GUILTY SC - Five Jones children, ages 1-8, Lexington County, 28 Aug 2014 *Father Arrested*

[MsFacetious]

 

[MsFacetious]

Tim Scott‏ @TimScottTV 1h1 hour ago
Judge Griffith sent the jury out of the courtroom to discuss among themselves whether they want to start deliberations tonight or tomorrow morning.

That's a good sign. It sounds like the jury made the decision themselves to begin deliberations tonight. It's very possible that they take a vote and agree he's guilty. Just need to decide whether he's guilty but mentally ill... so they go home to sleep on it after basically deciding.

 

[Hope4More]

1) The defense bringing in Jones’ religion during closing arguments was a big mistake for them I think. I’m pretty sure “Thou shalt not kill” takes precedent over some preacher’s call to beat your children till they love you.
2) I think the prosecution nailed it when they pointed out everything he did after Nahtahn died was about Tim Jones.
3) Tim Jones only wipes his eyes when defense Attys or defense witnesses are talking.
4) Unanswered question that the prosecution brought up briefly yesterday...Why did Elias say to his father “Daddy, take me with you” right before Jones killed him? I think Jones was already packing to get out of town.

I don't see any reason to believe Jones about what any of his children said or did not say, did or did not do before he killed them. Neither do we know what he said to any of them.

Even if Elias did say "take me with you," for example, it could have been in response to Jones not just thinking but ranting out loud- after he killed N- that he was screwed and was going to have to run.

If so, how would a little Elias possibly have interpreted all the unfathomables of that night, including the existential threat of a father who killed and who seemed on the verge of abandoning the rest of them?

And, similarly, if Mera actually told her father "I love you" just before he killed her, is it the slightest bit believable she said that as a spontaneous, voluntary expression of devotion to her father?

It's far more likely IMO that she said no such thing, but that if she did, it was out of complete bewilderment and fear, and perhaps even in part an instinctual understanding that his rage was connected to his babies still loving their mommy.

 

[Spellbound]

[URL="https://twitter.com/TimScottTV"]Tim Scott (@TimScottTV) | Twitter[/URL]
·
16m

Judge Griffith decides to send the jury home early tonight. They deliberated for about 90 minutes. They will continue deliberations around 9am tomorrow.

 

[MsFacetious]

Caroline Hecker‏Verified account @CHecker_WIS 32m32 minutes ago
BREAKING: After 1 hour and 45 minutes of deliberating, the jury has requested to go home. Deliberations continue Tuesday at 9a. @wis10

 

[YESorNO]

Jury deliberations begin in Timothy Jones Jr. trial

Jun 3, 2019

 

[Heaven Leigh]

Those sweet beautiful children.

 

[MsFacetious]

Who's the woman that sits behind Tim?

 

[YESorNO]

Timothy Jones Jr. trial | testimony in trial of man accused of killing his children.

June 3, 209

(judge's instructions to the jury starts @ approx 33:13)

 

[YESorNO]

In closing statement, prosecutor says Timothy Jones is an evil murderer (with clip)

JUNE 03, 2019

"LEXINGTON, S.C.
Is Timothy Ray Jones Jr. a cold-blooded murderer who brutally snuffed out the lives of his five children or is he truly insane?

Attorneys spent more than two hours Monday arguing both sides of the question before handing the case off to a Lexington County jury of 10 women and eight men.

During closing arguments, 11th Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard attacked the testimony of health experts who, he said, weren’t there to find the truth, but rather to put up a defense. Jones’ own actions after the 2014 killings – searching online for places to dump his children’s bodies and places to run – proves he knew right from wrong, Hubbard said, and he was driven by anger toward his ex-wife, Amber.

“He’s trying to make himself look mentally ill. He’s looking for schizophrenia. He’s looking to present that to you, and everybody, and maybe even himself,” Hubbard said.

Prosecutors are asking jurors to return guilty verdicts for the murder of all five children and to begin the next step of the trial – the penalty phase during which Jones could be sentenced to death.

But Jones’ defense attorney, Boyd Young, said Jones has a “damaged and diseased brain” that led him to believe his children were better off in heaven than leading a “tortured existence” like their father...."

In closing statement, prosecutor says Timothy Jones is an evil murderer
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Latest: Jurors to continue deliberating in dad's trial

June 3, 2019

"COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Latest on a death penalty trial for a South Carolina father (all times local):

7:05 p.m.

A jury in South Carolina has deliberated about 90 minutes without reaching a verdict in the trial of a father charged with five counts of murder in the deaths of his children.

The Lexington County jurors started discussing Timothy Jones Jr.'s fate Monday evening. They will be back to resume deliberations at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Jurors can find Jones guilty, guilty but mentally ill, not guilty by reason of insanity or just not guilty.

Any guilty verdict would mean a second phase to Jones' trial where the same jurors decide if he faces the death penalty.

A not guilty by reason of insanity verdict would require Jones to stay in a mental hospital until a judge rules he has regained his sanity...."

The Latest: Jurors to continue deliberating in dad's trial

 

[MsFacetious]

I don't want a not guilty by reason of insanity. I don't want that risk of him being released in a few years. I've seen it happen and it's devastating. I want one of the guilty verdicts. Please. I'm confident that is what will happen. I think the jury simply needs to decide if he was mentally ill or not.

 

[Hope4More]

I don't want a not guilty by reason of insanity. I don't want that risk of him being released in a few years. I've seen it happen and it's devastating. I want one of the guilty verdicts. Please. I'm confident that is what will happen. I think the jury simply needs to decide if he was mentally ill or not.

I'd guess (and hope) that the jury's decision will come down to whether or not they believe he was mentally ill enough at the time that he had no control over killing his babies, even though he knew it was legally & morally wrong.

