Jackson Expected To Plead To Weapons Possession Charge Testimony In His Murder Trial Scheduled For Later This Month

Sat., Sept. 9, 2000

By Mike Roarke mikero@spokesman.com

With testimony in his first-degree murder trial slated to begin later this month, William Brad Jackson is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to a separate charge of unlawfully possessing a firearm.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Ellen Clark is scheduled to preside over the 8:30 a.m. hearing.

Jackson’s attorney, Jim Kane, could not be reached Friday afternoon for comment.

Prosecutors declined to comment.

Jackson is accused of killing his 9-year-old daughter, Valiree, burying her, then exhuming her remains and placing them in a shallow grave in Stevens County last October. Detectives found the grave site by planting a tracking device on Jackson’s vehicle.

Jury selection for Jackson’s trial started last week.

Judge James Murphy has not ruled on a defense attorney request to move the Jackson case out of Spokane due to pretrial media reports.

As detectives closed in on Jackson last November, he became frantic and drove around the city. He was picked up by Spokane police at a downtown restaurant. An unloaded 20-gauge shotgun was found in the back seat of the 1979 Chevy pickup he borrowed from a friend.

Since Jackson is a convicted felon, he was not supposed to have the weapon. Jackson pleaded guilty to second-degree theft in 1991, after he tried to steal four car tires and wheels, so he could have money for car insurance.

Unlawful possession of a firearm is treated as a class C felony. Punishment carries a maximum term of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

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