A LaFayette man will spend nearly seven decades behind bars after setting his girlfriend on fire and then months later shooting a dog during a violent rampage against his new wife.

What’s happening: Jarvis Jackson, 43, was sentenced to 68 years in prison after being convicted of multiple violent felonies, including aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and kidnapping.

According to prosecutors, Jackson doused his longtime girlfriend with rubbing alcohol and set her on fire in early 2024. The victim, temporarily blinded from her injuries, managed to stagger to a neighbor’s home pleading for help while suffering severe facial injuries and extensive burns.

Just months later, after marrying a different woman, Jackson woke his new wife by spitting on her, shot her dog as it lay on its bed, and forced her into a vehicle at gunpoint, threatening to kill her and her adult son if police were called.

Between the lines: The victims showed remarkable courage, with the first victim testifying despite years of abuse, and the second reporting the crime despite explicit threats against her life.

The big picture: District Attorney Clayton M. Fuller used the sentencing to highlight his tough-on-crime approach, stating: “From Charlotte to Seattle, too many soft-on-crime prosecutors would send a defendant like this back onto the streets for fourteen more arrests. Not in Northwest Georgia.”

The sources: Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, LaFayette Police Department, Walker County Superior Court.

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B.T. Clark is the Publisher of The Georgia Sun and author of Principles Are Like Pants… You Ought to Have Some. Over two decades in journalism, he has served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc., earning multiple awards along the way. His work has appeared in newspapers across the state, including The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal.