April 23, 2005

On the Streets Where I Live

Local kid makes bad. Very bad:

Darrell Jackson, a former prep football star and college recruit, will let a judge decide his punishment - a range from probation to life in prison - when Jackson is sentenced June 9 on five counts of statutory sodomy.

But lest you think Mr. Jackson may be getting a raw deal:

Jackson, a former Webster Groves High School standout and University of Missouri recruit, admitted that he molested a child five times between August 2000, when she was 8, and April last year.

But wait, it gets even worse:

Kendrick told Jackson on Friday to pay attention to his mother, who was in court with him, and to stay out of trouble as he remains at liberty pending sentencing. The judge ordered a pre-sentence investigation by the Board of Probation and Parole.

"Listen to your mother." No doubt these words of wisdom will have a profound effect on the young man. What exactly do you have to do to have bail denied? What could possibly explain this?

Jackson was twice the Post-Dispatch's high school football player of the year.

Oh. Please tell me this isn't why Mr. Jackson is being treated with, no pun intended, kid gloves. This is tragic. The kid was a local star, but he has been doing terrible, despicable things for five years now. I cannot imagine how a judge decides that allowing a confessed repeat child molester back on the streets is a wise move.

Posted by Charles Austin at April 23, 2005 08:55 PM
Comments

I saw Jackson play in his junior year when he won Webster a state title basically by himself. If anyone was a can't-miss prospect, a guaranteed star, it was Darrell Jackson. He could run like Faulk and throw like Warner. And he's thrown all that, and probably the rest of his life, away. So some of us here in Webster Groves are badly torn. We can't decide whether to shoot the kid for his crimes or shoot the kid for his truly epic stupidity.

Posted by: Christopher Johnson at 08:36 PM