The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the conviction of Brian Keith Jackson of second-degree murder in the slaying of female impersonator Lester Childress.
The state had sought a first-degree murder conviction, which would have carried a life prison term in the case tried in October 2002.
The ruling says: "In this direct appeal, he argues (1) that the trial court erred by refusing to play a pornographic video tape for the jury after it was admitted into evidence, and (2) that the evidence is legally insufficient to sustain his conviction. Although the trial court did err by not playing the video in front of the jury, the error was harmless.
"Furthermore, because the evidence is
sufficient to sustain the defendant's conviction, we affirm the judgment of the trial court."
Judge Rebecca Stern, who sentenced Jackson to serve 24 years, heard the case.
A tearful Jackson told the jury that he killed Childress after Childress tried to rape him.
Jackson said he met Childress at the Big and Tall Casual Men's Store on Brainerd Road when he went there with a friend who was getting married. Jackson, who denied he is gay, refuted earlier testimony that he "flirted for an hour with Childress" that day.
Jackson said he became friends with Childress and was with him on four other occasions, including the night of the slaying July 26, 2001, on Van Dyke Street in North Chattanooga. He said at first he did not know Childress was gay, but he said he found out when he saw him performing at The Tool Box gay bar on East 23rd Street as a female impersonator.
He said he went to the home of Childress on the 26th and Childress gave him a pipe to smoke. He said it was marijuana, but he could also tell from the way it popped that it also included cocaine.
The defendant said Childress then put in a pornographic gay film. He said he was "disgusted" by the video, and finally asked that it be turned off. He said he did not watch much of the video, though there was testimony it was on for two and a half hours.
He said he "made a mistake" and allowed Childress to perform oral sex on him.
Jackson said he went into a bathroom and when he returned Childress jumped on his back and tried to rape him. He said he grabbed a knife and stabbed Childress when he refused to get off. He said he got away finally, but when Childress came back after him, he choked him with a belt.
"I did what I had to go to get him off me," he told the jury.
It was testified that Childress suffered up to 70 knife wounds, including being stabbed 28 times. He also had a tooth knocked out and his ocular area damaged.
Under cross examination, Jackson admitted he had told police several different stories, saying he had been scared and confused.
It was testified that the victim had semen in his anus and saliva on his penis, but Jackson said that did not come from him.
Jackson said he had two children by one woman and had been engaged to another, whom he married after his arrest for murder.
As to testimony that he made a homosexual pass at two men at the North Chickamauga Greenway, he said they had only talked about him doing a roofing job for them.