SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - A Louisiana man who skipped most of his trial was convicted of aggravated flight from an officer and is now on the run again.
The Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office said Gabriel Jackson, 42, of Shreveport showed up for jury selection, and the judge ruled Tuesday that trial could continue since he’d been present when the jury was seated.
Prosecutor’s spokesman John Andrew Prime said that after the verdict was read Tuesday, District Judge Craig Marcotte issued a bench warrant for Jackson’s arrest on a charge of failure to appear in court for trial.
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Marcotte scheduled sentencing for June 18. The conviction was Jackson’s third for a violent crime, so he could be sentenced to life in prison as a habitual offender instead of the usual five-year maximum for aggravated flight, Prime said.
The jury found that Jackson failed to stop after being clocked at 90 miles (145 kilometers) an hour on Interstate 20, then leading officers on a six-block chase that ended with a crash through a chain-link fence. Prime said the broken fence kept Jackson from getting out of his car, and it was all recorded by a police dashboard camera.
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