On January 28, 2006, sometime between 9 and 10 p.m., 22-year-old Leonard Green was shot in the foot while sitting in a car in Kankakee, Illinois.
Green told police that he and Marquese Sherman were in the drive-thru lane at a McDonald’s restaurant when they saw a car containing 26-year-old Donta Jackson and Deandre Hampton at a nearby Marathon gas station. Green said that as they were leaving McDonalds, a car pulled up behind them and flashed its lights.
Green, who was driving, said he stopped and that the car pulled up next to him. Jackson was in the passenger seat and declared, “Do you think I am playing about the money you owe me?” Green said he ducked down, heard gunshots and was wounded in the foot. He then drove off.
Green first identified Hampton as the gunman. He viewed a live lineup containing Jackson, but did not make an identification.
On February 1, 2006, Tomaceia Ward gave a statement to police. She said she knew Green and Jackson. She reported that Green first called her on the night of the shooting at 10:47 p.m.
and told her to relay a message to Jackson that if Jackson did not give Green $10,000,
Jackson would “be going to jail for a very long time.” Shortly thereafter, Ward said Green called a second time to demand the sum of $15,000.
A few days later, Green returned to the police station and made a second statement identifying Jackson as the gunman. He said that he had obtained $2,500 worth of cocaine from Jackson during the summer of 2004, but had not paid for it. Green denied knowing Ward.
On February 17, 2006, Jackson was indicted by a Kankakee County grand jury on charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated discharge of a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
On August 1, 2006, Jackson’s attorney, Brian Hiatt, issued a subpoena for Ward to testify for the defense. The subpoena was returned, unserved, on August 16 with a notation: “supposedly moved.” On September 1, 2006, Hiatt asked the clerk to issue another subpoena for Ward. This was returned, unserved, on September 18, with a notation: “moved.”
When the case was called for trial on September 20, Hiatt asked for a continuance until September 25, saying he had just learned that the subpoena had not been served. The request was granted.
On September 25, Ward still had not been served. However, Hiatt said he wanted to move forward with the trial. On September 26, Hiatt gave an opening statement to the jury. He said, in part, “Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence will show in this case that Mr. Green was so
scared, so intimidated, so frightened of [Jackson], that minutes after the shooting he
caused a communication to [Jackson] in which he demanded money from him, several
thousand dollars in fact and he said or caused to be communicated to [Jackson] that if
this money wasn't paid, that [Jackson] would go to jail for a very long time.”
Green was the first witness for the prosecution. He related how he had gotten four ounces of cocaine from Jackson, but did not pay for it. He testified that the car pulled up, and Jackson asked, “Do you think I’m playing about the money you owe me?”
Then, Green said, Jackson reached down. Green said he “knew what [Jackson] was going for.” Green said he heard four or five gunshots and as he drove off, he felt a burning sensation in his foot.
Green admitted that he had initially identified Hampton as the gunman. He said he had lied because he was afraid of Jackson.
Sherman testified that the shooting occurred sometime between 9 and 10 p.m. He identified Jackson as the gunman.
On the third day of the trial, September 27, 2007, Hiatt told the trial judge that Ward “was persuaded” to come to the courthouse on the 25 th and that a sheriff’s deputy served her with the subpoena.
Hiatt said, “At that time, she flew into a rage, issued a number of profane statements towards me and towards anyone who would listen and stormed out ... It was my hope to persuade her that she to–just to come here like today to testify, but she has been utterly uncooperative. And I wanted her, obviously, to appear before the Court so that her subpoena could be continued until Wednesday. In fact, she didn't even appear.”
The judge granted Hiatt’s request for a body attachment to be issued so that Ward could be taken into custody, but also noted that Hiatt could have made the request on the 25 th , two days earlier.
The trial then resumed. Lakeitha Hill testified for the defense that Jackson was the father of her child and that he was with her at the time of the shooting.
Jimmie Allen also testified for the defense. He said that in contrast to what Green and Sherman had said, he was in the car with them along with Sherman’s brother, Jerry Sherman. Allen said that at the Marathon gas station, Green and the Sherman brothers argued with some people he did not recognize. He said none of them were Jackson.
Allen said the same group later drove up to them and began shooting before Green drove away. Allen said Jackson was not part of the group who shot at them.
Jackson testified and denied involvement in the shooting. He said that on the night of the shooting, he and Hampton were at the Marathon station, but so was a car containing Michael “Mook” Ledbetter, Donnell Eggleston, and a woman named Courtney. He said he saw the car containing Green, Allen and the Sherman brothers.
