Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announces that 40 year-old Stephen A. Jackson pleaded guilty as charged to Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth F. Case. This was the sole count of the indictment and the most serious crime for which the defendant could have been convicted had he gone to trial. In other words, Jackson did not receive a so-called “plea bargain” and was instead prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

On Christmas of last year, Jackson, Maurice Giles, and Thomas Boyce ran a marathon of merry-making through various taverns in South Buffalo. Jackson pilfered the pistol from Boyce’s jacket as he played pool. Perhaps due to the effects of being over-served during the yuletide bender, Jackson fired the gun into his bedroom floor upon his return home.

Later the next day, Boyce (who lawfully possessed the pistol in the first instance) confronted Jackson over the theft of his handgun. Jackson advised Boyce his pistol would be returned upon receipt of a $300 ransom. Unbeknownst to Boyce, however, Jackson had no intention of returning the pistol, having sold it to a fellow thug for drugs and cash.

Shockingly, Jackson is no stranger to the criminal justice system, boasting a federal felony conviction for distributing cocaine, as well as state convictions for possessing controlled substances and theft. Jackson faces a maximum prison sentence of 15 years when he is sentenced as a second felony offender before Judge Case on December 5, 2014.

The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Ryan D. Haggerty, who is assigned to DA Sedita’s Special Victims Bureau.