Killer or innocent man? Inmate on death row for 20 years gets hearing on new evidence
CINCINNATI (WKRC) - He's been on death row for more than two decades, now lawyers for a convicted murderer say new evidence warrants a new trial to get him off death row.
Elwood Jones is in prison for beating a New Jersey woman to death. She was a guest at a hotel in Blue Ash. A witness now says someone else did the crime.
Even before his 1997 death sentence, Jones said he's innocent. He was convicted of murdering Rhoda Nathan in 1994.
Nathan was sharing a suite at the Blue Ash Embassy Suites, where Jones worked, with her best friend and another friend. They were all there for the best friend's grandson's bar mitzvah.
Jones' lawyer says there's new evidence that warrants a new trial. A woman who was at the Hamilton County Jail years ago came forward and said another man killed Nathan.
Another woman in the jail, Linda Reed, said her husband, Earl Reed, had confessed to doing the murder in the Embassy Suites and framing a black man for it. Both Linda and Earl are now dead, leaving only the statements of the woman who was in jail with Linda.
During the trial, police also said they found Nathan's pendant in Jones' car.
"I don't think the police and prosecutors were convinced by the pendant because even after they found this pendant, they didn't do anything to arrest or prosecute Elwood for more than a year," said defense lawyer Erin Barnhart.
Barnhart says prosecutors used what she calls "junk science" to convict Jones. Jones had an infected hand injury that prosecutors say he got hitting Nathan in the mouth.
"At the hospital, the doctor that examined him said it looked like what he called "a fight bite," which is a clenched fist injury. If somebody punches somebody and gets infected, you could have the same type of thing happen," she said.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters put out a statement saying, "Our office will oppose Elwood Jones' motion for a new trial. His motion is based on what the state will argue is inadmissible hearsay. The Blue Ash Police have no record of ever being contacted by the woman who claims to have new evidence. Jones was convicted on solid evidence and his conviction should stand."
Barnhart believes there's enough information to win a new trial.
"I really think there's a strong chance that if Elwood were tried with all the evidence that he should have had access to, this evidence about this confessor who confessed not only to the crime, but to framing him, that the police never investigated or interviewed, that he wouldn't be convicted today," she said.
A judge granted Jones a hearing based on the new evidence. Next week, both sides will be in court to pick a date for that hearing.
Jones has an execution date scheduled for April 2021.
Source: https://local12.com/news/local/killer-or-innocent-man-inmate-on-death-row-for-20-years-gets-hearing-on-new-evidence-cincinnati