Jayden Jackson, the 23-year-old resident of Daytona North facing a first-degree felony hit-and-run charge in the death of Shaunta Cain, 54, on U.S. 1 almost three years ago, was sentenced to five years in state prison followed by five years on probation, plus restitution and other requirements.
Jackson is the son of Brian Jackson, a long-time deputy with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
The crash took place after 4 a.m. on November 26, 2022, near Plantation Bay, the large development near the Flagler-Volusia county line. Jackson was driving back to Flagler County with a friend after a night out in Daytona Beach.
Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis argued to Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols that Jackson was impaired at the time of the crash and should serve prison time. The minimum mandatory time under state guidelines is four years in prison. Lewis said Jackson’s driving pattern “clearly” showed impairment.
“The fact that he doesn’t remain at the scene, he shouldn’t be rewarded,” he said. Leaving the scene enabled him to evade blood tests and FHP’s gathering of evidence that would have likely resulted in a DUI manslaughter charge, Lewis said, and a minimum mandatory prison sentence of 10 years. “He fled that scene,” Lewis said, and lied about what he struck.
“He’s continuing to lie to cover up his tracks,” Lewis said. “This is someone who basically left her there like a piece of trash.” As far as the state is concerned, Jackson has shown no remorse, Lewis said, asking for six to seven years in prison, followed by probation.
Jackson’s attorney, Josh Davis, argued that Jackson was not charged with drunk driving, and no evidence established that he had been drunk at the time of the collision. Davis argued for a youthful offender sentence, rather than sentencing Jackson as an adult. He questioned what he called the “conjecture” about whether he was impaired, and seemed to equivocate as to where Cain was struck, prompting the judge to assert to him sternly: “Mr. Jackson had to go off road” to hit the victim.
The judge was also skeptical about Davis’s argument that he was not impaired, since his fleeing from the scene closed the door on gathering that evidence, with “at least” a 12-hour delay between the crash and the report of Jackson’s involvement in the crash, by which time the alcohol would be out of his system, the judge said.
“The one problem that he did, the one law that he broke, was not calling after that crash. He was not at fault for the crash,” Davis said.
“He was not charged to be at fault for the crash. It was not charged. I’ll leave it at that,” the judge said.
Davis almost blamed the victim, saying she was wearing dark clothes on a pitch-black night, and that Jackson made one mistake.
The crash took place a little after 4 a.m., according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Cain was not walking in the roadway. A passer-by reported it at dawn or near daylight. It was never exactly clear when Jackson’s father informed law enforcement about the crash.
The state called Brian Jackson to the stand to establish that. Brian was in Miami for the funeral of an FBI agent (former Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin’s son, who’d been killed with his partner while serving a warrant). On the stand, Brian did not recall when his son called him to inform him of the crash, or whether it was light or dark out. Initially he believed his son, that he’d hit a deer, but not after a colleague studied the picture his son had sent his father and told him the damage was not consistent with a collision with a strike.
It was later in the afternoon as he was returning to Flagler County that he called a supervisor at the Sheriff’s Office to let him know his son may have been involved in the crash.
Lewis questioned Cpl. Dennis Sheffield, the Florida Highway Patrol traffic homicide investigator who responded to the U.S. 1 scene. (He’s been a THI investigator for five years of a 12-year career with FHP, completing “a couple of hundred” death investigations.) Sheffield noted the tire marks and furrows that indicated the vehicle veered into the U.S. 1 median, veered out, then back into the grass. The collision catapulted Cain several feet into the median, leaving one of her shoes behind: it’s “very common,” Sheffield testified, that pedestrian crash victims are knocked out of their shoes by the force of the collision.
Lewis also questioned FHP’s Cpl. Clayton Visman, the lead traffic homicide investigator.
Visman had interviewed Brian Jackson, whose truck Jayden was driving. Brian was in South Florida at the time of the crash. He had not given permission to his son to use the truck. Jayden had told him he’d struck a deer, but also told him he’d struck a car.
