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Home invasion suspect gets life plus 195 years
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A suspect in an August 2010 Rincon home invasion was convicted and sentenced to life plus 195 years Friday in Effingham County Superior Court.

Robert Lionel Jackson was convicted of armed robbery, burglary, cruelty to children, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, criminal attempt to commit burglary, 10 counts of aggravated assault and three counts of kidnapping. The charges stemmed from an attempted burglary on July 28, 2010, and a home invasion at the same residence in Rincon on Aug. 2, 2010.

Jackson also fired two shots at Rincon Police Officer Anthony Kennedy as Kennedy responded to the home invasion.

Judge John R. Turner accepted the state’s recommendations of a life sentence plus 195 years in prison.

Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Richard Mallard and Assistant District Attorney Ben Edwards, who prosecuted the case, expressed their thanks to the Rincon Police Department and the GBI Coastal Regional Crime Lab for their work in the case.

Two other men charged in the incident have been sentenced. Justin Timothy Crawford received 10 years in prison and 10 years on probation after pleading guilty last August to robbery by force and burglary charges. Authorities believe he was the getaway driver and did not enter the home. As part of his plea deal, he agreed to testify against his two accomplices.

Mark Anthony Williams pled guilty in December to a litany of charges and received 40 years in prison. He was given 20 years for armed robbery, 15 years for burglary and five years for possession of a firearm during commission of a crime.

Williams was sentenced to 20 years, to serve concurrently, on 10 charges of aggravated assault, two counts of kidnapping and one count of cruelty to children in the first degree.

All three men were accused in the break-in of an Exley Drive home, and authorities allege that at least one of the men fired two rounds from an AK-47 at Rincon Police officers who responded to the scene. According to reports, Williams and Jackson burst into the home and held a family of four, including one child, at gunpoint and demanded money.

A manhunt ensued, and Crawford and Williams were captured. Jackson was arrested in Atlanta three days later.