Woman sentenced to life in prison for slaying of lottery winner

Sep 22, 2006, 2:08 pm (11 comments)

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A 23-year-old woman has been convicted of helping kidnap her lottery-winning brother-in-law and then executing the man, who was also her lover, with a shot to the head.

Victoria Jackson was sentenced to life in prison immediately after a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder Thursday in the July 2005 slaying of Jeffrey Dampier, an Illinois lottery winner turned Florida popcorn entrepreneur who was married to Jackson's sister.

Prosecutors said Jackson and boyfriend Nathaniel Jackson, who is not related, kidnapped Dampier out of greed, binding his hands with shoelaces and forcing him into a van.

As they drove around, Nathaniel Jackson handed the gun to his girlfriend and said, "Shoot him or I'll shoot you," prosecutors said. Victoria Jackson squeezed the trigger, firing once in the back of Dampier's head.

Victoria Jackson's attorney, Kenneth Littman, told the jury that she suffered from "battered spouse syndrome" and acted as though she had no will of her own. She didn't know the plan that night was to kill Dampier.

Dampier, the owner of Kassie's Gourmet Popcorn in Tampa's Channelside entertainment district, was married to Victoria Jackson's sister, Crystal. But he also had a sexual relationship with Victoria, showering her with presents from his lottery earnings and paying for her apartment, Littman said.

Dampier had won $20 million in the Illinois lottery in 1996 with a woman who was then his wife.

Victoria Jackson was sentenced to three life prison terms with no possibility of parole. Nathaniel Jackson, 25, faces identical charges of first-degree murder, armed kidnapping and armed carjacking. He is scheduled for trial Oct. 3.

AP

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Tenaj's avatarTenaj

What?That is bizarre. 

dphillips's avatardphillips

Wow, talk about family trust!  It is bad enough lottery winners must worry about strangers who might want to take their winnings...but now there is another worry dimension, the family.

fja's avatarfja

Looks like the wife (Crystal) gets to clean up after this mess....it's the people you trust that can hurt you the most....

sirbrad's avatarsirbrad

Luckily I trust no one, and have little family.

dumars798's avatardumars798

For the luv of money/people don't

use their judgment at all! No No

Kidzmom's avatarKidzmom

This is why I will make preparations to move long before I claim my prize.  I plan on leaving the state with check in hand so I won't be bothered.

jeffrey's avatarjeffrey

Oh well, scum ruins another productive person's life for material gain. Old story, too bad imprisonment and unwanted  same sex love is not a sufficient deterrent

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Quote: Originally posted by jeffrey on Sep 23, 2006

Oh well, scum ruins another productive person's life for material gain. Old story, too bad imprisonment and unwanted  same sex love is not a sufficient deterrent

I'm not sure what this woman or her boyfriend thought they would gain from the murder. There is a lot missing.  This article doesn't mention anything about blackmail. What did they expect to gain?  I also don't like the way they're "blaming" the victim here. He won the lottery and apparently made a good life for himself by investing in a business and making it successful.  Maybe he only gave presents to his wife's sister out of generosity and her attorney added the juice story about his infidelity to get his client a lighter sentence. When you murder someone with questionable morals, people tend to give you a break. After all, he cheated on his wife with her own sister and he won the lottery ( the scum bag.)  Not that murder ever makes sense, but unless this was a crime of passion or jealousy, what would the sister-in-law or boyfriend of the sister-in-law gain by shooting him, unless the wife is also involved and was going to pay them off. 

As Tenaj said...   What?

jeffrey's avatarjeffrey

Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Sep 23, 2006

I'm not sure what this woman or her boyfriend thought they would gain from the murder. There is a lot missing.  This article doesn't mention anything about blackmail. What did they expect to gain?  I also don't like the way they're "blaming" the victim here. He won the lottery and apparently made a good life for himself by investing in a business and making it successful.  Maybe he only gave presents to his wife's sister out of generosity and her attorney added the juice story about his infidelity to get his client a lighter sentence. When you murder someone with questionable morals, people tend to give you a break. After all, he cheated on his wife with her own sister and he won the lottery ( the scum bag.)  Not that murder ever makes sense, but unless this was a crime of passion or jealousy, what would the sister-in-law or boyfriend of the sister-in-law gain by shooting him, unless the wife is also involved and was going to pay them off. 

As Tenaj said...   What?

The scum was the sister in law and boyfriend, gain was kidnapping and blackmail. Murder was probably a part of the plan.

I never blame the murder victim. Death cannot be reversed, people can make amends for bad behavior. Fidelity often takes a beating in extreme circumstances and even in ordinary life.

The productive man won the lottery and ran a business, the people around him were greedy and covetous. Same old story with the same old results.

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

wow, this is the epitome of "love, lies and murder." thats why i always say, when you win the lotto jackpot, make sure you take care of the people around you finacially and not sexually. so many people meet their early deaths in pursuit of sex it's ridiculous.

csfb's avatarcsfb

Unlike stealing the winning ticket of a customer which is a non-violent crime, this one here is a really VIOLENT crime, which shows the depravity of the perpetrator.  She has complete disregard for human life.  I have no problem with this person going to jail.  Maybe prison life will change her for the better.

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