If that's where they land up, they'll have to believe he wasn't schizophrenic, but was/is pretty severely mentally ill.

Drug-induced psychosis, triggering/causing temporary paranoia? But that's not a mental illness, nor a defense, nor particularly supported by the factual record.

Were his "religious beliefs" a symptom of mental illness, or so deeply entrenched that he couldn't stop himself from "sending (his babies) to heaven," hours after he couldn't stop himself from punishing his 6 year old son to death?

What other "mental illnesses" could they plausibly even consider in order to find him less than fully culpable?

(I also hope they were & remain shocked to their core listening to Jones matter of factly tell the FBI that he knew it was wrong to drive the stacked bodies of his babies around for days, to carelessly shove their dead bodies around, and to dump them like trash, but "they were already dead, so f-uck it."

Those words cut right through the purposeful fog of any & all the defenses presented, IMO).

 

[YESorNO]

Live:

Tim Scott‏ @TimScottTV 1h1 hour ago
Back at the Lexington County Courthouse for Day 15 of the Timothy Jones Jr. murder trial.

Last night, the jury deliberated for 90 minutes before being sent home. They are expected to continue around 9 a.m.



Caroline Hecker‏Verified account @CHecker_WIS 27m27 minutes ago
Deliberations are underway in the Timothy Jones Jr. trial. Remember, the jury deliberated for about an hour and 45 min yesterday before going home. @wis10



Courtney King‏ @CourtReportKing 22m22 minutes ago
Back at the Lexington County Courthouse today as deliberations are underway in the #TimothyJonesTrial. We will update you as soon as the jury reaches a verdict #TimothyJones @wachfox

 

[YESorNO]

Tim Scott‏ @TimScottTV 1h1 hour ago
Here's a look inside the courtroom during yesterday's closing statements. Before the jury began deliberating, they listened to two, one-hour statements from both the prosecution and defense. Tim Jones Sr. (who testified last week) was on hand.

 

[YESorNO]

Tim Scott‏ @TimScottTV 42m42 minutes ago
Jury began deliberations this morning at 9 a.m.

Including the 90 minutes of discussion yesterday, they have eclipsed the two-hour mark.



Tim Scott‏ @TimScottTV 14m14 minutes ago
Deliberations have gone on for 2.5 hours since yesterday. Here's a reminder of the four options the jury has.
*Guilty
*Guilty but mentally ill
*Not guilty by reason of insanity
*Not guilty

Being found guilty/guilty but mentally ill would result in a second phase of the trial.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

For most of the trial I kept wondering why the prosecution wasn’t calling any psychologists or psychiatrists. They were very effective in cross examination though.
Now I realize that with each expert the defense called, the prosecution was letting out a little more rope for the defense to hang itself, knowing that they, the prosecution, had the nuclear bomb in it’s arsenal...Dr Cruz’s testing.
The bomb was armed when Dr Cruz said Jones failed the “lie” test. That bomb was released from the plane when she said the testing indicated that Jones was not a reliable “historian” of events surrounding the crime. That bomb was successfully detonated when Dr Cruz interrupted the defense atty who was cross examining her by reading meaningless computer data summaries. Dr Cruz basically said......Yes all that is right...but I want to make sure the jury understands...that data and those summaries are based on Mr Jone’s answers and that the validity tests indicated those answers were exaggerated not to be relied on.
Boom.

 

[YESorNO]

Caroline Hecker‏Verified account @CHecker_WIS 3m3 minutes ago
We’re now over the three hour mark of deliberations in the Timothy Jones Jr. case. @wis10


Tim Scott‏ @TimScottTV 15m15 minutes ago
Including the 90 minutes from yesterday, we have crossed the three-hour mark in jury deliberations.

 

[Hope4More]

For most of the trial I kept wondering why the prosecution wasn’t calling any psychologists or psychiatrists. They were very effective in cross examination though.
Now I realize that with each expert the defense called, the prosecution was letting out a little more rope for the defense to hang itself, knowing that they, the prosecution, had the nuclear bomb in it’s arsenal...Dr Cruz’s testing.
The bomb was armed when Dr Cruz said Jones failed the “lie” test. That bomb was released from the plane when she said the testing indicated that Jones was not a reliable “historian” of events surrounding the crime. That bomb was successfully detonated when Dr Cruz interrupted the defense atty who was cross examining her by reading meaningless computer data summaries. Dr Cruz basically said......Yes all that is right...but I want to make sure the jury understands...that data and those summaries are based on Mr Jone’s answers and that the validity tests indicated those answers were exaggerated not to be relied on.
Boom.

Also.....

The credibility of multiple defense expert psych witnesses likely took a significant hit when Cruz pointed out the obvious: neuro-pysch test results are meaningless if a demonstrably very intelligent peep is so (overly) medicated his IQ scores are in the 1st percentile.

Out goes the defense's only objective, scientific measure of Jones' alleged incapacitation. A foundation of sand.

 

[YESorNO]

Tim Scott‏ @TimScottTV 6m6 minutes ago
We have crossed the four-hour mark in jury deliberations.

 

[Kavya01]

Thinking constantly of the mom and the five children and the jury. I am so oddly emotional, weepy even, crazy. Oh well. But this:

I don't want a not guilty by reason of insanity. I don't want that risk of him being released in a few years. I've seen it happen and it's devastating. I want one of the guilty verdicts. Please. I'm confident that is what will happen. I think the jury simply needs to decide if he was mentally ill or not.

This is what I have been dreading all along too and hope to everything that's worth believing in that he will be kept behind bars until his last breath. Nervous day.