Jones sentenced to life in prison without parole

ToWanda Jones tearfully asked a Lee County jury Monday morning not to sentence her only son to death.

By Monday evening, the 12-member jury decided to sentence Barry Lee Jones to life in prison without parole instead of death. The same jury on Friday found the 20-year-old Opelika man guilty of killing his 7-month-old son, Kevin Christopher Jones, nearly two years ago.

Circuit Court Judge Jacob A. Walker III could overturn the jury’s recommendation at a hearing on Jan. 8. and sentence Jones to die by lethal
injection.

Jones was indicted in January 2008, a month after Kevin died, on multiple charges related to the infant’s death and injuries to a then-3-year-old non-relative girl. However, last week’s trial focused solely on the charge of capital murder for the infant’s death.

The jury unanimously agreed the prosecution had met the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the capital offense was “heinous, atrocious and cruel,” as outlined in Alabama law. For a life or death sentence, Walker said the jury did not have to be unanimous. He did require a vote of at least 10 to 2 for death, but only a majority vote for life. After 20 minutes of deliberation, the jury voted 7 to 5 for life imprisonment over death.

In his closing arguments, defense attorney William Whatley of Montgomery urged the jury not to use revenge for Kevin as motivation in its deliberations.

“What would you accomplish by killing him?” he asked.

He asked the jury to set aside the emotions and consider the mitigating circumstances, such as Jones’ age, lack of a criminal record and his good behavior while incarcerated at the Lee County Detention Facility.

Lee County assistant district attorneys Robbie Treese and Kenny Gibbs advocated for the death penalty and urged the jury to hold Jones accountable for his actions.

“It doesn’t get any more serious than this,” Gibbs said.

The defense called eight witnesses during Monday’s hearing. Family members like Jones’ cousin, Fernando Hamilton, briefly talked about his adolescence when his slightly older cousin, Jones, lived with him and his family because of issues at home. The defendant’s sister, Brittany Jones, recalled how their home environment changed when their mother remarried and three step-siblings moved in.

“Let’s just say it wasn’t the Brady Bunch on TV,” said LaTonya Piner, Jones’ aunt.

Brittany Jones indicated that she and the rest of the family endured the tough times. She will graduate from high school in May and aspires to go to college at Columbus State University or Auburn University to study psychology.

Her older brother only finished the eighth grade.

Dr. Peter Lusche, a psychiatrist at East Alabama Medical Center, said Jones had a brief stay at the psychiatric unit when he was 15 years old after an argument with his mother resulted in the young man making a suicidal threat and causing a superficial wound on his neck with a butcher knife. Lusche said he classified Jones as suffering from “disruptive behavior disorder,” but he was unable to get a more accurate diagnosis since he was only under his care for three days.

ToWanda Jones said her son always struggled in school, but she refused his admission to mental retardation classes in the third grade. Whatley said his difficulties in school could have been the result of a learning disability that was never treated.

The prosecution called one witness Monday. Dr. John McFarland, the emergency room physician at EAMC, recounted how baby Kevin must have struggled to breathe in his last moments of life, having suffered multiple rib fractures and a collapsed lung from “multiple” blows.

“It’s very painful every time a breath is taken,” the veteran emergency room doctor said.

During the trial, the prosecution called numerous people to the stand through nearly two days of testimony. The defense had two witnesses.