Copyright © 1996, The Austin American-StatesmanDave Harmon
Slaying case remains open despite arrests; Jewelry store owner's slaying in 1987 seemed solved at one time., 06-06-1996.
In February 1995, Ricky Jerome Jackson was in jail, charged with capital murder in the long unsolved slaying of North Austin jewelry shop owner Bonnie Peerman.
Last month, Jackson, 34, left Austin and presumably returned home to Chicago. A jailhouse confession last year gave police the break they needed to arrest him and two others, but no one has been indicted.
Jackson, Charles Broussard, 26, and Anthony Quinn Jones, 31, were arrested in early 1995 and accused of beating Peerman to death Sept. 12, 1987, while robbing the Gemporium, a jewelry consignment shop she co-owned in the 1800 block of West Anderson Lane.
Jackson's lawyer, Richard Davis, said the Travis County district attorney' s office should either bring his client to trial or drop the charge.
``If there's any evidence to back up the charge, one would expect them to at least do something,'' Davis said. ``It just appeared to me that they had a statement from an inmate that they felt had the ring of truth to it, made the arrests, then had trouble filling in ... the evidence.''
Lack of evidence is why the district attorney's office hasn't taken the case to the grand jury, said Buddy Meyer, trial chief for the office.
With nothing to link Jackson and the others to the scene and only two conflicting inmate statements to go on, the case against Jackson and Jones is ``legally insufficient,'' Meyer said. ``That is a major problem. Even if they were convicted, it would be reversed.''
Under Texas law, testimony by accomplices has to be corroborated by other evidence -- either physical evidence or statements by people not involved in the crime.
Robert Peerman Sr., who married Bonnie Peerman a few years before her death, said he is ``deeply saddened that the police know who killed Bonnie and they can't prosecute them.''
According to a police affidavit, a Travis County jail inmate told police that his cellmate, Broussard, claimed to be involved in the slaying. When four officers visited Broussard in prison, he said he was in Peerman's store with two men named ``Red'' and Tony Jones.
Broussard later identified ``Red'' as Jackson.
In his statement to police, Broussard said Jackson hit Peerman, 49, in the head and kicked her, then took her to the back of the shop with Jones while Broussard remained in front as a lookout.
Broussard said when he went to the back of the shop, Jackson hit Peerman again. Broussard said the other two handed him a duffel bag full of jewelry, which he took to the car. Jackson and Jones later emerged with blood on their clothes, he said.
But Broussard's statement doesn't match a statement from Robert Moore, whose house the three suspects allegedly visited immediately after the crime. When police interviewed Moore in prison, he said it was Broussard and Jones -- not Jackson -- who had blood on their clothes.
Meyer said the statements were enough for police to file charges, but not enough to take the men before a jury -- not without new evidence or witnesses, anyway. There's not enough evidence to put Jackson and Jones on trial, but Broussard and Moore, the men who gave statements, could be prosecuted, he said.
The district attorney's office is still reviewing the case and hopes to get enough evidence to prosecute all four men, Meyer said. The two who gave statements didn't implicate themselves in the slaying, but the district attorney's office is determining if they can be prosecuted as ``parties'' to the slaying, he said.
``The police did what they could; the evidence is the evidence,'' Meyer said. ``It will probably be presented to a grand jury at some point in time.''
That's not good enough for Davis, Jackson's lawyer.
After paying $3,500 to get out of jail, Jackson was placed on electronic monitoring and forbidden from leaving Travis County, Davis said. On May 7, state District Judge Mike Lynch removed that restriction -- with the DA's district attorney's consent -- and allowed Jackson to leave the Austin area.
``If there is missing evidence, why did they pull this man off the street and keep him under the restrictions of bond for a year and keep him in jail for several months?'' Davis said.
``Why not wait until the case is made if it can be made?'' Davis said. ``I don't think they can make it.''
Broussard remains in prison for unrelated robbery and theft charges. His lawyer, Brenda Rhea, declined to discuss the case.
Jones is serving a life term for aggravated assault and burglary, charges also unrelated to Peerman's death.
Copyright © 1996, The Austin American-Statesman
Dave Harmon, Slaying case remains open despite arrests; Jewelry store owner's slaying in 1987 seemed solved at one time., 06-06-1996.