00:00:21
Shooting has been a a hobby for me for at least the past 33 years. It helps you think in a way that is
00:00:31
tactical and practical as well. >> Personal security of course has always been a concern,
00:00:44
especially as a prosecutor. >> All rise. >> My name is Ron Dur. I'm a deputy prosecuting attorney for Snowish County.
00:00:51
>> I'm trying the Jerry Jones case now for the third time. The case has spanned approximately 17 years of my career.
00:00:59
>> This is [music] um a shocking scene, I think, even to the veteran police officers who responded.
00:01:05
>> I'm Joe Ward. I'm a homicide detective for the Snowomish County Sheriff's [music] Office, and I was here 17 years
00:01:10
ago to investigate the murder of Lee Jones. Mrs. Jones had received a lot of injuries to her body. She had over 60
00:01:16
wounds, slashes, [music] stabs. She's in the bathtub while she is being killed. And she is vocal. She is
00:01:23
yelling. She is screaming. She is battling [music] her asalent. It looked like she had
00:01:28
fought for her life in that room and lost. [music] Jerry Jones says he heard a noise and
00:01:37
responded and found his wife stabbed. And as he found her, someone brushed by him and pushed him against the wall and
00:01:43
cut his hand. Jerry's story is unbelievable. Uh, Detective Ward begins to realize
00:01:52
that it just doesn't add up and that he has the the murder suspect right in front of him.
00:01:59
[music] It was a great relief to to get that first guilty verdict in this case. [music]
00:02:06
We have the Ninth Circuit deciding that it was a weak circumstantial case and uh
00:02:11
that it should be retrieded. It's 2001. [music] We did it the second time. The jury find
00:02:19
the defendant Jerry Har Jones guilty of the crime of murder first charge after a ver that was extremely satisfying one
00:02:28
that uh I hoped meant the end of the case the court of appeals of the state of Washington reverses us again I'm quite
00:02:38
angry and embittered by what the court of appeals has done as a prosecutor there are certain cases
00:02:46
that resound in your consciousness that that affect you on some emotional level.
00:02:51
This was one of them. So I was not looking forward to visiting that place yet again.
00:03:04
I came the dawn. Round three. >> Opening statement from the defense. Mr. Jones. >> Thank you, your honor.
00:03:11
>> This trial had a strange twist as the murder defendant acted as his own attorney. I've decided to represent
00:03:17
myself. >> He just keeps coming back. >> Nobody knows the case better than I do.
00:03:24
>> It's almost as though [music] he and I were meant to show up in the same courtroom and fight this thing out.
00:03:30
Defending your life. [music] [music] I loved my mother very much. And if I had any doubt whatsoever
00:04:12
that my dad might have done it, I wouldn't be standing by him like this. for almost 17 years.
00:04:19
>> My sister and I can come down this [music] evening. >> Kim Jones and her younger sister Beth.
00:04:25
>> Our other interview starts at [music] about 6. >> Have been on a mission. >> There's no way that he did this.
00:04:30
>> Trying to prove their father Jerry Jones Jr. >> No, this is wrong. >> Is innocent [music] of brutally killing
00:04:38
their mother, Lee. >> Has there ever been a moment where you've said, "Maybe dad [music] did do
00:04:45
this." No. >> No. >> You have to know my dad. >> No. >> My dad is a very peaceful man.
00:04:52
>> He never even raised his voice at anyone in the family. >> Jerry, how you feeling?
00:04:57
>> I'm feeling great. >> 48 hours began following this story in 1999 when Jerry Jones was released from
00:05:04
prison for the first time. >> This is a dream come true. >> After an appeals court ruled his lawyer
00:05:11
was ineffective. My dad deserves freedom just like everybody else. >> His release marked the beginning of an
00:05:18
incredible legal drama. In 2001, Jerry Jones was retrieded and reconvicted. And then, remarkably, an appeals court
00:05:28
reversed that conviction because the jury didn't hear crucial evidence. Now, Jones and his daughters are back for
00:05:35
round three. And this time, Jones will be represented by the man he says knows this case better than anyone himself.
00:05:46
>> All rise. Court is again in session. >> Do you have any [music] legal training
00:05:52
at all? >> No, I don't. >> Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, >> if they can get a feel for me as a human
00:05:58
being, then they'll be convinced that I am not capable of murdering anyone. The evidence will tell you that I loved my
00:06:06
wife. >> He'll be going toe-to-toe with the man who has prosecuted him twice before.
