`Pleasant man' ordered to prison

Armed robbery heroics not enough to prevent minimum 4-year term

January 06, 2012|By LOU MUMFORD SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

CASSOPOLIS — A few years ago, Harley Jackson, of Niles, spotted a robbery in progress and, according to his attorney, James Miller, went above and beyond what many people would do by giving pursuit.

“He followed in his car. He was shot at,’’ Miller said Friday in Cass County Circuit Court. “He put his own life at risk.’’

Cass Prosecutor Victor Fitz also complimented Jackson, pointing out he was a “courageous witness’’ in the case. But on Friday, Jackson, 31, whom Fitz characterized as “a pleasant man,’’ found himself in the same court-room where he had testified in the robbery, awaiting sen-tencing on charges stemming from a methamphetamine lab he admitted to operating on Hoyt Road.

In addition to Jackson’s heroics in the armed rob-bery, a glowing letter from his ex-wife was mentioned as a reason for Dodge to deviate from the minimum 51-month prison term called for under sentencing guidelines. But, in the end, Dodge devi-ated only slightly from the range as he sentenced Jack-son to a 4- to 30-year term.

Dodge indicated the sentence might have been significantly lighter had it not been for meth charges in Berrien County a few years ago that landed Jackson in prison. Also, Fitz pointed out additional charges are pending against Jackson in St. Joseph County (Ind.), where meth lab components were discovered in a storage facility allegedly maintained by Jackson.

Miller said Jackson’s troubles stem from his ad-diction to the drug. Jackson, who didn’t speak in court, will receive credit for 102 days already served in the county jail.

Also ordered to prison Friday on meth lab charges was Joseph Pack, 52, of Jones. Fitz, Dodge and James Jesse, Pack’s attorney, all mentioned that what made Pack’s case unusual was that except for two mis-demeanors in the 1970s and 1980s, Pack had no prior re-cord.

As in Jackson’s situation, Jesse said his client “developed an addiction.’’ He was sentenced to a 30-month to 20-year term but Dodge said he’d have no objection to boot camp should he qualify. Success-fully completing the program would result in his release on parole in as little as 90 days.

Sentenced to prison as well was Robert Crawford, 54, of Union, who two months ago entered a plea of no contest but mentally ill to a charge of illegal entry. An 18-month to 7½-year term was ordered.

Crawford, who has an ex-tensive record tied to drugs and alcohol, told Dodge he “had no criminal intent’’ a year ago when he took his girlfriend’s car and drove it into a house before crashing it in a lake. He then entered a nearby house and was dis-covered by the homeowners when they returned home, bleeding from a head injury and intoxicated on a base-ment couch.

Staff writer Lou Mumford:

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