Jessie Dotson

I am unsure I have ever said this, but there is no other way to put this, Jessie Dotson is simply put, not a good person and by all accounts he never really as been. In 1990, when he was fifteen years old he was charged with disorderly conduct after he threatened his mother when she tried to discipline him. A month later he was charged with assault after he hit a thirteen year old boy in the fact and threatened “to put him in the hospital if he didn't bring him $25 the next day.” The following year he was arrested again for disorderly conduct after he came home and wanted to fight his brother, he had punched several holes in the wall and once again threatened to kill his mother. When the police arrived he was still refusing to calm down and was still attempting to fight his brother. A few months later a car he was riding in was pulled over and two guns were found on the floorboards of the vehicle. Again the next year was another disorderly charge when he got into an argument with a neighbor and threw two beer bottles into her apartment. So, what happened to him in all those instances? I cannot say but it is apparent that he did not spend much, if any time, even in a juvenile facility. It seems that all of these incidents, the ones I described above, as well as those you will see coming up all took place in the Memphis Tennessee area.

In January of 1994 at the age of nineteen Jessie Dotson committed his first murder. Dotson met up with Halle Cox to conduct a drug deal. From the way I understand it, it was Dotson selling Cox the drugs and instead of Dotson selling Cox the cocaine that that he was expecting he gave him soap shavings. Cox, apparently was not stupid and knew that Dotson had tried to scam him. An argument ensued and Doton shot Cox, killing him. Dotson would plead guilty to second degree murder, receive an eighteen year sentence and serve thirteen. He was released on parole on August 27, 2007.

Now obviously Dotson had a contentious relationship with his family prior to his incarceration. While I went through the list of infractions that he garnered while a juvenile I am going to guess the two incidents in which his mother called the authorities on him were far from the only issues she had with him. It generally takes a lot for a mother to call the authorities on their child. But, it obviously was not just issues at home that he was having. I have a feeling that his family was not the least surprised that he ended up in prison and may have been relieved in some way, knowing that they were safe. When he was released in August of 2007 he went to live with his older sister. She would later say that she did not want him there but she was “scared” to tell him no. It is unclear if she was scared to say no because she feared he would hurt her or possibly try to go live with their mother, which surely would not have been a good idea. She also stated that Dotson had a “grudge” against the entire family and indicated was based on the fact that he was upset at the lack of contact and support he received while he was in prison.

On the night of March 1, 2008 Dotson went to his brother Cecil's house. Early on the boys' father, Jessie Sr. and his half brother William Waddell were also there. They had come to watch a University of Memphis ball game but they could not watch it so Jessie Sr. left fairly quickly and while William left it was a bit later. As the night got later the occupants of the house were Jessie, his brother, Cecil, Cecil's girlfriend, Marissa Williams, their friends, Hollis Seals and Shindri Roberson and Cecil's children, CeMario, Cecil II, Cecil Jr. “CJ,”Cedric and Ceniyah. The children ranged from the ages of two months to nine years old. There was some confusion as to which children Marissa was the mother of but I think I determined that it was a the very lease four year old CeMario and likely the infant girl, Ceniyah. Cecil II had a different mother but I am unsure if she was also the mother of nine year old CJ and five year old Cedric. At any rate I am getting ahead of myself and likely confusing you as much as I am myself. Regardless all of the children were Cecil's children and at least two of them belonged to Marissa.

At some point as the night went on into the early morning hours Cecil and Jessie got into an argument. No one seems to know what began that argument or what it was about however the end of the argument was when Jessie proceeded to shoot Cecil. He then went around the house shooting Marissa, Hollis and Shindri. He then stabbed all of the five children, leaving a four inch knife in the head of nine year old CJ. Jessie then left the home on a child's bicycle. It was said that the bodies laid inside the home for “some forty hours” before they were discovered. I am unclear who found the bodies. Amazingly CJ, who had the knife protruding from his head, his five year old brother Cedric and two month old sister, Ceniyah were still alive. Paramedics were actually convinced that CJ was no longer alive until they saw him “twitch.” His brothers, four year CeMario and two year old Cecil II were among the dead along with the four adults. The surviving children were rushed to the hospital for care and when they were able to be interviewed CJ and Cedric would tell investigators that “Uncle Jessie” had done it.

Investigators had already spoken to Jessie but they did not have enough evidence to do much of anything but wait. After hearing from the young boys Jessie was arrested on March 8^th and confessed to the murders. I am still unsure that he ever stated why he and his brother were arguing but he stated that after shooting him he had gone through the house and killed everyone else so there were no witnesses. His confession was actually not just recorded for investigative purposes, it was also video taped for the A&E program “The First 48.” It was made clear that the video was not shown to the jury, however, it was not clear whether the confession was discussed in his 2010 trial. It was also alleged that he gave the same confession to his mother.

By the time Jessie went to trial he was changing his tune. While his mother, sister, two nephews and even ex-girlfriend testified against him, his defense argued that Cecil had been killed by gang members over a drug debt. They were quite specific that it was a $300,000 drug debt but I did not see anything where they had any concrete evidence in this area. When the prosecutor ended his closing arguments Jessie did a mock clapping impression which I am sure did not help him with the jury.

Jessie was charged with six counts of first degree murder and three counts of first degree attempted murder. I can only presume that the trial addressed it all but the dates I have for the verdicts as well as having two separate sentencing dates seems a bit confusing. The jury, that consisted of nine women in three men who had been sequestered in Memphis, but chosen in Nashville, took about two hours before they found Jessie Dotson guilty on all counts for what had been dubbed The Lester Street Murders, and their verdict was announced on October 11, 2010. The following day he was sentenced to six death sentences for the murders. On November 8, 2010 he was sentenced to an additional 120 years for the attempted murder charges.

In 2014 the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and upheld his sentences. In 2019 Tennessee announced they were moving forward with several executions and set dates throughout 2020 and a few in early 2021. Dotson was not on the “short” list and I am unsure if COVID-19 has affected this in any way but I suspect if they continue on that plan it may not be too long before he is on their list.