A 14-year-old Little Rock boy charged as an adult with rape has been accused -- and acquitted -- of rape before, a Pulaski County circuit judge heard Tuesday.

But it was the results of DNA testing conducted during the investigation of that first allegation, made in 2012 by a 14-year-old girl, that allowed police to connect Jailon Jackson to a December rape reported by a 25-year-old woman at a mobile-home park at 11500 Chicot Road, Little Rock detective Jarred McCauley told Judge Herb Wright at a hearing on whether the teen should be tried in juvenile court.

The judge said he will decide the question of where the teen will be tried by the end of next week. The charge carries a potential life sentence.

The teen, who did not testify, has no criminal convictions and should be given an opportunity at rehabilitation in the juvenile justice system, defense attorney Brandy Turner told the judge. Juvenile court has specialized programs for treating teenage sex offenders, she said, and Jackson could be ordered to remain under court supervision until he turns 21.

"I just think there's a chance for him to be rehabilitated," Turner said. "He's a 14-year-old kid, and his life could be destroyed by this."

The teen was acquitted in August in juvenile court on the 2012 rape accusation, according to testimony from his former juvenile probation officer, Paul Porter, who said the presiding judge, Joyce Warren, did not find the girl's accusation credible. Details of the accusation were not immediately available.

On Tuesday, deputy prosecutor Michael Wright asked the judge to consider the severity of the attack on the woman, that she had reported being accosted by a man at gunpoint and that the teen had subsequently admitted having sex with her, though he said the encounter was consensual.

"It's clear Mr. Jackson is destroying other people's lives," Wright told the judge.

The teen's mother, 30-year-old Latoya Anntynette Jackson, promised the judge she would fully comply with any conditions set by the juvenile court if the case was transferred, including providing round-the-clock supervision for the teen. Pregnant with her fifth child, she acknowledged in her testimony that she made some mistakes while her son was awaiting adjudication of the 2012 case.

She said she was wrong to allow her son to spend two days with his father, whom court records show to be Leon D. Jackson, despite a court order requiring that anyone who supervised the teen be approved by his probation officer.

Leon Jackson told her he would not take the steps necessary for approval because he had an outstanding arrest warrant, she told the judge. Latoya Jackson testified she allowed her son to visit his father because she hoped that Leon Jackson could counsel the boy about complying with his juvenile-court requirements.

Latoya Jackson also said she was responsible for her and the boy missing a court date in the 2012 case, which resulted in an arrest warrant for her son. She said she had confused that date with an appointment for medical care for another child.

But she told the judge she had surrendered her son when she learned he had an arrest warrant. She testified she did not know why he would have a warrant.

Metro on 06/12/2014