Jackson had a passenger, Joseph K. his “good friend,” Visman said. Visman interviewed Joseph at the State Attorney’s Office with Lewis present.
Based on Joseph’s account, Jackson and Joseph went to Razzle’s nightclub in Daytona Beach, where Jayden had “three to five” drinks, according to Joseph. Joseph was not comfortable driving because he felt he was impaired, Visman said. The two stopped at Buc-ee’s on the way back, leaving that store around 3 a.m. and taking U.S. 1 at the exit just south of the Volusia-Flagler county line, heading north from there.
Joseph was on his phone when Jackson struck Cain. Joseph told him, “we need to stop. Jackson replied, “No, it’s OK, we don’t need to stop,” according to Visman even as Joseph asked him several times to stop. Jackson did eventually stop, but only to evaluate the damage.
“So Mr Jackson absolutely knew he hit a pedestrian,” Lewis asked the investigator.
“Yes, sir,” Visman said. Jackson told Joseph that everything would be OK. They drove on to Jackson’s home. Joseph stayed there rather than go back to his own house “because he’d been drinking,” Visman said. Jackson had decided to tell his father that he’d struck a deer. He did not call law enforcement.
The victim’s mother testified by zoom from South Carolina (after Davis asked for her identification). She “never met a stranger,” her mother said of Cain, who had been accepted at Spellman College in Atlanta and had continually educated herself. She was a “peacemaker who never raised her voice.” Jackson, she said, had left her daughter to die in the road “as if she didn’t matter.”
“To know her was to love her,” she said of her only daughter (she has three sons), going off her statement. “She never did anything to harm anybody.” Based on testimony she had just heard, the mother told the court, knowing that Jackson had hit a person, “my daughter, it could have been anybody else’s daughter,” she asked the judge to give Jackson “the highest, maximum prison time” allowed and suspend his license.
The mother had to pay a $4,890 bill for burial expenses. Davis asked the mother about a $10,000 insurance settlement. The mother said she’d not received any money from insurance. Lewis asked the court to require Jackson to pay restitution in addition to serving 120 community service hours at a trauma center or something similar, and to participate in a victim impact panel.
“I also want to tell deputy Jackson,” the judge said, addressing Brian Jackson in the gallery, “I’m sorry that your son got you into this mess and this quagmire, because there’s nothing more conflicting for a parent to want to protect their child, but also to honor their role in law enforcement. So I recognize what a very, very difficult position that your son put you in.”
PeachesMcGee says
Let’s see what shenanigan’s his father will do to protect his son in prison. He’s a pretty boy.
Gene L. says
So let me get this straight, this man killed a person, left the scene, lied, blamed the victim, was clearly impaired and got the same sentence as Brendan Depa but with less probation? Brendan’s act was horrific but his victim is still alive. I wonder what could have been the difference between these two cases? Couldn’t be, cops kid and not black, could it? Let’s hear the outrage from all of you who wanted Brendan to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Robjr says
It sounds like he got a pretty good deal in light of the possible penalty for felony hit and run.
In Florida, leaving the scene of an accident that results in a fatality is a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, and license revocation.
He should have to serve at least 85% of his sentience. However there is something termed gain time, earning 10 days per month for good behavior.
Restitution? Good luck collecting.
Steve Ward says
So no remorse that’s not surprising. Jayden’s not capable of manning up but he just got another year tacked onto the Plea Arrangement. If one were to have done the right thing he’d be getting out already. Not a well thought out plan by somebody who believes they are smarter than everyone else. 5 years is a long time to relive a lot of wrongs. I have to say I take great pleasure in knowing JIJ is off the street. Maybe no remorse but I’m thinking he’ll regret the next 5 years.
Good riddance Karma is real.
Me says
I commend Joseph’s honesty on the stand an innocent person lost their life and maybe could have survived if the driver stopped from the get-go.
You would think a child of a police officer would know better.
Shark says
His father should go right along with him !!!!!
