Conviction in Inglewood Murder is Upheld

A state appeals court panel Thursday upheld a man's conviction for the 1994 strangulation of his wife of eight months, a CIA employee whose body was found in the trunk of her car near Los Angeles International Airport.

A three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal found that the "evidence of guilt" was "overwhelming" in the case of Andre Jackson.

Jackson was convicted in April 2012 of first-degree murder for the killing of Marie Singleton-Jackson, 33.

"Most damaging was the DNA evidence connecting defendant to the crime, which was not disputed by defendant's own expert except as to one minor point. Defendant's conduct from the time Marie disappeared was inconsistent with innocence," the appellate court panel found in a 23-page ruling.

The justices noted that her fingernail scrapings and a blood stain from his wife's Saab matched Jackson's DNA profile.

Singleton-Jackson, a CIA communications specialist, was last seen alive Nov. 11, 1994. Her body was discovered four days later in the trunk of her vehicle, which was parked on Vista Del Mar north of Imperial Highway near Dockweiler State Beach.

The Inglewood Police Department began a homicide investigation in 1994, with Jackson identified as the prime suspect. The FBI also began an investigation based on concerns that her slaying could have been linked to her CIA status.

The FBI eventually concluded her death was not connected to her work, and the investigation went cold until it was re-opened in 2003.

Jackson was arrested in Tempe, Ariz., in 2008 by the FBI'S Fugitive Task Force. Investigators determined that he strangled his wife in their garage on Hazel Street and then put her body in the trunk of her Saab. Jackson is serving a 25-years-to-life term in state prison.

-- City News Service