A Bessemer man has pleaded guilty in the shooting death of another man who was found dead outside the Midfield Police Department in 2018.

Horace Earl Jackson, 39, was booked into the Jefferson County Jail Tuesday to await transfer to the Alabama Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to robbery and murder in the killing of 38-year-old Jeremy Davis.

Court records show Jackson entered his guilty plea in January. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Thomas Thrash sentenced Jackson to 20 years in prison with five years to serve in each case. The sentences will be served consecutively.

Jackson’s wife at the time of slaying, 31-year-old Courtney Danielle Carson Jackson, is set to go to trial on the same charges in May.

Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies were called to the Midfield Police Department shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 13, 2018, on a report of a dead person in a car in the parking lot, sheriff’s officials said.

They arrived at 7:41 p.m. to find Davis in the passenger seat. He was pronounced dead at 7:44 p.m.

In previous testimony, a sheriff’s sergeant said Davis, also known as “JD,” was found slumped over in a vehicle. The driver of the car was not harmed and was talking to police.

There were bullet holes in the passenger door of the car, and there was blood down the side of the door.

Investigators learned the shooting took place in the 5300 block of Salina Avenue, near McCalla.

One witness told authorities he had been in the car with Jackson and another man looking for Davis. He said they intended to kill Davis if they found him, because Jackson believed Davis had broken into his home.

Jackson was armed with an AR-15 rifle.

The witness told detectives the group didn’t find Davis and went back to Jackson’s home. He left the scene shortly after, and did not witness the shooting.

A woman told investigators she was at Jackson’s home when the shooting happened, but she didn’t actually see the gunfire. She said Jackson’s wife, Courtney, gave her a handgun that she had taken from another man’s car and directed the witness to sell it.

The witness did, but police recovered that gun.

The man who drove Davis’ body to the Midfield police station also talked to police. He said earlier that day, he went to Davis’ home to buy marijuana, and the two men smoked in his car. He said Davis got a phone call, and said he needed a ride to a nearby house.

The man said they went to the Salina Avenue home, and that a man wearing a ski mask and armed with an AR-15 started arguing with Davis and ordered both men out of the car.

He said the masked man shot Davis and robbed him of a cell phone and wallet.

Authorities said the witness put Davis’ body in the car and drove off.

He felt like someone was following him and, believing Davis was dead, headed to the police station.

He passed a hospital and another police station on the way to Midfield but said he felt safer going to the Midfield Police Department because it was on a main road.

Another man who said he was at the scene when Davis was killed reported he was with Jackson that afternoon when Jackson thought his home had been broken into.

He said Jackson talked to several people, and developed information that Davis was the culprit. Jackson called Davis, and later Davis showed up with another man.

The witness testified in that earlier hearing that Davis exited the car while arguing with Jackson, and that Davis pulled a gun on Jackson.

Jackson was able to disarm Davis and pulled his own gun out.

During the incident, the man said, Courtney Jackson pulled the second man out of the car and ordered him to the ground, taking his gun as well.

The man said at some point during the argument, Jackson picked up his AR-15 and fired at Davis several times, while Davis begged for his life.