The man who officials say is responsible for racist and sexually explicit graffiti repeatedly discovered at Salisbury University over the last year has had his day in court.
Jerome K. Jackson, 54, of Princess Anne pleaded guilty Friday to one count of maliciously defacing property while exhibiting racial animosity, which is a violation of what's commonly known as Maryland's hate crime statute.
A Wicomico County District Court judge sentenced him to 18 months in the Wicomico County Detention Center — the jail time recommended by prosecutors.
“They (those words) are things that really inspire in individuals in this country fear and hate on either side," Judge Abigail Marsh said of the language in the vandalism, which she emphasized runs counterproductive to the anti-racism movements happening nationwide.
Dane Foust, Salisbury University's vice president of student affairs, spoke to the court Friday morning as both a victim and as a representative of victims throughout the campus community.
He asked that the court hold Jackson accountable for the “devastating impact his actions have had."
“He’s driven a wedge between friends on our campus and within the campus as a whole by his actions and by what he wrote," Foust said.
Jackson signed a plea agreement June 3 that requires he take responsibility for the graffiti found on campus on Oct. 8, Oct. 10, Oct. 22 and Nov. 4 of 2019, as well as on Feb. 19, 2020.
Deputy State's Attorney Bill McDermott noted in his comments to the court that the university had two many objectives in crafting the plea agreement: responsibility and finality.
“The campus wasn’t just hurt on the dates that we mentioned today. The campus was hurt everyday, every minute, every moment since those writings were found," he...
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2 comments:
The level of " institutional racism " is such that he had to DIY his own .....
Right out of the Jussie Smollett playbook.
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