Global Courant
PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona death row inmate whose convictions and death sentence for the 1994 death of a 4-year-old were thrown out was released from prison Thursday.
Barry Lee Jones had spent 29 years behind bars for murder, child molestation and sexual assault in the death of his girlfriend’s daughter. A Pima County judge ordered Jones’s release after approving a deal between his defense team and prosecutors, who said a renewed medical examination of the case did not support the finding that Jones caused the girl’s injury. Jones pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of murder.
In early May 1994, Jones took the child and her mother to a hospital in Tucson, where the child was pronounced dead on arrival. Her death was determined to have been caused by a tear in the small intestine resulting from “blunt abdominal trauma.”
Authorities had previously alleged Jones beat and sexually assaulted the girl.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office, which agreed that the first-degree murder conviction should be dismissed, said the evidence still supported a second-degree murder conviction because Jones, who was facing trial at the time, child, had let her die. as a result of her injuries.
A federal judge called for Jones’s release in a July 2018 ruling, concluding that Jones’ previous attorney had not adequately investigated whether the girl’s injuries had been sustained during the time she was alone with Jones.
Experts had testified that the child may have been injured before. The judge’s ruling was upheld by an appeals court, although Jones remained in jail.
But the US Supreme Court reversed the decision a year agowith Judge Clarence Thomas saying that federal courts are generally not allowed to accept new evidence of ineffective assistance from counsel who could assist inmates.
While Jones is still behind bars, his lawyers made a deal with prosecutors for his release.
Under the agreement, after his convictions and death sentence were dismissed, Jones pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge related to his failure to seek medical care for the girl. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and will receive credit for time served.
“Mr. Jones spent nearly three decades on Arizona’s death row despite compelling evidence that he was innocent of charges that he fatally assaulted the girl,” said Cary Sandman, Jones’ attorney, who said his client did not sexually abused.
Now that Jones has been sentenced to death, Arizona has 110 people on death row.
