Posted on 03/17/2005 1:43:50 PM PST by ambrose
3rd trial opens for man accused of wife's murder
By Jennifer Sullivan
Times Snohomish County Bureau
EVERETT — Twice, Jerry Jones has sat at the defense table, offering suggestions to attorneys hired to prove he's innocent of murdering his wife. Twice, he was convicted. Twice, those convictions were reversed on appeal.
Yesterday, more than 16 years after his wife, Lee, was stabbed 63 times, Jerry Jones approached a Snohomish County Superior Court jury. Jones, who is being allowed to act as his own attorney during his third first-degree murder trial, gave the jury his explanation about what happened the night of Dec. 3, 1988.
With the eldest of his three children, daughter Kim, by his side and a public defender sitting behind him, Jones listened to deputy prosecutor Ron Doersch's opening statement. When it was his turn to address the jury, the former pharmaceutical salesman quietly apologized for his nervousness.
Jones, 58, who already has served more than a decade behind bars, proclaimed his innocence and his devotion to his wife. He said the couple met while he was stationed in Vietnam with the Air Force, and she then immigrated to the U.S. After they married, they sometimes argued, but on the night of the slaying, Jones said, they danced in their bedroom before an intruder sneaked into their Bothell house.
"The prosecutor will ask you to believe I followed the woman I loved into the bathroom and stabbed her more than 60 times," Jones sobbed. "She was prematurely taken from us. It was an intruder who did this."
Jones said a teenage neighbor had a motive to kill Lee Jones. The boy, 15 at the time, was angry at Lee Jones because she forbade him from dating the couple's daughter.
Last fall, the state Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge in Jones' second trial erred because he did not allow defense attorneys to present adequate evidence against the former neighbor.
In 1998, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that Jones' first attorney failed to investigate this alleged suspect adequately. The judge ruled that Jones be released from prison. In March 2000, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling.
When asked outside of court about charging Jones with murder a third time, Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Mark Roe referred to Lee Jones' stab wounds and said, "There are 63 reasons we're retrying the case."
"Twenty-four jurors have already unanimously agreed," Roe said. "Now Mr. Doersch will do his best to convince 12 more."
Jennifer Sullivan: 425-783-0604 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com
And you can bet with absolute certaintly that mega-pedophile Michael Jackson will certainly also walk free, having also paid $10 million in layer fees.
Middle class murderers who pay $50 thousand to the lawyers like Jerry Jones and Scott Pederson get convicted.
What was the evidence to find Blake guilty of murder? Was it the two star witnesses for the state who are known to be drug addicts and mental patients?
The news media made it look like he was guilty. Isn't that enough? I mean, it isn't like the news media ever lies or stretches the truth for ratings...
I haven't read all the background on this case, but from what little I read here, I'm not persuaded he is guilty.
I have little confidence in the professionalism of the Seattle police department.
SPD may not be too competent, but from what I've seen (as a non-criminal), Bothell PD isn't so bad. In fact, they seem to be on the ball, to me.
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