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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Thu Jun 13, 2019, 04:36 PM Jun 2019

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 mother’s 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


47 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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The Latest: Death sentence for father who killed his 5 kids (Original Post) Judi Lynn Jun 2019 OP
So, the state accepted a guilty but insane plea and they are still going to execute him? cstanleytech Jun 2019 #1
He pled not guilty by reason of insanity, but the jury didn't believe him More_Cowbell Jun 2019 #7
Oh, ok thanks for clearing it up for me. cstanleytech Jun 2019 #10
Yeah the original story wasn't clear, which is why I went looking! nt More_Cowbell Jun 2019 #15
Seems a lot of journalists have an editing problem. BlancheSplanchnik Jun 2019 #40
I am against the death penalty ..... CatMor Jun 2019 #2
I agree cabot Jun 2019 #25
Then you're not really against the death penalty Jake Stern Jun 2019 #30
Good. The world will benefit from his absence. (nt) Paladin Jun 2019 #3
So you love China and their DPs also! Great! nt USALiberal Jun 2019 #20
If China is only killing mass murderers......but somehow I doubt that. nt EX500rider Jun 2019 #45
Give him a rattlesnake for a pet. nt in2herbs Jun 2019 #4
He should have been locked up for the rest of his life... ADX Jun 2019 #5
This. maxsolomon Jun 2019 #12
Probably does not feel guilt. If you can strangle your one year old with a belt, you don't feel emmaverybo Jun 2019 #33
Is that based on science, or just your opinion? maxsolomon Jun 2019 #35
Student in criminology and forensic psychology. It takes some time to choke anyone to death, emmaverybo Jun 2019 #37
You are correct MosheFeingold Jun 2019 #38
Thank you for your service to the public. It is a service that saves lives (as you did) while emmaverybo Jun 2019 #39
Amen. Abolish the death penalty. marble falls Jun 2019 #13
Agreed... Dennis Donovan Jun 2019 #16
I don't like the death penalty but when you kill a child or several children, I'm demigoddess Jun 2019 #18
"He might enjoy not dying and living a good life in prison." tenderfoot Jun 2019 #19
More living the good life in Merica than any nation on earth. maxsolomon Jun 2019 #36
No other country I respect has the DP. Disgusting. nt USALiberal Jun 2019 #21
I abhor child murderers... ADX Jun 2019 #24
There is no gray area with capital punishment Jake Stern Jun 2019 #31
I probably agree with you MosheFeingold Jun 2019 #41
Felt much the same until I saw all these people Jake Stern Jun 2019 #42
so how can they give Death for killing an armed cop but not for killing an demigoddess Jun 2019 #43
Should be no death penalty for anyone Jake Stern Jun 2019 #44
You would prevent false convictions if you were to require a live eyewitness demigoddess Jun 2019 #46
Yeah, cry, you bastard. the needle is too good for him. oldsoftie Jun 2019 #6
Thoughts and prayers. Turin_C3PO Jun 2019 #8
Now, wait a minute Bayard Jun 2019 #9
Apparently she thought they would be better off since he had more income csziggy Jun 2019 #11
It's too bad they're putting him to death. Aristus Jun 2019 #14
I doubt he has any guilt, shame or remorse Lady_Chat Jun 2019 #17
My sentiments exactly Amerigael Jun 2019 #29
I have a lot of empathy for many people and conditions BlueWI Jun 2019 #28
There are aspects of this South Carolina story I can't get out of my mind. Judi Lynn Jun 2019 #22
Jesus Christ... Blue_Tires Jun 2019 #23
Religion can seriously fuck people up. Initech Jun 2019 #26
Somehow MFM008 Jun 2019 #27
I'm for the death penalty. I know we're not supposed to be, but I just PatrickforO Jun 2019 #32
DP too good for him. Yes, I want him to suffer. Well, I would want what could ease in any way the emmaverybo Jun 2019 #34
South Carolina... NT Progressive Jones Jun 2019 #47

More_Cowbell

(2,190 posts)
7. He pled not guilty by reason of insanity, but the jury didn't believe him
Thu Jun 13, 2019, 05:03 PM
Jun 2019

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

BlancheSplanchnik

(20,219 posts)
40. Seems a lot of journalists have an editing problem.
Mon Jun 17, 2019, 01:56 PM
Jun 2019

Leaving out the critical word, “Not” guilty. Sheesh!

cabot

(724 posts)
25. I agree
Fri Jun 14, 2019, 12:38 PM
Jun 2019

Normally, I’m against the death penalty.....but in this case, I find that it does not bother me.

Jake Stern

(3,145 posts)
30. Then you're not really against the death penalty
Sat Jun 15, 2019, 01:49 AM
Jun 2019

If your opposition depends on the circumstance then you tacitly support it.

maxsolomon

(32,992 posts)
12. This.
Thu Jun 13, 2019, 06:03 PM
Jun 2019

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)
33. Probably does not feel guilt. If you can strangle your one year old with a belt, you don't feel
Sat Jun 15, 2019, 04:49 PM
Jun 2019

guilt.

maxsolomon

(32,992 posts)
35. Is that based on science, or just your opinion?
Sun Jun 16, 2019, 11:39 AM
Jun 2019

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)
37. Student in criminology and forensic psychology. It takes some time to choke anyone to death,
Sun Jun 16, 2019, 01:38 PM
Jun 2019

Last edited Mon Jun 17, 2019, 01:19 PM - Edit history (1)

even with a ligature. I don’t want to be graphic as to what you’d have to be able to block out or enjoy to not stop from completing the act.
I am opining that he is a sociopath. Haggard’s 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 one’s children and wife, do not preclude brutally murdering them because they stand in the way, in the murderer’s 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)
38. You are correct
Mon Jun 17, 2019, 12:25 PM
Jun 2019

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)
39. Thank you for your service to the public. It is a service that saves lives (as you did) while
Mon Jun 17, 2019, 01:26 PM
Jun 2019

often, sometimes daily, risking one’s life and sanity.

Your point about the extreme hate and anger well applies to the case at hand I would think.

demigoddess

(6,640 posts)
18. I don't like the death penalty but when you kill a child or several children, I'm
Thu Jun 13, 2019, 09:02 PM
Jun 2019

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)
19. "He might enjoy not dying and living a good life in prison."
Thu Jun 13, 2019, 09:51 PM
Jun 2019

A good life in prison... it's a wonder more don't commit crimes.

 

ADX

(1,622 posts)
24. I abhor child murderers...
Fri Jun 14, 2019, 12:15 PM
Jun 2019

...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)
31. There is no gray area with capital punishment
Sat Jun 15, 2019, 01:55 AM
Jun 2019

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)
41. I probably agree with you
Mon Jun 17, 2019, 02:59 PM
Jun 2019

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)
42. Felt much the same until I saw all these people
Mon Jun 17, 2019, 04:52 PM
Jun 2019

Being exonerated with the help of the Innocence Project as well as following the saga of the West Memphis 3. That’s 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 didn’t 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)
43. so how can they give Death for killing an armed cop but not for killing an
Mon Jun 24, 2019, 02:05 PM
Jun 2019

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.

demigoddess

(6,640 posts)
46. You would prevent false convictions if you were to require a live eyewitness
Tue Jun 25, 2019, 01:46 PM
Jun 2019

or the killing on film. If we were totally sure that the person did it. Especially the killing of a child.

Bayard

(21,806 posts)
9. Now, wait a minute
Thu Jun 13, 2019, 05:29 PM
Jun 2019

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)
11. Apparently she thought they would be better off since he had more income
Thu Jun 13, 2019, 06:01 PM
Jun 2019

She may have felt guilt since she had an affair which caused the divorce, but this article is not clear on that.

<SNIP>
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-wife’s 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)
14. It's too bad they're putting him to death.
Thu Jun 13, 2019, 06:22 PM
Jun 2019

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)
17. I doubt he has any guilt, shame or remorse
Thu Jun 13, 2019, 08:31 PM
Jun 2019

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)
29. My sentiments exactly
Fri Jun 14, 2019, 09:36 PM
Jun 2019

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)
28. I have a lot of empathy for many people and conditions
Fri Jun 14, 2019, 05:07 PM
Jun 2019

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)
22. There are aspects of this South Carolina story I can't get out of my mind.
Thu Jun 13, 2019, 10:52 PM
Jun 2019

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, he’s got some relatives, his mother, unfortunately they’re not right, you know…It’s just bad DNA I guess. He’s sick, man, that’s 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 son’s 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

Initech

(99,915 posts)
26. Religion can seriously fuck people up.
Fri Jun 14, 2019, 12:51 PM
Jun 2019

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)
27. Somehow
Fri Jun 14, 2019, 01:08 PM
Jun 2019

This reminds me of the Liszt murders.
He killed 5 members of his family.
Mother. Wife. 3 kids.
Religious nut.

PatrickforO

(14,516 posts)
32. I'm for the death penalty. I know we're not supposed to be, but I just
Sat Jun 15, 2019, 03:43 AM
Jun 2019

can't bring myself to be against it. If someone does something like this, they need to go.

emmaverybo

(8,144 posts)
34. DP too good for him. Yes, I want him to suffer. Well, I would want what could ease in any way the
Sat Jun 15, 2019, 04:59 PM
Jun 2019

pain survivors must bear. Maybe for them, his being off the planet would be easiest.

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