Lancaster man sentenced to life for role in murder
LANCASTER – The last chance Katie Shaeffer had to speak with her son Kierston Jackson, 29, was just three hours before he was murdered in his apartment on Feb. 14 of this year.
During a sentencing hearing for her son’s murderer, she told a courtroom Tuesday afternoon how she was been tormented in those 247 days since then.
Christopher Hamm, 36, of Lancaster, was sentenced to an indefinite prison sentence of 15 years to life after he pleaded guilty to one count of murder, an unspecified felony. He was also sentenced to three years in prison for one count of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony. However, that term will be served during the life sentence. Hamm will be eligible for parole in 15 years.
Hamm pleaded guilty in a separate hearing in September, but Jackson’s friends and family members had a chance to share their victim impact statements Tuesday during Hamm’s sentencing in Fairfield County Common Plea Court, in Judge Richard Berens’ courtroom. Twenty-five statements were shared, whether in person or read by a victim advocate from the court.
Dakota Hynus, Jackson’s best friend, spoke briefly, sharing how compassionate Jackson was, having taken Hynus and the defendant into his home and caring for him.
“You stabbed him in the back. You have a chance to come back from prison, he doesn’t. You’ll get to see your family again, he and his family will never get to see each other again,” he said. “I hope you rot in prison.”
Family members, like Jackson’s sisters Ashtyn Shaeffer and Katelynn Poling, various aunts, uncles and cousins, all shared stories about how caring Jackson was, how comfortable he made everyone feel, and how warm he was to everyone once he got to know them.
“I’d always talked about getting married, but I said I didn’t have anyone to walk me down the aisle. Kierston looked at me and promised me he would do that for me. But you stole that moment from us. You stole so many moments from us,” Ashtyn Shaeffer said to the defendant. “His family’s only got his urn, pictures and ashes they can share with his nieces, nephews and children now.”
Vincent Bash, one of Jackson’s uncles, called Hamm a coward.
“Before those other statements were read, I had no idea Kierston had taken you in. But you knew firsthand how nice he was, how much he cared for you, for everyone, and you still stabbed him in the back,” Bash said. “You pretended you were his friend, then stabbed him in the back. I hope you regret it. I hope you feel sorry. You’ve hurt this whole family.”
Kara Persinger, Jackson’s girlfriend, also spoke. She approached the stand, took a few seconds to compose herself, then explained how much losing Jackson meant because of how much he had affected her life.
“I was the definition of rock bottom, but Kierston looked past the brokenness, and helped put me back together. He told me it was okay to be an addict, he urged me to get help, to avoid the bad people in my life and just go day by day. I wish he had listened to his own advice,” she said. “You took advantage of him, and now he’s no longer here.
“Before his death, I was someone who could forgive people, find the best in things. But you took away the one person that helped me do that, and I don’t think I can forgive you.”
Several of the friends explained the last time they got to see Jackson was at the showing for their grandfather, Katie Shaeffer’s father, just weeks before Jackson’s murder.
They recounted how difficult it was to be there to begin with, but how Jackson had comforted Bash and helped him move around while he was injured, and how he’d spoken with cousin Isabella Roca, who didn’t know that would be their final goodbye when she left.
Scott Crossman, Jackson’s father, shared stories on how lively Jackson had been during his youth, and how he hoped Hamm would have to spend his life in prison.
Katie Shaeffer was the last one to speak on Jackson’s behalf. She shared how Jackson had stopped by to check on her on Valentine’s Day, to make sure her new phone was working.
“He had always been my ‘baby boy,’ which is the name he put into my phone before he left, and he always called me ‘mama.’ He had many issues, but he never gave up. You could feel his love, his passion and loyalty,” she said. “It wasn’t in him to give up, which was obvious when he struggled down the steep stairs after you brutally stabbed him, so he could tell his neighbor who had attacked him.”
“He knew I wouldn’t be able to live if I didn’t know what had happened to him. So he made sure he told his neighbor who had done it to him before he called 911.”
Shaeffer went on to describe the scene at the hospital, how she had felt Jackson’s death when the doctor came into the waiting room, how she had begged to get to see him again, even in his condition. She said she told them she wasn’t leaving until she saw him. They permitted her to see Jackson.
“I remember they covered him, I only got to see him from the chin up, but the blood had soaked through the sheets still. I remember his eyes, dark brown from birth, were half-blue. They told me that’s what happens when someone’s losing blood and exerting themselves,” she said. “He wanted us to have answers, that’s how much he cared.”
She said her soul and body were ripped, and would never heal. Jackson’s murder has traumatized her, and she feels she deserves the pain because she couldn’t protect her son. She asked Berens to look at Hamm’s sentence from her viewpoint, how he would react if it had been his son.
Representing Hamm, attorney Andrew Sanderson said from the many conversations he’s had with his client, Hamm feels “incredible remorse” for what he did that day, more than anyone else. He said both Hamm and Jackson had similar demons and struggles, and like Jackson, said Hamm had felt his life was turning a corner.
“He’s accepted responsibility for what he’s done. Even with 15 years until he can be released, my client will have to demonstrate he has reformed, why he shouldn’t spend the rest of his life incarcerated,” Sanderson said.
Hamm spoke on his own behalf, apologizing to Jackson’s family.
“I’m so, so sorry. I loved him as a brother. I wish there was anything I could do to bring him back. I’m sorry,” he said.
Berens addressed the court, explaining that when the court delivers a sentence, it is meant to deter the defendant from committing crime again, punish them for what they’ve done, and protect the community.
He said that looking at Hamm’s criminal record and the sentences given, if he had worked to better himself as the sentences were intended to help with, he likely wouldn’t be in court today.
“It’s clear to the court you had options and choices. No matter what details happened between you and Kierston, you had the option to walk away before a confrontation. You had the option to stop before you used the knife the first time, and then the second and third times,” Berens said. “I am not deaf to the pleas from the friends and family that spoke today on Mr. Jackson’s behalf, but this is a court of law. I am bound to follow them.”
“If it was within my discretion, I would sentence you accordingly. But as many have pointed out today, no sentence could reverse the tremendous loss you have caused.”
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