A Moreno Valley man who fatally shot his ex-girlfriend’s new lover — in front of their children — stemming from extreme jealousy over the pair’s relationship was convicted of first-degree murder and other charges after only one day of jury deliberations.
Late Monday afternoon, the Riverside jury weighing the fate of Jerome Roy Jackson, 37, convicted him of the 2022 slaying of 38-year-old Jason Williams of Riverside. Along with murder, Jackson was found guilty of two counts of child endangerment and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Matthew Perantoni scheduled a sentencing hearing for June 26 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Jackson is expected to receive a minimum of 50 years to life in state prison.
He’s being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.
According to a trial brief filed by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, the defendant and Williams were one-time friends, but a conflict developed in 2021 when Jackson and his girlfriend, Corina Aguirre, split up, and he moved out of their two-story house on Tea Rose Lane, where he and Aguirre had been raising their four children.
Jackson and Aguirre had been a couple for 15 years, and after he left the house, “he repeatedly told her that he would hurt any man she dated after him,” the brief stated.
In the early afternoon of Aug. 6, 2022, Jackson drove with his then-girlfriend, 48-year-old Danielle Ryan Rainey of Riverside, to the Tea Rose Lane neighborhood, parking about a block away on Snapdragon Lane.
Jackson had armed himself with a .380 semiautomatic pistol and a 9mm handgun. The brief said he contacted his eldest daughter, identified only as “K.J.,” and directed her to send him a message when the victim arrived to meet Aguirre.
When Williams pulled up in his Mercedes E350, K.J. did as instructed, at which point Jackson told Rainey to drive her Chevrolet Cruz over to Aguirre’s house while he loaded his two pistols, prosecutors said.
After she parked, he got out of the car and “made contact with Williams in the driveway, where they began to argue,” according to the brief.
“This resulted in a brief shoving match (until) Williams reached out his hand to shake the defendant’s, seemingly to bury the hatchet,” the narrative said. “The defendant took a few steps backwards, pulled out a gun and began firing.”
The victim was struck by multiple rounds through both shoulders, lower back, right hip, right arm and right-side rib cage, court papers said.
Jackson emptied the .380, pausing only to walk over to the Chevy to obtain the 9mm. Aguirre, K.J. and one of the other children ran into the driveway, screaming at Jackson to stop his attack, prosecutors said.
Despite the severity of his wounds, Williams stumbled to his Mercedes and tried to enter it when the defendant walked over and aimed at the man’s head, shooting him through the temple, killing the victim instantly, according to the prosecution.
Witnesses called 911, as did Jackson, who conveyed to dispatchers that Williams had initiated the confrontation by trying to throw a punch, according to the brief.
During questioning by detectives, the defendant’s story changed several times, until he ultimately commented that Williams had “pulled a gun and fired, bro,” the brief said.
No firearm was found in the victim’s possession. Statements from Aguirre and the children contradicted the defendant’s version of what happened, along with security surveillance videos captured via cameras attached to surrounding houses.
Rainey was originally charged with being an accessory after the fact. However, following a February 2024 preliminary hearing, the allegation against her was dismissed.
Court records indicated Jackson had a prior misdemeanor conviction for reckless driving, but no documented felonies.