Monday, Sept. 9th:
*Pretrial Hearing (to set trial date) (@ am CT) - TX - 5 victims (4 boys/1 girl from ages 3 mos to 2 yrs) (July 1981 to Jan. 1982, San Antonio) - *Genene Jones (68) - charged with 5 counts of murder. Plead not guilty. $1M bond for each case.
*indicted 10/25/17 for 7/3/81 death of Richard “Ricky” Nelson (8 mos). Case# 2017CR11745
*indicted 3/28/17 for 12/12/81 death of Joshua Sawyer (11 mos). #2017CR5730
*indicted 6/1/17 for 9/16/81 death of Rosemary Vegas (2 yrs). #2017CR6765
*indicted 6/26/17 for 9/24/81 death of Paul Villerreal (3 mos). #2017CR7191
*indicted 6/26/17 for 1/17/82 death of Patrick Zavala (4 mos). #2017CR7192
Jones - From 2015: convicted in 1985 of murder of Chelsea McClellan (15 mos old) & the attempted murder of another infant. Sentenced to 99 years in prison (plus 60 years for attempted murder). In 2013, CNN described the reason for Jones’ impending release as “an old Texas law designed to prevent prison overcrowding. The Mandatory Release law allows inmates convicted of violent crimes between 1977 and 1987 to be automatically released if their “good behavior” credit plus their time served equals their sentence. The law was changed in 1987 to exclude violent criminals, but it isn’t retroactive. 2018: after giving defense a deadline for a plea deal that would impose a sentence delaying her mandatory release until after her one-hundredth birthday. The Jan. 31 deadline passed without a response. Cox said consideration of any plea agreement was “just a little bit premature at this point.”
3/1/18 was extradited from Gatesville to Bexar County jail. 5/30/18: Under went Psych evaluation. 6/20/18: Awaiting Psych report. 7/19/18 Trial Update: Trial delayed, waiting for psych report.
2/14/19 Update: Hearing held - Magistrate Judge Andrew Carruthers announced Thursday (2/14/19) the finding of the mental evaluation of the 68-year-old inmate, who has been in prison since 1984. But Jones’ attorney, Cornelius Cox, challenged the competency finding & requested another evaluation, which Carruthers granted. Through Cox, Jones pleaded not guilty to each of the charges.
7/1/19 Update: Hearing to set trial date on 9/9.