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View Winners → Crime Aug 03, 2022
James Howard Jackson. | Photos courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
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A 19-year-old old man who was freed from custody erroneously after being charged in connection with the 2021 attempted kidnapping of three French bulldogs belonging to Lady Gaga and the shooting of her dog walker has been arrested in Palmdale, authorities announced Wednesday.
James Howard Jackson was arrested after investigators executed a search warrant on Apricot Drive in Palmdale, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Further details on his arrest were not immediately available.
Jackson, who was mistakenly released from custody on April 6 due to a clerical error, was originally arrested for the Feb. 24, 2021, crime, where Jackson allegedly shot dog walker Ryan Fischer with a handgun while the victim was walking the three dogs owned by Lady Gaga in Hollywood. Fischer suffered a chest wound and was hospitalized.
Two of dogs were allegedly stolen by Jackson and two other attackers, and police later arrested five people in connection with the attack, two of whom were charged as accessories after the fact, the U.S. Marshals Service reported.
Jackson — along with Jaylin White and Lafayette Whaley — were all charged with one count of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and second-degree robbery.
White, 20, pleaded no contest Wednesday to second-degree robbery and was immediately sentenced to four years in state prison in connection with the robbery plea and a sentence enhancement that another defendant was armed, according to Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee.
Three other charges — attempted murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury — were dismissed as a result of his plea, Hanisee said.
