<\/p>\n
Houston County District Attorney Eric Edwards said he consented for Jessie James Askew Jr. to be released from his life sentence during an interview with The Telegraph on Friday, March, 13, 2026, in his office at the Houston County Superior Courthouse, 201 Perry Parkway in Perry, Ga.<\/p>\n
Jesse Fraga<\/p>\n
The Telegraph<\/p>\n
A father who was sentenced to life without parole is one step away from being released after a rare legal attempt by the Houston County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
This is the first time Houston County DA Eric Edwards has consented to modify someone\u2019s sentence who was originally prosecuted by a former district attorney. An order of release is now pending approval from a judge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t think of a case where I\u2019ve ever gone back afterward and thought, \u2018Yeah, I should have sought less time on that sentence,\u2019\u201d Edwards told The Telegraph Friday. \u201cYou know, it\u2019s extremely rare, extremely rare.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jessie James Askew Jr.<\/a> has served 28 years \u2013 more than half of his age \u2013 in prison, and is booked at Telfair State Prison, according to court records.<\/p>\n Askew was found guilty of an armed robbery where no one was injured in 1997 at Morrison\u2019s Fresh Cooking in Warner Robins. He also was convicted of three prior nonviolent felonies.<\/p>\n \u201cI would only tell people that crime doesn\u2019t pay and to stay away from the street life,\u201d Askew, 52, emailed The Telegraph on Feb. 9. \u201cI would warn them about the pain and destruction that follows their choices.\u201d<\/p>\n Georgia\u2019s recidivist statutes allow the maximum possible sentence besides death for repeat offenders. So Kelly Burke, the Houston County DA in 1998, recommended Askew face life in prison without the possibility of parole, and thus, die in prison.<\/p>\n Burke said he regrets the sentence, calling it \u201cunfair.\u201d Askew\u2019s co-defendant Fernando Jackson was found guilty of the same armed robbery, but only faced 10 years in prison and has been released because he pleaded guilty, whereas, Askew did not.<\/p>\n \u201cI overreacted. When Jessie demanded a jury trial, I punished him for doing that,\u201d Burke said on Jan. 29.<\/p>\n Since the 67-year-old resigned from being DA<\/a> to run for another office in 2010, Burke\u2019s advocated for Askew\u2019s release.<\/p>\n Askew requested a new trial in 1999, and again in 2014, then motioned to appeal his sentence in 2015, motioned to be resentenced in 2021 and motioned to appeal his sentence again that year. Burke testified as a witness<\/a> to reduce his sentence in 2023.<\/p>\n But Askew, who often represented himself in court, was denied by a judge and parole board each time, according to court records.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he\u2019s serving life without parole, the board has no authority to consider him,\u201d said Steve Hayes, director of communications for the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles.<\/p>\n Burke even helped propose Georgia House Bill 894<\/a>, or the Georgia Second Look Act, which reached the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee, but did not move further by March 6 \u2013 the deadline for a bill to pass out of its chamber to be considered in the legislative session.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s uncommon. It\u2019s the only (case) I\u2019ve ever heard of Mr. Burke having a regret on,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n Burke recently approached Edwards about altering Askew\u2019s sentence. Edwards also discussed Askew\u2019s legal options outside of court last week with his lawyers, Michael Admirand<\/a> and Kendell Long<\/a>, who work for the Southern Center for Human Rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n Admirand and Long confirmed they spoke with Edwards about Askew\u2019s case last week, but declined The Telegraph\u2019s request for an on-record interview.<\/p>\n Askew has exhausted all but one legal way to be released, according to Edwards.<\/p>\n \u201cWith someone who\u2019s exhausted all his appellate rights and habeas corpus rights and all those courts having found that it was a legal sentence and no errors were committed justifying a new trial, the only avenue I\u2019d know of would be consent from the prosecuting attorney, who is now me,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n He confirmed he signed a consent order that would modify Askew\u2019s life without parole sentence to the amount of time he\u2019s served in prison, resulting in his immediate release if signed by a judge.<\/p>\n Askew\u2019s fate rests with Houston County Superior Court Judge G.E. \u201cBo\u201d Adams, who will consider the order, Edwards said. Adams will consider it because he inherited the docket of the original sentencing judge George F. Nunn Jr. in 1997.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear when Adams will rule on the order.<\/p>\n Why district attorney wants man released<\/p>\n Edwards said he believes Askew should be released, even though he was sentenced to life without parole, because people guilty of more heinous charges seldom face such harsh sentences.<\/p>\n Askew\u2019s 28 years in prison amounts to three years more than the mandatory minimum sentence of an aggravated child molestation conviction, which is \u201ca pretty stiff sentence,\u201d Edwards said, as an example.<\/p>\n \u201cI always contextualize things based on crimes against children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Edwards also emphasized that nobody was injured in the 1997 armed robbery, and Askew\u2019s previous felony convictions were nonviolent.<\/p>\n Burke\u2019s contrition heavily impacted Edwards\u2019 decision to sign his consent for Askew\u2019s release.<\/p>\n \u201cWeighing all the issues and thinking about the overcrowding of our prison system in this state, I just felt that if the original prosecutor was of that mind that 28 years in prison was enough for a crime where no one was harmed, then I didn\u2019t have any reason to disagree with that,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n This story was originally published March 17, 2026 at 6:30 AM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston County District Attorney Eric Edwards said he consented for Jessie James Askew Jr. to be released from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[81718,56,81717,58,57,81715,81716,65953],"class_list":["post-208311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-eric-edwards","tag-houston","tag-houston-county-ga","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-jessie-askew","tag-jessie-james-askew-jr","tag-life-sentence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Framed photo of Jessie James Askew Jr. in his early 20s, wearing a jersey around 1996, a year before he committed an armed robbery in Warner Robins, Ga., then faced life in prison. Molly Askew <\/p>\n
![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/260129_KAT_KellyBurke_012.JPG\" "\\"260129_KAT_KellyBurke_012.JPG\\"")
Former Houston Judicial Circuit district attorney Kelly Burke speaks to The Telegraph from his office on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Byron, Georgia. Burke was advocating for state legislation that would shorten life sentences for people like Jessie James Askew Jr., who Burke prosecuted against in 1997. Katie Tucker The Telegraph \u2018Exhausted all his… rights\u2019<\/p>\n Realistic drawing of Jessie James Askew Jr.\u2019s appearance in 2026, according to his mother Molly Askew. Jessie Askew is incarcerated in Telfair State Prison in McRae-Helena, Ga. related to an armed robbery he committed in 1997. Molly Askew <\/p>\n
Jessie James Askew Jr. (center) smiles with his mother, father and daughter in 2020, while Askew was incarcerated at Telfair State Prison in McRae-Helena, Ga. Molly Askew <\/p>\n