A Georgia pastor who killed his mistress on the night before his wedding must serve his life sentence in prison. William Pounds had appealed his conviction for killing his mistress, Kendra Jackson, on the night before he was to marry his fiancée in 2015.
Pounds served as pastor at King’s Chapel Memorial CME Church in Perry, Georgia, at the time of the murder.
He lived a double life as a charismatic preacher by day and a womanizer at night. Pounds was also a senior master sergeant assigned to the 116th Air Control Wing at Robins Air Force Base.
Pounds was engaged to his fiancée, Vicinda Crawford, whom he dated for 10 years.
Jackson was a 46-year-old mother of three who worked as a personal banker at the BB&T branch near Macon Mall, according to The Macon Telegraph.
Pounds had been dating Jackson for years, while in a longterm relationship with Crawford.
The two women met for the first time in May 2015, on National Pastor Appreciation Day. They showed up separately to surprise Pounds when they bumped into each other.
The women soon realized they had much in common and exchanged cell phone numbers.
“These texts led the women to discover that Pounds was cheating on each woman with the other, despite presently being engaged to be married to [Vicinda] Crawford,” the appeals court decision read. “Through their text messages, Crawford and Jackson consoled each other over their situation.”
“Pounds was repeatedly able to convince each woman that he had left the other and wanted to be with her,” the appeals court said.
Jackson ended her relationship with Pounds, but Crawford remained committed to him. They were to be married on June 12, 2015.
On June 11, 2015, Pounds called 911, saying Jackson shot herself after learning of his plans to marry Crawford. Her death was initially ruled a suicide, officials said.
But forensic testimony revealed “no evidence that [Jackson] had the gun in her hand” when she was shot in the head.
In the hours and days after Jackson died, Pounds told conflicting stories about Jackson’s death. Pounds told friends that Jackson had fired a shot at him, but he did not remember that detail when an investigator questioned him.
Pounds also told a firefighter at the scene that he hadn’t been in the bedroom when Jackson allegedly shot herself.
A jury of seven women and five men deliberated for about three hours and 15 minutes before finding him guilty of malice murder on Oct. 24, 2017.
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Howard Z. Simms said, “Mr. Pounds — and I’m not gonna dignify you by calling you Rev. Pounds – you didn’t earn that. You are a liar, you are a manipulator and frankly you are an outright charlatan.”
“I don’t believe that the truth is in you,” Judge Simms said before handing down a life sentence.
Pounds appealed his life sentence to the Georgia Supreme Court. But the court rejected his appeal last week, saying the evidence against him was “ample.”
