Andrew Lee Jones - Trial

Trial

At trial, Mingo, Terry Jones, and Springer testified for the state. Having been granted immunity, Mingo testified about Jones’s statements and his request to dispose of the TG&Y bag. Springer denied any knowledge of the crime, and he and two corroborating witnesses established his alibi for the pertinent times. Another witness, Reginald Jackson, testified that on the night of the murder, Jones asked him for a ride to Scotlandville to look for Tumekica's mother. He identified the tennis shoes, blue jeans and pink sweatshirt as the clothes worn by Jones that night.

The state also introduced the tennis shoes seized from Jones’s apartment. A forensic scientist testified that these were the same size and tread design as the one which left the impression at the house where Tumekica lived, but he could not make a positive identification because of the poor quality of the soil and the resultant poor quality of the cast. But he also said that there were no dissimilarities.

A serologist established that the blood on Tumekica's underwear and pajama bottoms, as well as that on defendant's boxer shorts and the blue jeans, came from the victim. The seminal fluid found on these articles of clothing came from an individual with type-O blood, the same type as Jones's.

Jones did not take the stand, and the defense presented no evidence. The jury unanimously found Jones guilty as charged of first degree murder.

In the sentencing hearing, the state reintroduced all evidence adduced at trial. The defense presented the testimony of Jones's mother, four of his sisters, and a cousin. The jury, finding two statutory aggravating circumstances, unanimously recommended the sentence of death.