A jury will resolve the destiny of a Florida man who beat his spouse to dying with a baseball bat in 2019 earlier than he murdered her 4 babies over a number of days and saved their our bodies in tote baggage.
Michael Wayne Jones, 41, has already pleaded responsible to the stunning slayings, and the panel will now resolve if he will get life in jail or the dying sentence at his ongoing penalty part trial.
Protection legal professional level to Jones’ deeply dysfunctional upbringing as grounds for the lesser punishment, whereas prosecutors are pushing for his execution.
Jones advised arresting officers that the horrific killing spree kicked off in July 2019 after his spouse, Casei Jones, accused him of infidelity after trying via his cellphone.
He recounted to police that she poked him with a baseball bat throughout an escalating argument of their Marion County house, and that he beat her to dying with it in a rage.
The 4 children — two of whom he fathered — have been asleep on the time.
Jones wrapped his spouse’s physique in blankets, positioned it in a big tote bag and put in a closet.
Scheming to make it seem that she was nonetheless alive, he used her mobile phone to publish objects to her social media accounts, in line with the Ocala Star Banner.
The next day, Jones took his two stepchildren, Preston Bowers, 4, and Cameron Bowers, 8, to stick with their father as he frantically devised a plan to cowl up his spouse’s homicide.
He then dropped off the 2 ladies he shared together with his spouse, Mercalli Jones, 2, and Aiyana Jones, 11 months, together with his partner’s mom.
However with the college 12 months quick approaching, Jones grew involved that the boys’ absence would spark questions from staffers at Fruitland Park Elementary.
Per week earlier than they have been due in school, Jones, dragged Cameron out of his mattress and fatally strangled him on the ground, he advised detectives. He then put the kid’s physique in a suitcase.
The following day, Jones stated, he choked Preston with a zipper tie earlier than drowning him in a tub after which placing his corpse right into a suitcase.
A number of days later, Jones advised detectives, he drove together with his two younger daughters and parked exterior a police station, planning to show himself in.
However he finally backed out of the plan, as a substitute opting to drown each tots in a tub and placing each of their our bodies right into a single tote bag.
Shaken investigators requested Jones why he killed the youngsters.
“I don’t know, simply the whole lot mounted up and it appeared like the way in which out,” in line with Martin County Sheriff’s Workplace paperwork.
Jones was finally arrested on September 15, 2019 after he was concerned in a single-car accident and a deputy responded to the scene.
The officer instantly detected the overwhelming stench of a decomposing physique and Jones advised him to get some handcuffs readied.
Investigators discovered his spouse’s physique inside a tote bag in his minivan. Jones then led detectives to the our bodies of the youngsters, who he had dumped in a distant wooded space.
His protection attorneys argue that his traumatic upbringing — together with molestation by the hands of his father and abuse from a violent stepfather — broken his psychological well being from an early age. These components, they argue, name for all times in jail fairly than dying.
They assert that Jones — who additionally has three children from a previous marriage — entered a psychotic spiral that culminated within the murders.
However prosecutors reject these defenses, arguing that the heinous killings warranted his execution.
A sister of Casei Jones’ testified on the trial final week, tearfully telling the court docket that her nephew Cameron was a “candy, loving little man,” in line with the outlet. She additionally described their two sisters as “princesses.”
The case continues this week.
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