James Edward Jackson, 42, of Cedar Hill allegedly forced a woman to give him her car, assaulted her and threatened to kill her. When confronted by Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputies, he told them where the stolen car was, and deputies recovered it one street from his Cedar Hill home, according to court documents.
Jackson has been charged with vehicle hijacking, a class B felony; second-degree domestic assault, a class D felony; and first-degree harassment, a class E felony. However, due to Jackson being a persistent offender, the hijacking charge was filed a class A felony, punishable by 10 to 30 years or life in prison; the domestic assault is considered class C felony, which carries a penalty of three to 10 years in prison; and the harassment charge is considered a class D felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison, court records show.
Jackson previously was found guilty of drug trafficking in January 2015 and possession of a controlled substance in December 2011 in Jefferson County, court documents said.
He was arrested on Nov. 3, and as of Nov. 3, he was being held without bond at the Jefferson County Jail in Hillsboro, court records show.
According to the case’s probable-cause statement, Jackson forced a woman to get out of a 2007 Toyota Camry that she had driven to his home in the 7300 block of Twin Ridge Drive in Cedar Hill. He then allegedly told the woman he was going to kill her and choked her before ordering her to get into the car’s passenger’s seat, threatening that he would kill her if she did not do as he demanded.
Jackson then drove to a nearby business, where he allegedly told the woman that he was going to drag her into the woods and kill her. The woman got out of the car, and before Jackson drove away, he told her to leave her cell phone in the Toyota, the report said.
Sheriff’s Office deputies located Jackson at his home after the woman reported the alleged incident. He told deputies where to find the car, which was parked a street away from his home, according to the report.