire White men to kill Black men, to scare Black men, and to provoke a race war.” He also called on the U.S. and other nations to pursue a “global policy aimed at the complete extermination of the Negro race.”
