Man gets life in prison for attacking women

Wednesday, March 8, 2000 | 9:36 a.m.

A Las Vegas man scheduled for trial in May in the slaying of a local teen-ager was sentenced to life in prison Monday on sexual assault and kidnapping charges in an unrelated case.

Authorities said that on Feb. 11, 1998, a woman asked Alfonzo Jackson, 31, and a female friend of hers to stay the night in her apartment because she was afraid of a man who lived in the complex who was stalking her.

Sometime during the night, an armed Jackson woke the women, tied them up with shoelaces and stuffed socks in their mouths, authorities said. One of the women was able to get out of the apartment after being sexually assaulted and began yelling for help, prompting Jackson to run away. He was later arrested at his residence.

Jackson was sentenced Monday to two life terms after pleading guilty to sexual assault, first-degree kidnapping and possession of a firearm by an ex-felon. He received five years on the firearms count. The robbery count was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

All of the sentences are to run concurrently and Jackson will not be eligible for parole for 10 years.

Less than a year after the crime, a Clark County grand jury indicted Jackson on kidnapping and murder charges in connection with the July 1997 disappearance of Shavonne Graves, 16.

Graves disappeared after getting off work at a fast-food restaurant and as she was walking to meet Jackson's girlfriend at an Albertson's grocery store.