A former Bothell man who maintains he has twice been wrongfully convicted of his wife’s 1988 murder on Wednesday got the chance to confront the person he insists wielded the knife.
Jerry Bartlett Jones, 58, acted as his own attorney in questioning a former neighbor whom he has accused for 16 years in the stabbing death of Lee Jones, 41.
The man is now 32 and living in Everett. When Lee Jones died, he was 15, a shaggy-haired Cascade High School student who got around on a bicycle and seemed to delight in thumbing his nose at authority, a Snohomish County Superior Court jury was told.
The Herald is not using the man’s name because he has never been charged in connection with the killing. Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Ron Doersch called him as a witness, and he promptly and repeatedly denied any involvement in Lee Jones’ killing.
The man had the same answer when Jerry Jones posed the questions.
Did you sneak into the home using a stolen key?
He did not.
“Did you slip up behind Lee in the bathroom of our house and stab her repeatedly?” Jones asked.
“No,” the man said.
Although the man repeatedly said Jones had it wrong, the defendant continued asking questions that zeroed in on his theory of the case. Jones maintains the man has long been volatile and was sexually interested in Lee Jones and her then-teenage daughters. Jerry Jones has said the killing came after he banished the man from his home.
Under questioning, Jones got the man to acknowledge that when he was younger, he sometimes got so angry he would black out and forget what he’d done. Jones asked if that is what happened the night Lee Jones was killed.
“Absolutely impossible,” the man said.
Jurors were told the man, as an adult, has been convicted of several thefts and criminal trespassing incidents. They also heard about his repeated brushes with the law in domestic violence cases involving young women.
Under questioning by Doersch, the man admitted he has at times assaulted and threatened to kill former girlfriends. One of those cases resulted in a felony conviction.
Late Wednesday, Jones began a more exhaustive examination of the man’s domestic violence record. The man clearly didn’t enjoy the grilling, snapping some answers and rarely raising his eyes to look at Jones.
Judge James Allendoerfer told the man to return to court this morning for further questioning.
This is the third trial for Jones. Twice, appellate courts have sent the case back for new trials and more evidence about the former neighbor.
Jones maintains an intruder entered his home near Mill Creek and killed his wife. He has told jurors that he ran into the man and was cut on the palm of his hand by the assailant.
Prosecution witnesses have said the wound on Jones’ hand is consistent with his fingers slipping from the blood-slick handle of a knife. Jurors also heard testimony that someone went into a shower in another bathroom of Jones’ house and washed fingerprints and blood from the fillet knife that had been used to stab Lee Jones more than 60 times.
That is the same bathroom in which Jerry Jones has acknowledged taking a shower, fully clothed, before calling 911 to report the attack.
Reporter Scott North: 425-339-3431 or north@heraldnet.com.
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