Jim says
I don’t know what kind of person Jayden Jackson has been up to the hit and run but his actions from that point forward are nothing short of despicable. To hit a person with your car and then leave the scene shows a callousness that can’t be ignored. And, to this date, he apparently has shown no remorse for killing Shaunta Cain.
I can’t speak for anyone but myself but I have to say that I’m very disappointed that the sentence is so light. From what I gather from this article, he would be subject to a longer sentence if he’d stopped, reported it and was found to be intoxicated. It seems to me the combination of the hit and run, denying he’d hit a person (saying it was a “deer” and/or “car”), and no signs of remorse even four years later is complete justification for a longer sentence. You do this and can’t even show some remorse after four years? You don’t need to be in society.
Prison is a tough place. Jayden appears to be a “tough guy”. Maybe he’ll get some justice there.
joe says
he got a sweet hart deal
Kennan says
Fantastic point GENE.
JimboXYZ says
Gene L, 2 different cases. The hit & run the evidence was more suggestive than actual numbers for blood tests. In the hit & run case, there was no cooperation to determine what exactly happened at 4 AM. That’s a life lesson for anyone, the penalty is jail time, whether it’s sufficient enough for anyone’s liking is like a Joe & Hunter Biden thing. Play the system for least punishment possible, even getting a pardon & pass for nothing more than paying the tax evasion with zero prison time. No dount in my mind, if Hunter doesn’t get the plea deal, if Joe Biden doesn’t pardon Hunter, Kamala Harris does. That’s not a race issue per se, it’s who they’re in bed with.
What lesson in life that this should teach anyone, it’s going to take 3 years before they actually get anything done, the less hard evidence they have, the lighter the sentence. At the end of the day, it’s a matter of what they can concretely hang on anyone. Just a gut feel, the criminal will live with this for the rest of his life. That guilt will be restless sleep eventually. Doesn’t matter if he is out in 5 years or 10 years. There’s going to be a face that visits Jayden’s REM sleep every night for the rest of his life. Who knows whether Jayden is strong enough mentally to make it deeper into life for the emotional burden that nobody saw in a courtroom today. It’s there. Cain’s spirit & soul will haunt Jayden for this lifetime, perhaps even for an eternity ? Jayden will not be holding real meaningful employment for the sentence he received that was less than what it could’ve been. I doubt Jayden’s character & will power of any mental fortitude to persevere this punishment will stand that test of time for the long run. Is there a suicidal event something we read about ? That’s the thing about the unknown. It’s often said that time heals wounds, sometimes time doesn’t heal any wounds. I think that’s the whole concept of prison, time on your hands, guilt can be a very heavy burden. and the probation time, that’s no walk in the park either. Jayden will exit a 5 year prison sentence & have to take on life that hasn’t forgotten the criminal record. Jayden may even add to alcohol as his coping mechanism at some point. That’s going to make any probation even harder to succeed ? I suspect the probation will be an alcohol free lifestyle, they will test for that, as well as any other drug abuses. 5 years prison, 5 years probation, 10 years clean & sober, otherwise he’s back in prison. The legal & justice systems need cases & repeat offenders, that’s part of what pays the salaries & wages for incomes of those that get paid well. And that won’t be affordable either, those are probation violations too, the financial responsibility of it all. His dad is now even more vested in what his income can keep Jayden out of trouble to get thru that probation. Perhaps Jayden become homeless after leaving prison ? He still needs to be compliant with the probation or back into the system that pumps criminals until the day they die for at least some type of financial payout.
Atwp says
Wow, am surprised they gave him some prison time.
Joseph Barand says
What was Staley’s involvement? Be out in two years with gain time. Probably go to work for Homeland Security or Border Control along with all the other criminals already working there. Not saying much for State Attorney prosecuting case, probably got a good future with DeSantis.
Jf says
Ok now what about Deputy Jackson? Knowing that his son was apparently intoxicated or at least was intoxicated. Gets in the middle of shit and the sheriff of this county doesn’t hold him accountable for his actions. Wow it’s a pick and choose department I guess. What a joke Sheriff!!!