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Former girlfriend describes assaults in Jackson trial

ESCANABA – Another former girlfriend of Tavaris Jackson testified Tuesday as the murder trial against him continued in the Delta County 47th Circuit Court.

The woman, who shares a child with Jackson, said she began dating him when she was 14 and that their relationship lasted, on and off, until a couple of weeks before Harley Corwin was found dead in July 2023. The witness described her relationship with Jackson as “very push and pull.”

She testified that when she was 14, Jackson threw a hot bowl of ramen noodles in her face after she confronted him about cheating. Although their relationship continued after that incident, she said there were additional instances of violence.

She also detailed another incident when she confronted Jackson about cheating later in the relationship.

“He was cheating on me, and I said something to him about it,” she said. “We got in a physical altercation, and he put me in a headlock. His parents were there.”

The woman said it was not the first time Jackson had put her in a headlock, and he would allegedly punch her in the thighs when he got mad.

The witness said she managed to escape the headlock and ran to her mother’s house. She testified that the incident marked the end of their consistent relationship.

She also told the court that she never filed police reports about the alleged abuse because she was scared.

The witness further testified about a 2014 conversation with Jackson in which guns were mentioned. The woman was pregnant with Jackson’s child at the time.

“I told him that I didn’t want to do something, and he told me that he had a gun and he wasn’t afraid to use it,” she said.

Also Tuesday, downstairs neighbors of a different former girlfriend of Jackson testified about an incident that occurred in the early morning hours of May 3, 2023. This former girlfriend has yet to testify.

The neighbors said they woke up to pounding on their door and screaming in the hallway. When they opened the door, one of them said they saw a man they identified as Jackson running out of the building.

The neighbors testified that the woman was crying and asked to use a phone to call 911. They also said her nose and lips were bleeding.

At the time, the former girlfriend stated Jackson had punched her in the face.

Photographs of the woman’s condition were also shown to the jury.

Jackson, 35, faces one count of open murder – a felony punishable by up to life in prison – in the death of his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Harley Corwin. Her body was discovered in July 2023 near O.B. Fuller Park in Ford River Township.

He also faces one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, a two-year felony, and one count of assault resulting in the death of a fetus, also punishable by up to life imprisonment.

Jackson remains lodged in the Delta County Jail.

Sophie Vogelmann can be reached at 906-786-2021 or svogelmann@dailypress.net.

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