Jerry Bartlett Jones twice tried to convince juries that his daughter’s teenage classmate stabbed his wife to death in December 1988.
Each time the jury determined beyond a reasonable doubt that Jones was guilty of first-degree murder for stabbing Lee Jones, 41, dozens of times in the shower of their Mays Pond home, south of what is now Mill Creek.
Herald file photo
And twice, appellate courts have sent the case back to Snohomish County Superior Court for another trial and inclusion of additional evidence about the then-15-year-old classmate.
Jones’ third trial started Monday with the start of jury selection in Judge James Allendoerfer’s courtroom. The trial is expected to continue for about three weeks.
Unlike the earlier trials, Jones will not have a lawyer representing him.
He has chosen to act as his own lawyer, saying he knows the case better than anyone, and he’s in the best position to make his arguments to the new jury.
“I just want to see it done right,” he said in a recent interview. “I want to see all the evidence in the case come in.”
Jones’ case has attracted national attention. CBS News will tape the trial for its newsmagazine “48 Hours.”
Jones, 58, is a former pharmaceutical salesman who has spent all but about three years behind bars since his arrest in 1988. With time off for good behavior, he has only about three years of his sentence left to serve.
It would be nice for him to clear his name, he said, but he also insists the real reason for his perseverance is to have authorities take a closer look at the man he said is the real killer.
“What I’m fighting for is the only way they’re going to look at (the classmate) seriously is for me to be found not guilty,” Jones said.
Over the past five months, Jones said he’s gained a real appreciation for the work defense lawyers do preparing for a big case.
Out of jail pending the trial, he said he wakes early and pores over witness statements and police reports until early in the morning, seven days a week.
He’s hopeful.
“I wouldn’t be doing this if I thought otherwise,” Jones said.
An Alabama native, Jones was in the Air Force in Vietnam when he met his wife. He said it was love at first sight. They were married in Vietnam, and she joined him later when he returned to the United States and he was based in Washington.
Prosecutors have a far different view of the case.
Veteran deputy prosecutor Ron Doersch will be presenting the evidence for the third time in Lee Jones’ death. While Jones blames the teenage classmate, Doersch has argued that the evidence points directly at the defendant.
Doersch alleges that the couple’s then 4-year-old son was in the home and heard his mother’s screams for help. He went to the bathroom, saw his mortally wounded mother and heard her cries for him to call 911.
Doersch alleges that Jones was unable to keep his son away from the bathroom and finally carried him to a next-door neighbor’s home. While Jones said cuts on his right hand came from him scuffling with the assailant, Doersch maintains Jones cut himself while stabbing Lee Jones.
“He himself was essentially soaked in blood and water when police and aid crews arrived, due in part to his efforts to rinse off his wife’s blood,” Doersch said in court papers.
A side garage door was found partly open, despite Lee Jones’ habit of locking up the residence at night, Doersch said.
“The state maintains that the defendant opened this door as part of his plan to murder his wife and cast the blame on an intruder.”
Jones told different versions of what happened in his attempts to blame the daughter’s classmate, Doersch alleges.
“To the defendant’s good fortune (the classmate’s) behavior deteriorated over the years,” Doersch said in court papers. The former classmate has numerous incidents and convictions involving domestic violence with several women, Doersch said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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