James Jackson, a veteran and self-proclaimed racist, traveled from Baltimore to New York City where he murdered Timothy Caughman, 66, in cold-blood with a sword in broad daylight.
Caughman, who was Black and homeless, never saw it coming. He was collecting bottles when Jackson viciously attacked him from behind. Caughman didn’t die immediately. He staggered through the streets of New York City bleeding before he ended up in a police station, finally dying at a hospital. The elderly man was remembered as a “gentleman and a good neighbor.”
Jackson plead guilty to his murder and also domestic terrorism on Wednesday. The plea was entered against the advice of his attorneys. During the proceeding, he revealed that part of his plan was to stop interracial relationships. He expressed his hatred for Black people, as well.
“James Jackson prowled the streets of New York for three days in search of a Black person to assassinate in order to launch a campaign of terrorism against our Manhattan community and the values we celebrate,” the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, wrote when he announced the charges in 2017.
In a 2017 exclusive interview with the New York Daily Post, Jackson asserted that the murder was a “practice run” and that he had hated Black men, exclusively. He also mentioned that his intention was to not murder an elderly man. He also said he would rather have killed “a young thug” or “a successful older Black man with blondes … people you see in Midtown. These younger guys that put white girls on the wrong path.”
Judge Laura Ward questioned Jackson asking him if it were true that he had a sword and two knives in his possession and if it were his intention to come to the city to hunt Black people in order to kill them. He admitted “yes” to both questions.
Jackson also testified that he chose New York because it was the media capital of the world.
According to District Attorney Vance, this would be New York’s first prosecution under the state’s “murder as a crime of terrorism” statute.
Vance continued: “This was more than a murder case. This was a type of cruelty that needs to be treated with the most serious of our laws.”
Jackson will face sentencing on Feb. 13. He is facing a sentence of life in prison without parole.
