Custodial dad on trial for death of 2-year-old daughter (Marietta, Georgia)

Read between the lines. JAMES E. "BUTCH JACKSON II is obviously a custodial father. He lives with a "girlfriend" who is apparently not the mother of any of the children in question. In fact, as is typical, there is NO MENTION of the children's mother. The media has erased her out of existence.

So how and why did this father with a long history of child neglect have custody of two young children? Who gave it to him?

http://www.newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/556949/Witnesses-testify-in-Jackson-trial.html?nav=5061

Witnesses testify in Jackson trial
Could face 10 years in prison if convicted
February 1, 2012
By BRAD BAUER , The Marietta Times

MARIETTA - A jury could decide today if a Belpre father is responsible for the death of his 2-year-old daughter by failing to supervise her.

Prosecutors claim James E. "Butch" Jackson II, 51, left the girl and her 4-year-old brother unsupervised outside their Belpre home on Oct. 18, 2010. The 2-year-old, Bianca Jackson, was killed in a fire that started in a vacant neighboring residence.

Jackson faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.

The defense is expected to continue presenting its case this morning and closing arguments and deliberations could begin this afternoon. It remains to be seen if Jackson will take the stand in his own defense. The trial began Monday.

Eight witnesses testified Tuesday, including a past neighbor of Jackson who said the man and his girlfriend routinely failed to supervise their children.

Leonard Wilfong, who lived across the street from Jackson at the time of the fire, testified the children often played in the street and wandered as much as 50 yards from the home without supervision.

"At least once a week they would play unsupervised," Wilfong said.

Washington County Children Services caseworker Karen Seagraves said she also had concerns about the safety of the children prior to the fire. She testified Jackson and his live-in girlfriend, Chrystal Dillon, 25, had been getting monthly visits from her since June 2009 after she witnessed Bianca Jackson, then 1, wandering along a Belpre street.

Dillon faced identical charges to Jackson and was convicted in September of child endangering and sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to complete a six-month rehabilitation program. The jury in her case could not reach a verdict on the manslaughter charge.

"I had clearly made my concerns known to them," Seagraves said, adding that she requested gates be installed on a deck and that she insisted the parents keep a watchful eye on the children as they play.

"I said that term many times...'Keep your eyes on the children,'" Seagraves said.

Jackson's attorney, Jack Blakeslee of Caldwell, noted that Seagraves did not note anything of concern during a visit with the family a week or so before the fire. He said the visits from Seagraves were part of a voluntary plan drafted by the caseworker and that the couple were taking direction, including the installation of a gate on their deck.

"You wrote in your report there were no safety hazards noted (in the last visit)," he said.

Assistant Washington County Prosecutor Kevin Rings asked Seagraves to better explain the report.

"Does indicating there were no safety hazards noted mean that you had no other concerns?" he asked.

"No," Seagraves said, adding that supervision was always a concern with the family.

Another witness on Tuesday was Belpre Police Chief Ernie Clevenger, who said he helped organize searches for the missing girl when the fire was first reported. He said instructions were given to look for the child under cars, in dog houses, trash cans and under bushes.

"I told (officers and firefighters) you will look anywhere a 2-year-old may hide... and I'll worry about the legal ramifications of if we have the right to look in (someone's) garage later," he said. "The neighbors were 100 percent cooperative in helping to find this girl."

Clevenger said two canvasses were conducted in the area of the burning Belpre home. The child was found hours later in the rubble of the burnt home.

Clevenger said he had asked Jackson and Dillon about where the child may be.

"At that time did the defendant or Chrystal Dillon know where their child was?" Rings asked.

"No, they did not," Clevenger said.