Knoxville man must serve 26 years in prison for child sex crimes [Video]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A former East Tennessee police officer was ordered Friday to spend 26 years in prison without parole for sexual assaults on a girl.

Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword imposed sentence against Cassen Jackson-Garrison, 39. A jury convicted him of multiple sex crimes including rape and sexual battery by an authority figure at a retrial in January.

Jackson-Garrison formerly and briefly was a probationary Knoxville Police Department officer and briefly was an Oak Ridge police officer. Authorities said he groomed and raped a young teen Knoxville girl in 2021.

Jackson-Garrison also played football at Vanderbilt University.

Jurors deadlocked on most counts against him in the first trial last summer. In January, a new panel heard the case again in Sword’s court.

Under the judge’s sentence, Jackson-Garrison can’t get out of prison until he’s in his 60s.