ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – A Delta County man has been sentenced for the murder of a pregnant 22-year-old woman.
In July of 2023, the body of Harley Corwin was found with two bullet wounds to the skull in the woods of Ford River Township. Weeks ago, a jury found Tavaris Lee Jackson guilty on charges of first-degree murder, assault intentionally causing a miscarriage or stillbirth, and felony firearm possession.
On Friday, Jackson appeared in court again for his sentencing. Before Judge John Economopoulos announced the court’s decision, two of Corwin’s relatives stood before the court to read statements.
“The only feeling I have towards this situation and Tavaris is anger,” said Jersey Sexton, Corwin’s sister. “I’m angry because I don’t know why he did this. I’m angry because he won’t own up to his actions. I’m angry because there’s no world in which Harley deserved this, angry because no matter what happens, it won’t bring my sister back.”
Sexton requested that the court sentence Jackson to life in prison.
“The comforting truth I’ve realized, Your Honor, is only dumb, disgusting, and weak men commit heinous crimes and expect to get away with it. A man that repeatedly tramples women just to feel some meaning in his life will only ever continue to do so. He has proven time and time again that, given the opportunity, he will be a violent offender to women, to children… We’re all forced a life sentence by Tavaris, and for this, I ask the same to be given to him.”
For the charge of first-degree murder, Jackson was sentenced to life in prison without parole. For the charge of assault intentionally causing a miscarriage or stillbirth, he was sentenced to serve between 62.5 and 80 years. He was sentenced to two years in prison for the firearm charge. Jackson received credit for 1,028 days served.
Jackson declined to speak in court. His attorney stated that he plans to reserve the right to appeal.
Judge Economopoulos addressed Jackson directly, saying in part, “You’ll get to spend the rest of your life institutionalized with men who don’t care about you, maybe despise you, and will forget about you when you’re dead. You not only orphaned Harley Corwin’s children when you killed her; you also orphaned your own five daughters by trading them for the hundreds of felons that you get to spend the rest of your life with, compliments of the Michigan Department of Corrections. That’s what you traded away when you decided to lead a trusting pregnant woman into the woods and become a murdering coward. A murdering coward, because you had to trick her to get her to follow you to her grave site. A murdering coward, because you were a big, strong man, and she was a small, pregnant woman. A murdering coward, because you were armed with a gun while she was only armed with her trust.”
Economopoulos continued, “Harley Corwin was a daughter; you have five daughters. If there’s a speck of humanity or conscience left in you, you’ll silently pray each night in that prison that nobody’s daughter ever meets a man who lies to her, that nobody’s daughter ever meets a man who hatches a plan to kill her, that nobody’s daughter ever meets a man who betrays her trust, that nobody’s daughter ever meets a man who points a gun to her head and pulls the trigger, and that nobody’s daughter ever meets a Tavaris Jackson.”
Economopoulos said that as a result of this case, it should be known that murderers in Delta County will be caught, brought to justice, and punished under the full weight of the law.
Click here to read about the closing statements made in Jackson’s two-week jury trial.
