A 21-year-old ex-felon was sentenced Tuesday to three years in Nevada State Prison for his part in an undercover drug deal that deputies interrupted before it turned lethal.
District Judge Dave Gamble told Jamar William Jackson he must serve a minimum of 14 months before he is eligible for probation. The sentence is consecutive to any time he earns for violating parole on a 2007 possession with intent to sell sentence in Sparks.
"I made a terrible mistake," Jackson said. "I let my ego get the better of me again. If I don't change, I am going to lose everything."
According to reports, the Douglas Sheriff's Office Street Enforcement Team, working with the Tri-Net Task Force, arrested Jackson, a teenage accomplice and briefly detained a third suspect March 18 in the parking lot of a Douglas County shopping center.
Officers said they witnessed the suspects pull a handgun on a confidential informant in the midst of a drug deal.
The weapon turned out to be a BB gun.
One of the suspects later admitted to investigators that the three never had any marijuana, as they intended to rob the undercover operative from the outset, according to reports.
Jackson, originally charged with conspiracy to commit attempted robbery, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Uniform Controlled Substances Act.
"This was absolutely fraught with peril. If I were you, I would thank God for those police officers who decided to stop this," Gamble said. "You're 21 and you have two felonies. I can't imagine if you are going to have a life outside of prison."
Jackson said he wanted to better himself for his daughter. After he is released from prison, Jackson said he plans to move to Santa Rosa where he was accepted for college before his arrest.
