Philly man found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in 2022 death of trans activist Mar’Quis ‘MJ’ Jackson

More than two years after trans activist Mar’Quis “MJ” Jackson was found dead, partially clothed in the cold of a winter’s day in the backyard of a North Philadelphia home, a Philadelphia man was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in his death.

Charles Mitchell, 42, of the 1800 block of Brunner Street in North Philadelphia, was also found guilty of abuse of corpse and tampering with evidence in connection with Jackson’s death in December 2022.

Jackson, 33, was found in Mitchell’s backyard, shoeless and wearing only a T-shirt and gym shorts, and with bruising around his face and head, authorities said.

Prosecutors say the two men left a party together and went to Mitchell’s home, where they got into a fight and Mitchell beat Jackson to death. Mitchell moved Jackson’s body, prosecutors said, and police found Jackson’s sneakers and jeans a few feet away in the yard, covered in bloodstains, alongside Jackson’s wallet, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Mitchell’s arrest.

An autopsy later found that Jackson died of blunt force injuries and that he had cocaine and PCP in his system. At a news conference in March 2023, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner decried violence against the trans community, identified Mitchell as Jackson’s killer, and vowed to bring him to justice.

Weeks later, Mitchell, who had fled after the fatal incident and spent months on the lam, was taken into custody by United States marshals in Henderson, Nev., and charged with murder.

Jackson’s death shocked his large network of friends and family and the trans community and came just weeks after Shahere “Diamond” Jackson-McDonald, a transgender woman, was killed in Germantown.

When the case went to trial late last year, Mitchell’s attorney, Marni Jo Snyder, cast doubt on the medical examiner’s findings and brought to the stand a forensic pathologist who said Jackson’s death was likely caused by bleeding between his skull and brain that could have happened days before he died. The medical examiner’s office had not looked at slides of Jackson’s brain or taken into account Jackson’s history of seizures or the drugs in his system, Snyder said in a recent interview.

Bruising on Jackson’s body, Snyder said, likely happened when emergency medical technicians treated him and moved his body. She could not say why Jackson was found partially clothed.

Jackson came out to his family as transgender at 17 and became a community activist as a young adult, mentoring people who were hesitant to come out, said Porsha Burton, a social worker and fellow activist who was friends with Jackson.

Together, the pair distributed HIV-prevention educational materials and convened housing workshops, where Jackson would help people sign up for housing vouchers, said Burton, who is transgender. Jackson was friendly and open about his journey, she said, making it easier for others to share the stories of their transitions.

Jackson’s death was a loss to his loved ones and to a community already beset by difficulty, she said.

“He was great in his mindset. In the opportunities he thought we should all have,” she said. “This is one thing that definitely has hurt our community.”

But by the time the case went to trial, dueling narratives of Jackson’s last hours clashed.

Jackson’s girlfriend testified earlier that her boyfriend met Mitchell for the first time at a nearby bar and bodega on the night of Dec. 12, 2022. At a birthday party for Jackson at her home that night, she said, the newly acquainted men did drugs together. Both used crack, she said; Jackson also took PCP and Mitchell drank alcohol.

The two men left the party to go to Mitchell’s home after Mitchell said he felt uncomfortable, the girlfriend said. And after settling in at Mitchell’s house, Mitchell’s lawyer said, the two continued to do drugs.

Hours later, when Jackson had not returned, his girlfriend said, she grew concerned. She texted Mitchell through the night and morning, she said, looking for her boyfriend, and even went to Mitchell’s home at one point, but was unable to find Jackson. A day and a half later, EMTs found Jackson’s body in Mitchell’s backyard.

Snyder, Mitchell’s lawyer, said her client had tried to help Jackson on the morning before his body was found outside. He likely suffered a medical episode while in Mitchell’s home, she said. Mitchell told police Jackson damaged his front door as he struggled to get outside for air and then ended up in the backyard, the arrest affidavit said.

Mitchell knew Jackson was still outside in the yard early in the morning Dec. 14, 2022, his girlfriend said, because he texted her to ask if she was going to pick Jackson up. Snyder acknowledged that and said Mitchell left Jackson outside in the cold because he was afraid of first responders arriving and finding him with drugs.

“I can best describe that as people using drugs and not wanting that drug use to be found out by even emergency workers or whoever,” she said in an interview. “And then other people who are sober, who cared very much about Mar’Quis, unable to figure out who has the ball.”

After hearing testimony from both sides, Common Pleas Court Judge J. Scott O’Keefe acquitted Mitchell of murder last month and found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter, a lesser charge that applies when a person does something illegal or negligent that causes another person’s death.

O’Keefe declined to comment on the case. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the verdict.

Snyder said Mitchell should never have been charged with murder to begin with and criticized the city medical examiner’s office for discounting Jackson’s health conditions as possible causes or contributing factors in his death.

Jackson’s sister Markiya Jackson said in a recent interview she and her family are upset by the verdict and frustrated by the lack of answers about what happened to Jackson and why Mitchell went on the run. A conviction for involuntary manslaughter, she said, fell short of holding Mitchell accountable for a crime that they considered a murder.

“We were all — myself and my mom and the rest of the family — hoping for a higher degree,” Markiya Jackson said. “At this point it’s more so making peace with the fact that this man will be sentenced and he’s going to have to have accountability for something he’s done.”

Mitchell is scheduled for sentencing in March.