A 33-year-old Humble man caught on videotape savagely beating a 64-year-old massage parlor owner changed his guilty plea to not guilty in the middle of what was supposed to be the punishment phase of his trial Wednesday.
It took his jury a little over an hour to find him guilty.
According to Assistant Ector County District Attorneys Melissa Williams and Elizabeth Howard, Isaac Jerald Jackson walked into the Garden Rose Spa on East Seventh Street on March 21 after driving past it a few times and surveilling it from a business across the street. Within minutes, Jackson launched a 13-minute attack on the owner, Liying Chen, that left her with a small brain bleed, a fractured nose, a fractured knee and numerous bruises and lacerations, witnesses testified.
The prosecutors showed jurors more than 100 photos of Chen’s injuries and the bloody scene. They also played jurors video clips that showed Jackson repeatedly pistol-whipping the 100-pound Chen, trying to force the gun in her mouth, kicking and stomping her and dragging her by the hair from one length of the building to the other.
Just prior to the start of the trial, Jackson pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and to being a prohibited weapons possessor due to a prior robbery conviction. However, after Chen, who doesn’t speak English, testified with the help of a Mandarin-speaking interpreter, Jackson informed Judge James Rush of the 244th Ector County District Court he wished to change his mind on the aggravated robbery charge. The indictment against him was read to the jury again and he entered a not guilty plea to the robbery charge, but a guilty plea to the weapons charge.
Jackson then took the stand and answered questions posed to him by defense attorney Johanna Curry.
The defendant told jurors on March 21 he and a co-defendant had driven to West Texas to make a delivery in Midland and he woke up not knowing where he was. His friend, Torey, had already made the delivery and he decided he wanted to go to a massage parlor, Jackson said. Since it was his turn to drive, Jackson said he took the wheel and Torey plugged the address of a massage parlor he found using Google into GPS.
They drove by the Garden Rose Spa several times because GPS directed them to the wrong building, but they eventually found it, Jackson said.
Once inside, he paid Chen and went to the restroom, Jackson said. Once he came out and realized she’d be giving him the massage and not a lady more his age, he asked for his money back, he said.
Chen refused and used a hand gesture he took to mean she was willing to masturbate him, Jackson said.
What happened next happened because, “I wasn’t in my right state of mind. I was on Xanax and a lot of (cough) syrup,” Jackson said.
He said it just isn’t “in his character” to assault women.
“Had I been thinking clearly, I probably would have taken my time and tried to get through the language barrier and not snapped to anger, I guess,” Jackson said.
After driving home, running out of Xanax and sleeping for a couple of days, Jackson said he began to remember some of what happened.
“I realized I had done a great deal of wrong to the lady all because I wanted my money back,” Jackson testified.
He doesn’t remember how much money he left with, but said he read in his police report it was $200.
“I’ve been trying to express I asked the lady for my money back. I been feeling I’m in a situation where I’m being tried for the wrong crime,” Jackson said. “I feel like I just wanted my money back and in my stupor I may have robbed her when my intention was to get a massage from a nice-looking lady my age.”
Williams first question to Jackson under cross-examination was, “You brutalized a woman because she wasn’t the young, pretty masseuse you asked for?”
“No,” Jackson replied.
Williams then asked if his story is that he brutalized Chen because he was high and his mind was cloudy.
When Jackson said yes, Williams asked how it was then possible for him to drive all the way to Odessa from Midland high, operate a phone and follow GPS instructions.
Jackson insisted, “I was just trying to get my money back. I asked her multiple times.”
During closing arguments Curry told the jury her client doesn’t take issue with the fact the state is alleging he hurt Chen or that he’s on video hurting Chen, he takes issue with the fact it was his money he was trying to retrieve.
“Is it his fault she didn’t speak English?” Curry asked the jury.
Under Texas law, someone is guilty of robbery if, while committing a theft, the defendant intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another or places them in fear of imminent bodily injury or death.
“He got angry. He may or may not have formed the intent to commit theft. He felt it was his money,” Curry said.
Howard reminded jurors Jackson is seen on the video looking in multiple places for money. Jackson, she said, showed his true character when a crying, traumatized and terrified Chen took the stand.
“He had the audacity to stand up and make his presence known,” Howard said.
In fact, court security officers had to force Jackson back into his seat after standing up twice, courtroom observers said. He stood when Chen entered the courtroom and he stood when she left.
There’s only one reason Jackson is saying he’s not guilty of aggravated robbery and that’s because he’s facing 15-99 years or life in prison, Williams said.
She asked the jury why on earth Chen would testify Jackson robbed her if he didn’t.
“That woman would rather go to hell and back than come into this courtroom and see that man again,” Williams said.
For 13 minutes she thought she’d never see her family again, Williams said.
Jackson is also facing two to 10 years in prison on the weapons charge.
The punishment phase of the trial is expected to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Whatever sentences he receives will run concurrently.
