The Latest: Death sentence for father who killed his 5 kids
Source: Associated Press
Updated 2:26 pm CDT, Thursday, June 13, 2019
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) The Latest on a death penalty trial for a South Carolina father (all times local):
3:10 p.m.
A jury says a South Carolina father should be executed for killing his five children.
The jury unanimously agreed on the death penalty Thursday for 37-year-old Timothy Jones Jr. in the slayings of his children, ages 1 to 8, in their Lexington home in August 2014.
Jones admitted he exercised 6-year-old Nahtahn until he collapsed and died, then several hours later decided to kill the other four children.
Jones confessed he strangled 8-year-old Merah and 7-year-old Elias with his hands and used a belt to choke 2-year-old Gabriel and 1-year-old Abigail because his hands were too big.
Jones drove around with the bodies for nine days before dumping them in five trash bags in Alabama.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/The-Latest-Jury-begins-deliberating-life-or-13987468.php#photo-17673214
Dad sentenced to death for murdering his five children Jacob GeanousThursday 13 Jun 2019 8:52 pm
Timothy Jones Jr was sentenced to death on Thursday for killing his five children (Picture: AP)
A jury sentenced Timothy Jones Jr, 37, to be executed after deliberating for less than two hours to determine whether he would die or live the rest of his life in jail.
Timothy Jones Jr, 37, strangled four of his children, Merah, 8, Elias, 7, Gabriel, 2, and Elaine, 1, and after forcing his 6-year-old son Nahtahn to exercise until he died as punishment for breaking an electrical outlet in August 2014 in Lexington, South Carolina.
Jones was found guilty of killing his children on June 4 after pleading guilty by means of insanity.
During the sentencing portion of his trial, the jury heard from defense lawyers and witnesses attempting to assert that Jones was just a victim of mental illness who snapped.
. . .
Witnesses gave harrowing testimony about his mothers schizophrenia and three generations of rapes, molestation by relatives, violence, drugs, voodoo rituals, prostitution, and fights in Jones family.
Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/06/13/dad-murdered-five-kids-sentenced-death-9949705/?ico=pushly-notifcation-small&utm_source=pushly?ito=cbshare
cstanleytech
(26,080 posts)More_Cowbell
(2,190 posts)They had the choice of finding him guilty, not guilty, not guilty by reason of insanity, or guilty but mentally ill.
This is a better story. He killed one child and then had hours before deciding to kill the rest.
https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article231114078.html
cstanleytech
(26,080 posts)More_Cowbell
(2,190 posts)BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)Leaving out the critical word, Not guilty. Sheesh!
CatMor
(6,212 posts)but in this case it doesn't bother me. He is one evil person.
Normally, Im against the death penalty.....but in this case, I find that it does not bother me.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)If your opposition depends on the circumstance then you tacitly support it.
Paladin
(28,204 posts)USALiberal
(10,877 posts)EX500rider
(10,532 posts)in2herbs
(2,942 posts)ADX
(1,622 posts)...Abolish the death penalty...
He's probably crying with joy that his life will end prematurely. Life with that guilt on his head is a harsher sentence.
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)guilt.
maxsolomon
(32,992 posts)Why does he have tattoos of this children on his back now?
Why do so many kill themselves in prison if they're not experiencing guilt/remorse/regret?
Merle Haggard on the topic:
The jury found the verdict first degree
They swore i planned her death to be
I prayed they sentence me to die
But they wanted me to live and i know why
So i do life in prison for the wrongs i've done
And i pray every night for death to come
My life will be a burden every day
If i could die my pain might go away
Insane with rage i took my darling's life
Because i loved her more than life
My dreams for her will last a long long time
But i'd rather die than live to lose my mind
But i've got life in prison for the wrongs i've done
And i pray every night for death to come
My life will be a burden every day
If i could die my pain might go away
If i could die my pain might go away
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)Last edited Mon Jun 17, 2019, 01:19 PM - Edit history (1)
even with a ligature. I dont want to be graphic as to what youd have to be able to block out or enjoy to not stop from completing the act.
