A man who spent a quarter century on death row for the robbery and murder of a New Jersey woman at an Ohio hotel nearly three decades ago has been released on bail pending a new trial.
Elwood Jones of Cincinnati was convicted of aggravated murder, robbery and burglary in the beating death of Rhoda Nathan, 67, of Toms River, New Jersey, in Blue Ash, a Cincinnati suburb, in 1994.
Police said Nathan, a grandmother in town over Labor Day weekend to attend the bar mitzvah of her best friend’s grandson, was killed after surprising a would-be burglar in her bedroom. Jones was a hotel employee and was at work that day, police said.
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The death sentence imposed on Jones was upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court. But last month, a Hamilton County judge granted him a new trial after concluding that prosecutors had failed to provide evidence relevant to the case to his lawyers. County prosecutors have vowed to appeal the decision.
Authorities said Jones, released from the Hamilton County Jail Saturday on $50,000 unsecured bond, will be under electronic monitoring and prohibited from leaving the county.
An Ohio man, who has been on death row for more than a quarter century, has been released on bail while awaiting a new trial. The man was convicted of murder and robbery in 1994.
(FoxNews)
“This is justice for the first time in three decades,” defense attorney David Hine said. Program director Bekky Baker of the Intercommunity Center for Justice and Peace, who supported a new trial, said Jones had been behind bars “for more than 9,000 days for something she didn’t do.”
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Prosecutors said in a statement that 10 courts had reviewed and upheld the conviction, and that Jones was ordered released despite the state’s constitutional prohibition on granting bail to those accused of capital crimes.
“The Rhoda Nathan family and the people of Hamilton County deserve better than this,” the statement said.
Prosecutors also argued that Jones was a flight risk, but defense attorney Jay Clark said that was not the case given the stakes.
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“When you’ve protested your innocence for 27 years and now you have a chance to prove it? You’re not going to get off the ground,” he said.
