Man pleads no contest in shooting death of Lansing woman, says he can't remember crime

Ken Palmer | Lansing State Journal

LANSING - A Lansing man entered a no-contest plea Thursday in connection with the shooting death of a Lansing woman early last year.

Randy Dean Jackson, 57, told police he woke up to find Delores Kay Drouillard dead in her home on January 2017 and didn't remember shooting her, although he accepted responsibility for her death.

He was allowed to plead no contest to second-degree murder on grounds that he can't remember killing Drouillard. He could face up to life in prison when he goes before an Ingham County judge for sentencing on Sept. 27.

"He has from the start said, 'I just want to know, did I do it?'" Jackson's attorney, Toby White, said after the hearing. Jackson claims to have a history of seizures and blackouts that affect his memory, the attorney said.

Drouillard, 54, was found dead in her upstairs bedroom on Jan. 10, 2017, after police were asked to check on her welfare.

She had been shot twice in the head at close range. Police found a .38-caliber revolver near her body and two spent shell casings in a kitchen trash can. Officers found no signs of forced entry and no evidence that a struggle had occurred.

Jackson was arrested the next day at his parent's home in Watertown Township.

He told police he stayed at Drouillard's home on East Mt. Hope Avenue on the night she was killed and found her dead the next morning. He said he had blacked out from drinking and must have killed her, even though he didn't remember doing it. He said he panicked and drove away in Drouillard's vehicle.

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A no-contest plea is not a formal admission of guilt but is treated as a conviction for sentencing purposes.

In October, Jackson and a woman who police described as his long-time girlfriend were charged with embezzling money from an elderly woman who had let them live in her home in exchange for their help with certain tasks.

The embezzlement charge against Jackson was dismissed in January, but his co-defendant, Mona Liza McKee, has pleaded guilty to an embezzlement charge and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.