I am opining that he is a sociopath. Haggards song is about a more spontaneous crime of passion Insane with rage is the key as is my darling. As with most of the oldie, rather sexist, country Western songs, the woman has cheated, incurring his utter wrath.
It could be, however, that this murderer had a neuro-biological disorder, was hallucinating, paranoid. Although his insanity plea was rejected, legal insanity is not working with the same
criteria as psychiatry does.
Tattoos of his children, the most seemingly loving behavior towards ones children and wife, do not preclude brutally murdering them because they stand in the way, in the murderers mind, of something the murderer desires. Such was the case with Chris Watts and Susan Smith. They had fallen in love. Up to that time they doted on their children.
If he was mentally ill, could be he will feel remorse.
Susan Smith, who meets the criteria for sociopath, did say she missed her children and hoped she and hubby could get together and have more. She liked being a mother.
MosheFeingold
(3,051 posts)I was a cop many, many years ago (first an MP, then a NYC cop).
Dealt with a handful of strangulations and attempted strangulations/hangings.
It's extremely personal, takes a lot longer than you think to kill someone (or kill yourself -- retrieved a guy who had hung himself (not very well) and revived him -- had been hanging for a solid 1/2 hour, allegedly).
It's a sign of extreme hate and anger, usually.
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)often, sometimes daily, risking ones life and sanity.
Your point about the extreme hate and anger well applies to the case at hand I would think.
marble falls
(56,359 posts)Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)demigoddess
(6,640 posts)sorry but death is the thing I vote for. Even if you believe it lets him out of his misery. He might enjoy not dying and living a good life in prison. Now, if you were to give him a life in solitary confinement with only one meal a day, I might change my mind.
tenderfoot
(8,424 posts)A good life in prison... it's a wonder more don't commit crimes.
maxsolomon
(32,992 posts)"Land of the Free"
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)ADX
(1,622 posts)...but when it comes to the death penalty, you're either for or against it and I'm against it, period.
As for sentencing someone to "a life in solitary confinement with only one meal a day", the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution expressly forbids "cruel and unusual punishment" so unless you're in favor of repealing that Amendment and/or an advocate for torture, you might want to rethink that statement...
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)Either you're for it or against it. You don't get to say "The death penalty is bullshit!" when it comes to controversial cases like Troy Davis's or Cameron Todd Willingham's then turn around and say "I support the death penalty because he killed kids".
MosheFeingold
(3,051 posts)I'm more of a only-in-the-extremist-of-extreme situations death penalty camp. But I've vacillated between being a pure "never" before.
I see both sides. It irks me to pay for these guys' food, I hate them so bad.
It's a hard call, and I respect people on both sides of the issue.
Reminds me of what Alan Dershowitz said about Hitler -- he'd defend him and try to get him off, in defense of the rule of law.
And if he somehow got him off, he'd kill Hitler himself, with his own hands, and then go pay the piper.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)Being exonerated with the help of the Innocence Project as well as following the saga of the West Memphis 3. Thats when made me a pure opponent of the death penalty.
The idea that somewhere in America is someone sitting on death row who is innocent being tortured by the thought that they will be murdered by the state for something they didnt do is far more maddening to me than paying for some scumbag to get 3 hots and a cot for the next 50 years.
demigoddess
(6,640 posts)unarmed child??????? You get different penalties for killing on purpose and accidental death. Serial killers who may killer fellow inmates should not get the death penalty or special confinement??? Sometimes we have to protect the people of the country, especially children. Death penalty for someone who is likely to kill again is okay by me. But then I am a big reader of history so I am less hopeful.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)Regardless of who the victim is.
demigoddess
(6,640 posts)or the killing on film. If we were totally sure that the person did it. Especially the killing of a child.
oldsoftie
(12,410 posts)Turin_C3PO
(13,650 posts)Bayard
(21,806 posts)How bad did the ex wife have to be for this maniac to have gotten custody of 5 young kids?
He strangled two babies with a belt, because his hands were too big for him to strangle them like he did the other two. I say, fry him. He wouldn't last long in prison anyway.
csziggy
(34,120 posts)She may have felt guilt since she had an affair which caused the divorce, but this article is not clear on that.
She testified she fell in love with Jones because he was smart, accomplished and appeared to have his life together. But she said after they married, he became rigid in his religion and demanding on her.
