NORFOLK, Va. — 22-year-old Robert L. Jackson has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to the second-degree murder of 19-year-old Navy Seaman Haniah Sturdivant in 2021.
Jackson, who is from Florida, met Sturdivant through one of his friends who was in the Navy when he came to Norfolk in April 2021.
The case found that Jackson had expressed interest in Sturdivant, but she did not return those feelings as she had recently started dating someone else, and in the days leading up to the murder, Jackson had shared with one of his friends a motivation to kill her new boyfriend, and Sturdivant, too, if she got in the way. The case also found that he was wanted for several outstanding warrants in Florida around the time of the murder.
On April 25, 2021, the day of the shooting, Sturdivant spent the day with a group of Navy friends, and Jackson. Sturdivant had plans to spend time with her boyfriend after the group dispersed later that evening. Just before 11 p.m. that night, Jackson shot Sturdivant in her car multiple times while she sat in her car outside of her then boyfriend's apartment in Titustown, leaving her with critical injuries.
While medics took her to the hospital, Sturdivant, still suffering from her injuries, told the medics that Jackson was the person who shot her. She underwent emergency surgery but died from her injuries just hours after she was shot.
Immediately after the shooting, Jackson fled to Florida. Based on their investigation, detectives with the Norfolk Police Department secured warrants for his arrest for second-degree murder and using a firearm to commit murder.
In July 2021, law enforcement in Miami, Florida identified Jackson after pulling him over and arrested him on the outstanding warrants he already had in the state. Jackson was convicted of those offenses and served his time in Florida before he was extradited to Norfolk in February of this year.
This July, the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office secured a direct indictment from a grand jury against Jackson for first-degree murder.
In late August, Jackson entered an Alford plea, in which the full process of a criminal trial was skipped because the defendant agreed to accept the ramifications of a guilty verdict. In exchange for his Alford plea, the Commonwealth agreed to dismiss his other charges. The Judge accepted his plea agreement and found him guilty.
Friday, Nov. 15, after hearing arguments from the prosecution and defense, Jackson was sentenced to serve the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison plus two years of post-release supervision.
Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi shared a statement following the sentencing.
"Mr. Jackson killed Ms. Sturdivant out of jealousy, which means he killed her out of malice," Fatehi said. "Ms. Sturdivant did nothing wrong, and Mr. Jackson did. He will now serve a long prison sentence. Unfortunately, nothing we can do will bring Ms. Sturdivant back. I grieve with her family and hope that they find some closure from the conclusion of this case.”
