Drug Impaired Client’s Judgement, Attorney Says

By Debra McCown
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: October 8, 2008

The defense attorney for a man accused of shooting a Washington County sheriff’s deputy laid out his strategy during a Tuesday morning hearing.

Seeking a court-appointed expert witness for Michael Dwayne Jackson, who is charged with attempted capital murder of a law enforcement officer, Tim McAfee said his client made and used methamphetamine, but did not intentionally try to kill Lt. Scott Snapp. His judgment was impaired by the drug, the lawyer said.

“They found evidence of the manufacture. He made statements to the officers that he had been doing that and that he had been using the product,” McAfee said of Jackson. “There are delusional effects of methamphetamine, schizophrenic effects of methamphetamine, and … the rational thought process breaks down with methamphetamine.”

He said he will not attempt to prove Jackson was insane or mentally defective.

“It is my hope that the jury would find him guilty of a lesser offense instead of trying to intentionally kill a law enforcement officer,” McAfee said.

In addition to the attempted capital murder charge, Jackson, who did not speak at the hearing, is charged with assault on a law enforcement officer, manufacture of methamphetamine, conspiracy to make meth, possession and use of a firearm while making meth, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to online court records.

He has been jailed since last November, when he was arrested after a chase and standoff at his home on Childress Hollow Road.

Snapp was wounded by several shotgun pellets while trying to serve an arrest warrant on Jackson, who also was shot during the standoff.

Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Nicole Price said the unnamed expert witness, whose area of expertise is psychiatric pharmacology and who lives in South Carolina, should not be used in the case.

“You can have sulfuric acid and call it rose water, but it’s still sulfuric acid,” Price said, noting that while not presented as an insanity defense, the expert’s testimony would seek to convince the jury that Jackson’s mental state at the time of the crime absolves him of some responsibility for his actions.

“This evidence is being offered solely to show … that the intent is negated,” Price said. “And it’s very clear in Virginia law that this type of evidence is not admissible.”

Circuit Court Judge C. Randall Lowe gave both sides time to file briefs before he rules on whether to allow the expert.