Jackson case to go forward

CENTENNIAL | A judge Wednesday said there is ample evidence for a man accused of killing his friend and wounding the friend’s son to stand trial on several charges, including first-degree murder. 

Judge Marilyn Antrim also declined to set bail for Michael Wade Jackson, 57, meaning he will likely remain behind bars at least until his trial. 

Jackson is accused of killing Mohamed Abushahma, 50, and wounding Abushahma’s 17-year-old son Sept. 11 at Abushahma’s home on South Tucson Street.

Abushahma’s son, whose name was not released, was seriously injured but survived.

In addition to the murder charge, Jackson is also charged with burglary, attempted murder, first-degree assault and menacing. 

Judge Antrim said there was enough evidence for Jackson to stand trial on those charges as well. 

Jackson’s lawyer, public defender Jennifer Ahnstedt, argued Monday that the burglary charge should not go forward because there was evidence that Jackson was allowed to come and go from his friend’s home on a regular basis. She said he even kept some property there and had his own parking spot out front. 

That meant he didn’t commit a burglary when he entered the home that night, Ahnstedt said. 

Ahnstedt said Jackson “snapped” that night and had been acting erratically since his mother passed away. 

She also argued that the felony menacing charges, which accuse Jackson of menacing some of the women in the home that night, should not go forward because Jackson never threatened the women. Instead, he had the pistol pointed at himself after the shootings and said he planned to kill himself. Also, Ahnstedt said, one of the women told police she wasn’t scared of Jackson at all.

But Antrim found there was evidence Jackson entered the home unlawfully that night, pointing out that he used the back door in the middle of the night when everyone inside was asleep. 

And, she said, Jackson did menace the women inside the home, as evidenced by the fact that the women fled out a window and one jumped over a couch to escape. 

Jackson, who appeared in court wearing an orange jail jumpsuit with hands and feet shackled, was visibly upset during parts of Wednesday’s hearing, shaking his head and fidgeting in his chair. 

Jackson is scheduled to appear in court May 2 for arraignment.