NORFOLK, Va. -- A sailor pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping and killing a Marine from Indiana he thought had attacked a woman who turned out to have lied about being raped and harassed by service members.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Cooper Jackson said during his court-martial that he posed as a special agent to "scare" Cpl. Justin L. Huff, 23, of Indianapolis, into giving him information about the purported rape, handcuffed Huff and drove him to a wooded area in North Carolina south of the Virginia border.
Jackson, 23, of Boones Mill, said he held the handcuff keys in one hand and a knife in the other as he contemplated letting Huff go or turning himself in. He said he decided he had to kill Huff to avoid being caught for impersonating a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent and kidnapping, so he cut Huff's throat seconds later as the Marine was face down on the ground.
"I'd broken several laws and I had a missing Marine with me," Jackson told the judge, Capt. Daniel O'Toole, during questioning about his actions. "Quite frankly, I was scared of the consequences of what would happen, of being caught, more so than I was of the consequences of taking his life."
Jackson said he cut Huff's throat with a knife twice, explaining in a flat tone, "I wanted to cut him a second time so he would not suffer as much, and he would die faster."
Jackson said he threw Huff's clothes into a Dumpster and tossed the knife over a bridge, then returned hours later to Currituck County, N.C., with a shovel to bury to body.
Jackson pleaded guilty to premeditated murder, kidnapping, impersonating an NCIS agent and obstruction of justice under an agreement to avoid the death penalty. If the judge accepts the plea, the maximum sentence would be life in prison without parole, forfeiture of pay and a dishonorable discharge.
The sentencing phase was to begin Tuesday with jury selection and could last the week, the Navy said.
Huff was reported missing Jan. 2 after he didn't show up for class at the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center in Virginia Beach, where Jackson also was a student. The men were in different classes and did not know each other.
Federal agents testified during a hearing in June that Jackson confessed when they took him in for questioning on Jan. 12 and led them to Huff's body the next day.
Agents said Jackson had been fooled into falling in love with a woman who called herself "Samantha" and made up a story about being raped by several service members. Jackson had met the woman on the Internet but never in person.
"Samantha" actually was Ashley Elrod, a 22-year-old hotel clerk on North Carolina's Outer Banks. She testified at the June hearing that she had talked to Jackson by phone and sent him e-mails and that she lied by telling him she had been raped.
She also testified that she "might have" told Jackson that one of the Marines involved in the attack was named Huff or Huffman, and she said Jackson called her after Huff was killed.
Defense attorney Don Marcari said outside court Monday that Elrod, who has not been charged, made up a story about two Marines holding her down while a third raped her. Jackson suspected Huff based on Elrod's description of the attackers.
Jackson told the judge Monday that "Samantha was adamant about not going to the police," but that he went anyway by himself and was informed that there was not enough evidence. So he decided to investigate on his own to bring evidence to the police.
He said Samantha also told him that her attackers had harassed her by taunting her at several locations, breaking into her home, stealing her belongings and killing her pet birds.
Jackson said he called Huff at 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 31 and then met him outside Huff's barracks to discuss the rape. He said he called Huff again at 3:45 a.m. on Jan. 2 and told him it was time to make a statement.
That's when, Jackson said, he picked up Huff, told him he was under arrest, handcuffed him and drove to North Carolina.
Huff was assigned to the Brigade Service Support Group 1, First Marine Logistics Group, Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, Calif. He had served two combat tours in Iraq.
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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