By Roselyn Poommai
SACRAMENTO, CA – An initial baseball bat assault investigation led Sacramento Sheriff Deputies to a trunk full of treasures, and an April trial for the suspect on five drug and firearms related charges, following his preliminary hearing Monday in Sacramento County Superior Court.
On December 30, 2020, Sacramento Sheriff Deputies Shelby Rowland and Alexander Perez responded to an assault incident to find the witness shaken up after seeing his uncle, the alleged victim, assaulted with a baseball bat.
Later identified as David Jackson, the suspect had allegedly struck the victim’s hand with a baseball bat.
Deputy Rowland stated that she remained with the witness for the entirety and did not have the chance to observe the victim’s injuries after arriving at the scene, and noted, “His statement was originally all over the place because he was shaken up.”
The witness claimed that the bat used by the suspect was supposedly taken from the victim’s garage. He also described a “skinny metal gun” in the suspect’s other hand before the suspect drove off in a white vehicle.
Rowland told the court she was unable to acquire the details of the moments leading up to the recent altercation, but was informed of a separate altercation between the alleged victim and suspect on a previous occasion.
Deputy District Attorney Alex Sanders called Deputy Alexander Perez, who conducted a vehicle search on Jackson that day after discovering Jackson’s active probation terms from a previous conviction. Perez observed a .30 caliber revolver under the passenger’s seat in plain view upon the vehicle search and detected that each of its chambers was loaded with rounds and appeared operable.
Through further inspection of Jackson’s vehicle, two baseball bats, a knife, a Taser, and a black bag containing a scale and white crystallized substance were located. The crystallized substance, later testing positive for methamphetamine, weighed approximately 61.2 grams.
Perez added $727 was discovered in various denominations upon Jackson during a person’s search, with $67 in Jackson’s left front pocket and the remaining $660 in his wallet.
Criminal Investigator Daniel Garbutt, another witness brought by DA Sanders, testified that the presented evidence pointed to the possession of methamphetamine for sale.
“Is it fair to say that 61 grams is a usable amount of methamphetamine?” asked DA Sanders. “It’s numerous usable amounts of methamphetamine,” responded Garbutt.
Garbutt testified the amount discovered was more than what the average user of methamphetamine would possess at once, adding, “Users typically don’t have the means or money to buy that many dosage units at once, and even if they do…they’re going to sell some of it to obtain more methamphetamine for the purpose of future sales or more usage for themselves.”
The presence of over two ounces of methamphetamine, an operable digital scale, and cash denominations totaling $727 affirm that the amount of methamphetamine possessed by Jackson was for sale, said the court, setting Jackson’s jury trial for April 28.
Roselyn is a second-year undergraduate, double-majoring in Psychological Science and Criminology, Law and Society, at the University of California, Irvine. A native of Los Angeles, California, she is passionate about the role of human behavior in the criminal justice system.
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