00:06:12
>> Please listen carefully to the evidence in the case. >> Ron Dersh. >> We do our best to make sure that
00:06:17
murderers don't get away with murder. >> The prosecutor will be unable to prove to you
00:06:23
that I murdered Lee for one very simple reason. I did not do it. And to ensure a fair
00:06:32
verdict, this jury won't hear about Jerry Jones's earlier trials or convictions.
00:06:38
>> I'm not perfect. I've made mistakes, but I'm not a murderer. >> I'd give anything if I could have her
00:06:45
back right now. >> It was Lee's beauty that first caught his attention back in 1970. I
00:06:56
encountered the most gorgeous creature I'd ever laid eyes on in my life. When Jerry was stationed in Vietnam serving
00:07:02
in the Air Force, >> she had these beautiful brown eyes and the most gorgeous smile you've ever
00:07:08
seen. And for me, it was just love at first sight. >> They married in Vietnam and their first
00:07:14
child, Kim, was born there. Within months, Jerry's tour ended and Lee left her family behind and moved to
00:07:23
the US to start a new life. >> Two more children are born. >> Mhm. Beth and Thomas.
00:07:29
>> Yes. >> Jerry retired after 20 years in the Air Force. And the family moved to Buffalo,
00:07:36
Washington, just outside Seattle. >> They were just in the prime of their marriage.
00:07:41
>> Look at those love birds. Oh, that's sweet. >> They were always hugging each other.
00:07:44
They were always kissing and just they were very close and very happy. >> Jerry became a successful pharmaceutical
00:07:52
salesman. Lee was a busy housewife raising three children. Everything in our home was encouraging and positive.
00:08:01
>> These are the last pictures of Lee taken at a Thanksgiving celebration. 9 days later, she would be stabbed 63
00:08:13
times in the family bathtub. >> When my wife needed me the most, I couldn't do it. I couldn't help her.
00:08:22
[snorts] On the night of December 3rd, 1988, Jerry and Lee were at home with four-year-old Thomas. According to
00:08:34
Jerry, Lee had put their son to sleep, then went to the hallway bathroom to take a bath.
00:08:43
Jazz music was playing from a radio in Jerry's study. He was across the hall in the master bedroom. His shower was
00:08:52
running in the adjoining bathroom. >> I heard this horrible scream, one loud, piercing scream. I'd never
00:09:01
heard anything like that before in my entire life. >> Jerry says he raced towards the bathroom
00:09:08
door. >> This is happening so quickly, so fast. You start perceiving that something is
00:09:15
coming out. And [music] as I'm moving closer to the doorway, you see more and more. And it's a knife.
00:09:22
>> Jerry remembers colliding with an intruder and reaching for the knife. >> And in the process, I suffered some
00:09:28
cuts. I'm knocked back. I hit my head against the wall. Boom. Fall to the floor. And I'm seeing these black and
00:09:35
white flashing lights. And when I got up, there was nobody in the hallway any longer.
00:09:42
They immediately went into the bathroom. And I encountered the most horrible situation I've ever seen in my life.
00:09:54
>> 911, what do you have? Hurry. Uh, my wife, she has been stabbed repeatedly. >> I find my wife in the tub and she is
00:10:03
struggling. I said, "My godly, what happened?" She was trying to speak. I'm convinced of that. I can recall this
00:10:12
this chattering sound of her teeth. Can you tell me where she's stabbed? >> All over.
00:10:18
>> Okay. Is there a knife in her anywhere? Do not remove the knife. >> Her eyes were wide open and she was
00:10:24
looking right at me and I realized that she was losing her physical life very rapidly.
00:10:31
>> Will you help me help her? >> I'll try. What can I do? >> Is she breathing? >> I don't think so, ma'am. I think she's
00:10:37
dead. Amid this blood and chaos, Thomas woke up. >> I went upstairs and I found my mother.
00:10:46
She was in the bathtub and uh was bloody. No father on this earth would want his
00:10:56
son to see his mother in that condition. It was one of the most violent murders I've ever seen. She was viciously
00:11:09
attacked [music] and she fought for her life. These are all scene photographs taken the night of the investigation.
00:11:15
>> Detective Joe Ward was the lead investigator. >> All I could see was that I had a wet and
00:11:20
bloody [music] man with a hand wrapped in a towel and a dead wife in the bathroom.
00:11:25
>> I think they had already made up their mind. Lee is dead. Jerry's at home. Case
00:11:30
is closed. >> We don't have any witnesses that saw anybody run from the house. We don't
00:11:35
have any DNA. There's really an absence of any evidence of an intruder. >> Jerry, did you murder your wife, Lee
00:11:44
Jones? >> No, I didn't. Peter, they didn't do an investigation that night, and within 2
00:11:49
hours, I found myself under arrest for something I didn't do. >> Making an arrest that night without
00:12:00
talking to anybody else other than my dad was a very big mistake. I'm the one who knows what happened on that December
00:12:08
night better than anyone else. >> As daughters Kim and Beth listen to their father's opening statement, they
00:12:16
know this third trial may be his last. >> There was no reason, no motive >> and his best chance to prove.
