White Supremacist Pleads Guilty In Fatal Sword Stabbing Of Black Man
Updated Jan. 24 at 8:30 a.m. ET
James Jackson wanted to kill black people. Specifically, he wanted to kill black men. A lot of them.
That's what the white supremacist admitted to in court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to killing Timothy Caughman in a gruesome act of violence he believed would spark a nationwide race war.
In a calm voice, The Associated Press reported, Jackson went against his attorney's advice and stood before a Manhattan court judge, confirming the story he told New York Police Department officials when he turned himself in March 2017 — a day after the brutal stabbing that killed the 66-year-old African-American man.
At the time, Jackson told detectives that he had traveled from his home in Baltimore to New York to kill black men as a "declaration of global total war on the Negro race" and as a "political terrorist attack," the Manhattan District Attorney said in a statement.
The self-avowed racist explained he committed the murder in Manhattan because it is a global media capital and expected the coverage would garner widespread support for his cause; his intention was to "inspire white men to kill black men, to scare black men, and to provoke a race war."
Caughman, who was collecting recyclable bottles at the time that Jackson repeatedly plunged a sword into his chest, was a variable in the younger man's plan. According to Jackson, he had been stalking another victim but lost his nerve and chose Caughman at random, not realizing he was an elderly man.
His plan had been to murder "a young thug" or "a successful older black man with blondes ... these younger guys that put white girls on the wrong path," he told The Daily News.
But instead he pounced on Caughman, who staggered to a nearby police station after the attack and died at a hospital.
Driven by despair that is "too late" to prevent white women from pursuing interracial relationships, Jackson turned himself, according to the newspaper.
"White nationalism will not be normalized in New York," Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan district attorney said in a statement, noting that Jackson's guilty plea represents the state's first-ever conviction for murder in the first degree "in furtherance of an act of terrorism."
Jackson also pleaded guilty to charges of murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism, murder in the second degree as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.
"If you come here to kill New Yorkers in the name of white nationalism, you will be investigated, prosecuted, and incapacitated like the terrorist that you are. You will spend your life in prison without possibility of parole because there is no place in our city or our society for terrorists – 'domestic' or otherwise," Vance said.
During the hearing, one of Jackson's lawyers said that New York police officers had held unauthorized interviews with his client, the AP reported.
Frederick Sosinsky told the judge Jackson's defense team was not notified of the interview, in violation and state federal law. Additionally, he alleged the officers involved were not assigned to Jackson's case but rather, work in the intelligence division.
It is unclear if the allegations are true. NYPD officials did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
The AP reported Vance learned of the alleged interview on Wednesday and told the judge the district attorney's office would not tolerate such actions.
Jackson is expected to be sentenced on Feb. 13. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, the maximum sentence permitted under New York criminal law. [Copyright 2019 NPR]
