Donald Jackson Gates, great-grandson of former Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison Aug. 21.
Tribune News Services
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The great-grandson of former Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson will spend at least the next 18 years behind bars for killing a man last year.
The former mayor sat with family members in the courtroom Monday afternoon as Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold sentenced Donald Jackson Gates, 20, to life in prison for murder. His first chance at parole will be in 18 years.
Authorities said Jackson Gates killed 20-year-old Chris’Shon Coleman near East 40th Street and Quincy Avenue on May 14, 2022.
Coleman had been shot at least 13 times in the torso, including from the front and from the back, according to autopsy results that were filed in court records. Police found 17 bullet casings in the street, all fired from a single handgun, the records indicate.
Prosecutors dropped an aggravated murder charge that carried a potential sentence of life without the possibility of parole. County attorneys dismissed the charge after Jackson Gates pleaded guilty last week to murder, felonious assault and possession of a weapon after a felony conviction.
Jackson Gates was ordered by Saffold to pay $12,192 to Coleman’s family to cover funeral expenses. He also was ordered to pay Coleman’s mother $365 for lost wages after the family said she was not able to work because of her distress.
A family member sobbed while reading a statement on behalf of Coleman’s parents.
“This was cold, planned, calculated and intentional murder. This coward knew what he was going to do the moment he woke up May 13, 2022,” she read. “This coward hung all day with my son with the intent to kill him.”
Coleman’s supporters in the courtroom laughed when Jackson Gates apologized to the victim’s family when Saffold asked if he wanted to make a statement.
Coleman’s family alleged Jackson Gates was given a lighter sentence because of his relationship to the former mayor.
“You have the keys to the city because your great-grandfather allowed you. Still you accomplished nothing with life,” Coleman’s family member read. “All you care about is being a gangster. Where did that get you?”
Saffold immediately said Frank Jackson never approached her regarding the case, adding that no one has ever attempted to influence her court in 36 years as a judge.
“I try to do an even dispensation of justice all the time. That is my reputation. … We took a great deal of time to apply the law to the facts,” she said.
Police suspect the slaying is connected to a series of shootings that touched the former mayor’s family and dates back to the 2019 killing of a man outside a West Side barber shop.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Kevin Filiatraut said the shooting of Coleman was in retaliation for the murder of Frank Jackson’s grandson, Frank Q. Jackson.
A car registered to Frank Q. Jackson was seen driving away from the Aug. 28, 2019, killing of Antonio Parra. After the shooting, police went to the mayor’s home to investigate. The younger Jackson told officers that he had sold the vehicle weeks before the slaying. The car was later found torched in a field.
Police obtained a warrant charging James Greathouse with arson for burning the car in September 2021. Three days later, 29-year-old Robert Shepard lured Frank Q. Jackson to a home on Anita Kennedy Drive and Sidaway Avenue, where the 24-year-old was gunned down. Shepard was sentenced last year to life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
Days before Coleman was killed, he posted on social media in support of Shepard, who is also his uncle.
Filiatraut said social media fueled the fire for Coleman’s murder, but guns are the main issue.
“(Social media) leads to violence,” he said. “The community wants us to stop. We need everyone in the circle of the people here to want that, too, or else it just won’t.”
The former mayor declined to comment after the hearing.