00:12:24
>> It was an intruder who did it. >> Someone else murdered Lee Jones. You will hear that a disturbed teenage
00:12:33
neighborhood boy committed this awful crime. I think he's desperate. Too sure the finger is pointed
00:12:41
elsewhere. I lived in the shadow of the L, the uh the J train. It ran about 10 ft from my window.
00:13:03
My mom and dad owned a delicatess [music] there for about 35 years. This Queens, New York neighborhood is a
00:13:11
long way from Everett, Washington. But for prosecutor [music] Ron Dur, there's a close connection.
00:13:21
I [music] think that Ron saw Lee Jones as someone similar to his mom. >> Mara Rosano is Ron's [music] wife and
00:13:32
also a prosecutor. >> His mom was someone very special in his life. >> My mother was an immigrant and [music]
00:13:39
she always spoke heavily accented English. She was about 5'4 and uh her [music] name was Elizabeth and
00:13:47
everyone called her Leah. >> And he's determined to get justice for Lee Jones. [music]
00:13:53
>> Here's the old case file. >> Even after all these years, >> this is all Jerry Jones. These are all
00:14:00
his. Well, there's no doubt I'm sick of the case. Not sick enough to let him go. [music]
00:14:10
As prosecutor Ron Dur begins his case, he's feeling the pressure. He's won hundreds of trials, but now faces the
00:14:17
possibility of professional humiliation. What if Jerry Jones, a self-taught lawyer wannabe who Dur has convicted
00:14:26
twice before, wins this case? >> That'd be a hard one to swallow, would it? That'd be tough.
00:14:33
>> Is Jerry a good attorney? >> I think he is. He's he's done a lot better than all and
00:14:40
I have on occasion. >> Let's take you back to December 3rd of 1988. >> Dur believes his opposing council is in
00:14:49
fact his best evidence. >> The strongest piece of evidence is Jerry Jones. He is still here. He is still
00:14:56
alive. Her autopsy will show that. He tells the jury about Lee's defensive wounds, the blood spatter in the
00:15:04
bathroom, and the cuts on Jerry's right hand that Jerry says were caused by the intruder.
00:15:11
>> They're consistent [music] with a defensive move on my part to knock the knife out of his hand when I encountered
00:15:19
him in the hallway. >> Showing you exhibit number 121. But a forensic expert testifies the cuts more
00:15:26
likely occurred when Jerry's hand slid off the knife handle. >> How sir? >> Blood on the hand of the asalent can be
00:15:33
transferred to the handle of the knife, making it slippery >> as he allegedly stabbed Lee dozens of
00:15:39
times. >> Report on the >> Jerry counters with his own expert. >> It's a cut. That's all you can say.
00:15:47
>> My fingerprints were not on the knife. My blood was not on the knife. and my DNA is not on the knife. How on earth is
00:15:59
it possible to stab someone 63 times and yet leave no physical evidence whatsoever?
00:16:07
>> I think that he rinsed off the handle of that knife. I think he was fully aware
00:16:12
that uh there would be some testing, fingerprint or otherwise. >> The jury also hears that Jerry let
00:16:19
crucial minutes pass. 3 5 minutes. >> 911. Where do you hurry? >> Before calling 911.
00:16:27
>> Let me give you a >> Jerry Lee is in the tub bleeding to death. And you still haven't called 911.
00:16:35
>> I don't get it. >> I don't get it either. >> But Ron believes he knows why. In the
00:16:42
midst of everything, four-year-old Thomas comes upstairs. >> And not just once, but several times, as
00:16:49
far as we're able to tell. And at this point, uh, Jerry's hands are already full. He's got a dying woman. He's got
00:16:55
cuts on his hands. And here comes his kid. >> Jerry takes Thomas back to his bedroom.
00:17:01
>> If you didn't kill Lee, why in the world would you have taken your young son,
00:17:08
back downstairs, and left him there when you don't know whether or not the killer is still in
00:17:15
the house? Well, Peter, you're presuming, of course, that I'm thinking clearly, coherently, and logically at this point
00:17:24
in time. >> There is no intruder in the home, and there never was. The killer is Jerry Jones. He knows
00:17:31
Thomas is safe downstairs. >> Thomas comes upstairs again. [music] This time, Jerry takes his son to Graham
00:17:39
Smith, his next door neighbor. >> As I open the door, uh Jerry was there on the porch. The judge has asked us to
00:17:46
not show the faces [music] of some witnesses. >> Jerry said that he was watching TV. He
00:17:52
was hit over the head and when he came to he found Lee leading and stabbed. >> You tell your neighbor that you were
00:17:59
struck on the head while watching TV. You tell the police that you collided with the intruder. Two separate stories.
