No fingerprints on Jones murder weapon, expert says

There were no fingerprints or visible blood on the handle of the knife that was used to slash and stab Lee Jones to death in 1988, an FBI fingerprint specialist testified Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court.

Joseph Brown’s testimony supports prosecution contentions that the apparent murder weapon had been washed or wiped clean, allegedly by the victim’s husband, Jerry Bartlett Jones, 58.

Jones is on trial for first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Lee Jones, 41. She suffered more than 60 wounds while in the bathroom of their home near Mill Creek on Dec. 3, 1988.

Jones, who is acting as his own attorney, also scored some points with Brown.

The rough surface of the knife handle would be unlikely to provide identifiable fingerprints, Brown testified. He told jurors there’s no way to determine if fingerprints simply dried out naturally or if someone washed or wiped the handle.

Brown also described an accident he had in the FBI lab in Quantico, Va. The handle of the knife the jury has seen appears partly burned. That happened when the knife accidentally fell onto a burner, Brown testified.

“Is this an example of how the best law enforcement agency in the world can make a mistake?” Jones asked Brown.

“You could look at it that way. Yes,” he said.

Jones has already told the jury that people are taught to trust government and law enforcement. He implied that they sometimes make mistakes, including their focus on him for his wife’s killing.

In other testimony, Snohomish Country sheriff’s deputy Philip Sisk recounted an hour’s conversation with Jones the night of his wife’s murder. Sisk placed a bandage on a deep cut on Jones’ right hand near his little finger and tried to calm him down.

Jones, who was not then a suspect or under arrest, told Sisk that his wife had gone to take a bath and he heard her scream. He said he ran to her aid and encountered an intruder at the bathroom door.

He said he was knocked back, hit his head on something and became disoriented, Sisk said. Jones gave only a general description and didn’t identify an assailant.

Now Jones told the jury he intends to point the finger at a then 15-year-old classmate of one of his daughters.

This is the third trial for Jones, who won two appeals. He’s already served more than 12 years of a 25-year sentence. The trial is expected to continue another two weeks.

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.