Women are to be seen and not heard. I was merely to take care of the children. To keep them out of his way, Kyzer said.
After they divorced, Kyzer allowed her husband custody of the children because he had a job that paid $80,000 as a computer engineer, and a car. She would get a ride to the Chick-After fil-A in Lexington to see them every Saturday under Jones watchful gaze.
<SNIP>
Jones lawyers said in their opening statement Jones mother has been in a mental institution for 20 years and he had undiagnosed schizophrenia. Then Jones thin grasp on reality broken by his ex-wifes infidelity, the difficulty of raising five young children on his own and a feeling he was failing to live up to his religious beliefs.
More: https://apnews.com/0022600b91cd47edb74f1ac5df54c199
Aristus
(66,096 posts)He should live the rest of his natural life with the guilt, the shame, and the horror.
One reason I oppose the death penalty is that it's an easy out for the convict. I wouldn't want to stay locked up for however many decades I have left.
I can't help thinking about those poor innocent children...
Lady_Chat
(561 posts)Time for that, would have been after he killed the first child. Several hours later he did it again and again, in the most cruel and horrific manner. Then dumped them like they were garbage. He's had no problem living with what he did for the past 5 years. How can anyone still want to live knowing the terror he put his own children through? This guy can....he had his lawyers begging for mercy, to save his own miserable life. What a selfish, vicious , inhuman piece of excrement he is. He showed no mercy and glad he received none.
Amerigael
(10 posts)No one should ever receive the death penalty under purely circumstantial evidence, especially when they vehemently proclaim their innocence. But there's no chance this guy is innocent, and there doesn't appear to be any point to rehabilitation since he would never leave prison even if he weren't sentenced to death. Absent any other redeeming advent, I think he's gotta go.
BlueWI
(1,736 posts)but in this case, I am reserving my empathy for other situations. There is so much heartbreak here that no course of action is restorative in the short term. There will be other cases where the death penalty is a clear miscarriage of justice. In this case, I don't think it diminishes the state to choose execution. I don't know if there is a path to greater justice for this tragedy, no matter what we collectively choose.
Judi Lynn
(160,219 posts)From the Metro in the U.K.:
Timothy Jones Sr said he feared his son was losing his mind. Jones Sr got tattoos of his five dead grandchildren, which he was asked to show the court (Picture: ABC)
~ ~ ~
According to investigators, Jones stated that he believed the children were
going to kill him, chop him up and feed him to the dogs. Pictured is his
son Elias (Picture: KTLA)
Jones strangled Gabriel with a belt because his
hands were too big to choke him properly
(Picture: KTLA)
Elaine was Jones youngest
child. (Picture: KTLA)
. . .
The drastic decline of Timothy Jones Jr who transformed from religious father with a good job to a physically abusive cultist was exactly what his father feared.
This is the Tim I was scared I would see one day. I mean, hes got some relatives, his mother, unfortunately theyre not right, you know
Its just bad DNA I guess. Hes sick, man, thats all there is to it, Tim Jones Sr said.
Tim Jones Sr later told the court that he thought his son was losing his mind. He summed up his sons relationships, religious choices, and the way he disciplined his children as a train wreck.
After the murders, authorities found handwritten notes in Jones car that seemed to detail ways to dispose of the evidence that read melt bodies! and saw bones to dust or small pieces.
Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/06/13/dad-murdered-five-kids-sentenced-death-9949705/?ico=pushly-notifcation-small&utm_source=pushly?ito=cbshare?ito=cbshare
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Initech
(99,915 posts)And I'm sure that stories like this are a dime a dozen. It's really sad to see someone decline from an upstanding citizen to a dangerous religious cultist. And it's scary to see that cult is destroying everything that it touches, including the White House. I feel like things are going to get worse before they get better.
MFM008
(19,782 posts)This reminds me of the Liszt murders.
He killed 5 members of his family.
Mother. Wife. 3 kids.
Religious nut.
PatrickforO
(14,516 posts)can't bring myself to be against it. If someone does something like this, they need to go.
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)pain survivors must bear. Maybe for them, his being off the planet would be easiest.