Prosecutor Attacks Jackson’S Discrepancies Closing Arguments Scheduled To Begin Today

Brad Jackson testified Tuesday that he wanted someone to find his daughter Valiree after he discovered she was dead. But he buried her twice to conceal her death.

Jackson also testified that he became irrational when he discovered Valiree’s body, yet admitted he had the presence of mind to concoct an alibi.

Those were just two of many discrepancies deputy prosecutor Larry Steinmetz extracted from Jackson during intense questioning Tuesday.

Still, Jackson maintained his innocence. “She was the love of my life,” he said.

Attorneys for both sides wrapped up their cases, and closing arguments are scheduled for this morning.

Jackson, 34, is accused of killing Valiree, burying her in the south Spokane Valley, then exhuming her remains and placing them in a shallow grave in Stevens County last October.

Detectives found the grave by planting a tracking device on Jackson’s vehicles. On Oct. 18, he reported her missing from his parents’ Spokane Valley home, where he and Valiree lived.

Defense attorneys argue that Valiree died from an overdose of the prescription drug Paxil, an anti-depressant. They said Jackson became irrational when she died.

But Steinmetz told Jackson he didn’t understand how he could be disoriented and calculating at once.

“If you wanted her found, why did you move her from one grave to another?” Steinmetz asked.

“I wanted to buy more time,” Jackson said.

Said Steinmetz: “What did you need time to think about?”

Answered Jackson: “Once the pressure was off, I would come forward.”

Jackson admitted he had the presence of mind to concoct an abduction story, though he lost his composure when he discovered Valiree was dead.

Jackson said his CPR training taught him to check for breathing and then to call for help. He learned that when he was studying to be a lineman for Washington Water Power.

“You never attempted CPR?” Steinmetz asked. “You were willing to let your daughter die?”

Jackson said he was in shock and couldn’t think clearly. He added he didn’t feel confident in his ability to perform CPR properly.

Steinmetz asked Jackson why he never checked for a pulse or called 911, but removed Valiree’s pajamas and put on her school clothes before burying her body.

“You were thinking clearly enough to implement your alibi,” Steinmetz said. “How were you able to make rational decisions about abduction?”

Said Jackson: “Something needed to be done.”

Steinmetz asked Jackson why he didn’t think anyone would believe that he wasn’t responsible for Valiree’s death.

Jackson said he didn’t appreciate being scrutinized the way he had been by law enforcement when Valiree’s mother, Roseanne Pleasant, disappeared in 1992, and he didn’t want to experience that again.

“You were never charged,” Steinmetz said of Pleasant’s disappearance.

Jackson said: “I didn’t like the harassment.”

Steinmetz suggested that Jackson killed Valiree because she was getting in the way of his relationship with girlfriend Dannette Schroeder.

Jackson and Schroeder lived together for about a year and a half before Jackson and Valiree moved out. Schroeder and Valiree did not get along, Steinmetz said.

Steinmetz suggested the relationship between Schroeder and Valiree was so bad that she urged Jackson to put his daughter in foster care.

A month before she died, Jackson told Valiree that he and Dannette were discussing marriage, but Valiree objected, Steinmetz told jurors.

Jackson continued to deny Steinmetz’s repeated assertion that he killed Valiree.

Steinmetz showed the jury a picture of Valiree after her hair had been ripped from her head while Jackson raised her from the first grave site.

Steinmetz questioned Jackson’s stated intention of trying to protect Valiree’s body from animals as her body decomposed.

Jackson wrapped Valiree’s head in plastic shopping bags when he first buried her, but when he pulled her from the ground, the bags came off, pulling Valiree’s hair from her head.

“You weren’t careful when you moved her,” Steinmetz said.

Jackson said: “I did not rip it out intentionally.”

Steinmetz then showed the photo to the jury, and after one juror became uneasy, Superior Court Judge James Murphy stopped court proceedings for 15 minutes.

“What do you think your daughter’s last thoughts were when you smothered her with a pillow?” Steinmetz asked.

Defense attorney Jim Kane objected on the grounds the question called for speculation. Murphy sided with the defense, and Steinmetz concluded his questioning.