Man Guilty in Killing of His Former Landlords in 2000

A man accused of killing an elderly couple more than three years ago was convicted Friday of first-degree murder after two previous juries deadlocked.

After a day of deliberations, a Los Angeles jury found Stevie Jackson, 37, guilty of killing his former landlords, Albert and Edna Patton. Jackson also was convicted on two robbery counts.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry set Jackson’s sentencing for Monday. A convicted felon, Jackson faces multiple life terms in prison without the possibility of parole.

“I’m certainly very pleased with the jury’s decision,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Hum said. “I wasn’t going to stop trying until the jury decided one way or the other.”

The first jury deadlocked 8 to 4 in July 2002 in favor of acquittal. The second deadlocked 9 to 3 in March, also in favor of acquittal. On May 27, 2000, neighbors found the former county commissioner and his wife of 63 years dead in their home on South La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. Albert Patton, 90, had been stabbed 22 times; his 85-year-old wife a dozen times.

The Pattons had befriended some of the city’s most prominent figures. Their home had been a gallery of sorts, filled with 40 years’ worth of photographs of celebrated people, including Muhammad Ali, Mayor Tom Bradley and Nat King Cole.

Jackson, who had been a former tenant, robbed the couple to buy crack cocaine, then killed them to keep them from going to the police, Hum said.

The key to getting Jackson convicted, Hum said, was additional evidence, including a new witness, Joaquin Jordan.

The defense had tried to pin the crime on Jordon in the two previous trials, Hum said, “but Joaquin Jordan didn’t testify the other two times” because he was in prison on unrelated charges.

This time, Hum said, Jordan “was able to testify that he hadn’t even met the defendant prior to the murders; therefore, [he] would have had no way of knowing the Pattons.”