Cortez Jackson found guilty in 2021 murder of his girlfriend, Alyse Edwards

Posted on 4/7/2023

Defendant: Cortez Jackson

On April 6, a Franklin County jury found Cortez Jackson, 33, guilty of the 2021 murder of Alyse Edwards, his girlfriend at the time with whom he had three children.

Jackson, of Columbus, had been charged with two counts of murder with a 3-year firearm specification in Edwards’ death as well as tampering with evidence with a 1-year firearm specification and having weapons while under disability. The jury found him not guilty on one murder count and guilty on the other as well as guilty on the tampering with evidence charge. Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Karen Held Phipps, who presided over the trial, found Jackson guilty on the weapons while under disability charge.

On the morning of Aug. 19, 2021, Columbus police officers were dispatched to an apartment at 3740 Eakin Road in Columbus’ Hilltop neighborhood, where they found Edwards with a gunshot wound to her abdomen. She passed away a short time later.

Jackson will be sentenced on June 1. He faces 18 years to life in prison.

Daniel Meyer, director of the Special Victims Unit, and Beau Wenger, assistant prosecuting attorney, prosecuted the case for the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office.