CHARLOTTE AMALIE — After deliberating for nearly seven hours, a federal jury found a former professional boxer guilty on all counts at his rape trial on St. Thomas Friday.
The jury heard closing arguments Friday morning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Donna Rainwater, who said the people who reported John “Dah Rock” Jackson to law enforcement are “heroes.”
The 33-year-old Jackson is the son of legendary St. Thomian boxer Julian “The Hawk” Jackson.
The jury’s actions likely prevented John Jackson from abusing additional victims, Rainwater said.
Jackson was found guilty of all charges filed in a six-count indictment, after jurors deliberated for six-and-a-half hours. The trial began in U.S. District Court on Monday.
Four of the six counts are related to a victim referred to in the indictment as Jane Doe 1 — production of child pornography, first-degree rape of a person whose resistance was prevented “by stupor or weakness of mind” because of an intoxicating substance, aggravated second-degree rape of a person between the age of 13 and 15, and transportation of a minor for sexual activity. The other two counts are transportation of a minor for sex, related to two additional victims, Jane Doe 2 and Jane Doe 3.
The local news media is not identifying the young women by name because they are victims of sexual assault.
“The law protects those who cannot protect themselves,” Rainwater said during closing arguments.
There are several federal laws that prohibit adults from having sex with minors under the age of 18, “under any circumstances,” and Rainwater said those statutes are on the books for good reason.
“Teenagers are dumb. They make dumb decisions. Their brains are not fully developed, they cannot comprehend the consequences of some of their dumb decisions. That’s why the law exists,” Rainwater said. “Teenage girls are particularly vulnerable. They want so badly to be accepted.”
She said Jackson didn’t need to use a weapon or physical force to get his victims to do what he wanted.
“A little gift. Some attention. Maybe some weed. It’s pretty easy to manipulate a teenage girl. The law is designed to protect teenagers from their own poor decisions,” Rainwater said.
Jane Doe 1 was intoxicated the first time she and Jackson had sex, and “she was not only a child, she was a drunk child,” Rainwater said. “He knew her state and he took advantage of it.”
The prosecution — Rainwater, Assistant U.S. Attorney Natasha Baker, and Criminal Chief Jill Koster — spent three days eliciting testimony from victims and witnesses, and presenting evidence that Jackson had sex with a succession of three schoolgirls half his age between 2017 and 2019.
The victims each described the sex acts Jackson performed on them, and Jane Doe 2 in particular had trouble getting through the painful process of explaining such intimate details to a room full of strangers.
“It was difficult for her to talk about this,” Rainwater said. “It took multiple questions just to get her to say the words.”
Jackson was arrested by V.I. Police on Feb. 6, 2019, after the father of Jane Doe 1 filed a report.
Jackson was initially released on bond. He was subsequently arrested and charged with federal child pornography crimes after investigators found a video on Jane Doe 1’s cellphone that Jackson had filmed while having sex with her. Prosecutors also filed charges related to the two previous victims, who were discovered after Jane Doe 1 said she had been introduced to Jackson by Jane Doe 2. Jane Doe 3 testified that she introduced Jackson to Jane Doe 2, at his request.
During the trial, jurors watched a video of Jackson admitting to police that he repeatedly had sex with Jane Doe 1 when she was 15, as well as a video Jackson filmed during one of those encounters.
Rainwater made it clear that Jackson is the only person responsible for his crimes.
“Under no circumstances is a 30-year-old man allowed to have sex with a teenager,” Rainwater said. “Adults cannot have sex with minors.”
When Jane Doe 1 told friends about Jackson, one girl realized that the situation was serious, Rainwater said.
That girl, “was a good friend. She acted like an adult and she said, ‘You’re going to tell, or I will. This is wrong, this is illegal. It can’t continue,’” Rainwater said.
Jane Doe 1 cried as she struggled to tell her father what Jackson had done, and “he kept asking, and he kept asking, ‘What’s the matter?’ And she kept crying. And finally she told him, ‘I did something stupid,’” Rainwater said.
“Her father took her to the police station the very next day,” she said.
The victim blamed herself, and it took effort from her family and law enforcement to convince her “this was not your decision, it was his,” Rainwater said. “This is not your burden to carry.”