GALVESTON, TEXAS: A Texas man will spend time behind bars for the rest of his life after he was convicted for claiming the life of a woman who helped him buy cigarettes. On Monday, July 23, a judge in the Lone Star State’s 405th Judicial District imposed a time of life in prison on Mark Anthony Jackson, which was previously determined by Galveston County jurors.
Jackson was apprehended and charged on October 8, 2021, after the victim, Karli Hope Hurley's body was found by a passing motorist. He was ranted and posted a $200,000 bond in late September last year after being detained in the Galveston County Jail.
Who is Mark Anthony Jackson?
Mark Anthony Jackson, 44, was recently convicted on one count of murder in the first degree by a jury in Galveston County for fatally shooting Hurley, 27, for seemingly no reason at all. According to a press release issued by the Galveston County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, the defendant showed up at the victim's apartment during the early morning hours of October 5, 2021, and asked the woman he “hardly knew,” for a ride to the store.
Hurley obliged Jackson's request and later the two were seen on surveillance video at a nearby gas station.
Where did Jackson kill Hurley?
Both of them traveled to a rural area of League City where Jackson shot Hurley twice in the back. He then left his victim, laying face down, “in a partially flooded drainage ditch to die slowly from her wounds,” the DA's office said. When Hurley died, the defendant went back to the apartment complex, ditched her car, and “tampered” with the gun used to kill her that night.
Jackson entered a plea of not guilty to the charges on the morning of July 17 and his trial began later that same morning and quickly ended. On July 19, jurors were given their charge to deliberate at 3.36 pm. Jackson was then convicted and sentenced by the jury at 2.07 pm on July 20.
“The evidence at trial showed this was a particularly senseless act of violence shown to have occurred without provocation or identifiable motive,” the DA’s office said in their press release. “In punishment, the jury learned that [Jackson] was a repeat offender with five separate prison trips for a total of seven separate felony offenses.”
Hurley was remembered as “an extremely upbeat person” and “a true bright spot in this world,” the DA’s office said, adding that her family members were deeply affected by her death. “Their pain is immense and though they are thankful for the justice that the jury provided, they know that they will never be whole again,” the DA’s office added.
Hurley's obituary says that the mother of two “loved her children dearly” and considered them “the most precious gift she had." “She had a passion for writing in her journals, going to the beach, her vibrant hair colors and new tattoos,” the deceased woman’s eulogy continues. “She appreciated and enjoyed life to the fullest.” The victim was engaged at the time of her death and she was reportedly planning her marriage.