Jackson said he and Hampton drove away, stopped at the Plaza liquor store, and then drove to Ledbetter’s residence. There, according to Jackson, Ledbetter admitted that he shot at Green. Jackson said he then went to Hill’s residence, arriving sometime between 9:30 and 10 p.m.
Jackson said that he had told police about the telephone calls he received from Ward. He said he had played the messages for the police, and gave the police a written statement denying involvement. He was not allowed to testify about the content of the messages from Ward.
During closing arguments, Hiatt apologized to the jury for not presenting Ward as a witness.
On October 2, 2007, the jury convicted Jackson of all the charges. Prior to sentencing, Jackson obtained a new lawyer, James Burns, who filed a motion for a new trial claiming Hiatt had provided an inadequate legal defense.
Hiatt testified that he was trying to avoid Ward being brought to court in handcuffs and that Jackson had insisted on going ahead without Ward. Hiatt admitted he had issues with alcohol and gambling, and that he had previously been suspended for 60 days and put on probation for two years by the Illinois State Bar for neglecting other cases. During the hearing, the judge discovered that the body attachment had never been issued.
The motion for a new trial was denied, although Ward’s statement to police was provided to the judge. Jackson then verbally attacked Burns for failing to bring Ward to court to testify at the motion for a new trial. In response, Burns admitted that Jackson had told him that Green had received numerous traffic tickets while driving Ward’s car, but that he had decided not to raise that issue because he thought it would undermine Ward’s credibility. Jackson’s claims were unsuccessful. The judge sentenced him to 32 years in prison.
Jackson’s convictions were upheld on appeal in 2009 by the Third District Illinois Appellate Court.
In May 2010, Jackson filed a post-conviction petition alleging ineffective assistance of counsel by his trial lawyer and his appellate counsel. That petition was denied.
Jackson appealed and in May 2012, the Third District Illinois Appellate Court reversed that ruling and remanded the case back to the trial court for a hearing on the claim that Jackson’s appellate counsel had failed to argue that the failure to present Ward as a witness was ineffective assistance by Hiatt, the trial defense lawyer.
“The record on appeal shows that Ward provided a statement to police which would have
provided a motive for the victim, Green, to falsely implicate [Jackson] as his assailant,” the appeals court said. “Ward’s statement to the police indicated that Green called Ward twice on the night Green was shot, shortly after the time of the shooting. During these conversations, Green asked Ward to relay a message to defendant. According to Ward, Green demanded defendant pay him $10,000 and then called a second time to demand payment of $15,000 for defendant to avoid going to jail for a very long time.”
The appeals court noted, “Thus, Ward's testimony could have provided the jury with evidence that Green had an ulterior motive for falsely accusing defendant of this shooting. In addition, considering that Green's credibility was questionable given his earlier identification of Hampton as the shooter, Ward's testimony, if believed, could have further impeached his credibility. This is especially true because Green denied knowing Ward.”
The court concluded, “Ward was a crucial witness for the defense.”
Hiatt told the jury they would hear from Ward even though he knew Ward was evading service, the court said. “Surely, appellate counsel should have recognized it was not a reasonable trial strategy to promise evidence of extortion before securing the appearance of the only witness who could provide the jury with information regarding that extortion attempt.”
“We further find that there was a reasonable probability that if Ward testified, the results
of the proceeding would have been different. Ward herself was a critical witness for the defense,” the court said. “Moreover, defendant was prejudiced when [Hiatt] promised evidence of extortion, and then failed to deliver.”
The case then languished in the Kankakee County Public Defender’s Office for nearly seven years. In May 2019, Jackson’s family retained attorney Celeste Stack to handle the case.
A hearing on the petition was held in July 2024. During the hearing, Ward testified about the phone calls and said that she and Green knew each other, despite Green’s claim that they did not. Asked why she did not want to testify, Ward said, “To be frank, I didn’t want to be involved in the case. I had a lot going on. I had school and I was working.”
Stack also presented hospital records showing that Green went for treatment but did not have a bullet wound. There was only a red mark on his foot.
"The stakes are high,” Stack declared. “It was a case of human errors. [Jackson] did not get a fair trial.”
On November 25, 2024, Kankakee County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cunnington granted the petition, vacated Jackson’s convictions and ordered a new trial. The judge ruled that Jackson’s trial defense attorney had provided an inadequate legal defense.
On December 9, 2024, Kankakee County District Attorney Jim Rowe dismissed the charges.
“The victim is unable to be located and unwilling to cooperate; evidence is no longer available,” Rowe said. “It’s been nearly 19 years. Evidence was not preserved on non-murder cases back in the day after conviction and the appeals period had passed.”
Jackson then was released, more than 17 years after his conviction.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 05-05-2025
Last Update Date: 05-05-2025