00:18:07
>> I didn't tell two different stories. My response to him was, "I hit my head and
00:18:14
when I got up, I found Lee bleeding all over." It is only after he returns home that
00:18:22
Jerry finally calls 911. >> Yes, my wife. >> What's the address? >> 190 160. >> But he gives them the wrong address.
00:18:33
>> You're going to have to help me because we have a conflict with your address.
00:18:36
Lead investigator Joe Ward believes Jerry's mistake was intentional. >> I think that's just another part of his
00:18:44
plan to delay the response to the house just to make sure that his wife was dead.
00:18:50
>> It took the police 10 minutes to find the house. And when they went inside, they discovered Jerry wet [music] and
00:18:57
bloody. A forensic scientist testifies to scenarios of how the crotch area of Jerry's jeans became stained with Lee's
00:19:06
blood. >> One potential would be if the rail of a bathtub in this crime scene had been
00:19:14
saturated with blood and an individual sat on that rail. The other object that I know is long and narrow and bloody is
00:19:21
the limbs, the arms and legs of Lee Jones. >> I think at some point he is sitting on
00:19:26
her to hold her down. sitting on her while he's stabbing her. >> Yes. >> Not true, says Jerry Jones.
00:19:35
>> I loved her. I did not murder my wife. I could not do [music] it. There was no
00:19:39
reason for me to do it. >> In fact, Jerry says if he wanted Lee dead, he had his chance right here in
00:19:47
their bedroom. It was during a rough period in their marriage when the couple separated, Lee attempted suicide,
00:19:55
overdosing on sleeping pills. Jerry found her and rushed her to the emergency room.
00:20:02
>> Their separation was the best thing that [music] ever happened to them. They really realized how much they
00:20:09
appreciated each other. >> Look at those love birds. Oh, how sweet. >> The couple soon reconciled.
00:20:17
>> In the last year um before my mom died, they were very close. >> Marriage was perfect
00:20:24
maybe for him. But Lee's friends, Barbara Sleeper and Mary McNotton, say right before she was murdered, Lee was
00:20:32
looking for a way out. >> Jerry and his daughters can say anything they want to. He can talk about how in
00:20:37
love he was and that they, you know, were reunited and everything else, but I knew that she wanted to get divorced.
00:20:43
>> Isn't it possible that Jerry Jones is innocent? >> I I don't see how it's possible.
00:20:52
But Jerry Jones insists he knows who really killed Lee. >> President, if you would raise your right
00:20:59
hand, [music] >> and he's about to put him on trial. >> You think you'll see Busby today?
00:21:19
>> Probably. You looking forward to that? >> Not looking forward to that. No, >> Paul rise
00:21:30
calls Daniel Busby. >> We're not allowed to show his face. >> Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth,
00:21:36
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? So help you God. >> I do. >> But for more than 16 years, Jerry Jones
00:21:42
has insisted this man [music] is his wife's real killer. >> Danny Busby did it, Peter. There's no
00:21:49
doubt in my mind about that. Do you have a mouth on you back there? >> Yeah. >> You wise ass.
00:21:54
>> Yeah. >> Prosecutor Ron Dur says there is no evidence [music] that Danny Busby, then
00:22:02
a 15-year-old teenager, was involved. >> On December 3rd of 1988, did you murder Lee Jones in her house in
00:22:11
Boston? >> No. >> There is no connection basically between [music] Danny Busby and the crime scene
00:22:16
that night. All the DNA evidence tends to exclude Danny Busby, >> but Ron knows Danny's tough guy presence
00:22:24
will vastly complicate his case. >> Chew a gun there. >> Yeah. >> Can you swallow that?
00:22:29
>> No. >> He's kind of a loose cannon and I'm concerned about that. >> At the time of Lee's murder, Danny was a
00:22:39
friend of Beth Jones. >> I knew he had a crush on me, >> a neighborhood loudmouth. He was always
00:22:45
the one that would initiate something troublesome >> who liked to tease Thomas, >> growling at him like a lion or tiger and
00:22:52
just scaring him >> and antagonize Lee. >> He appeared to [music] us to be just an
00:22:58
obnoxious teenage boy. We know that he has grown and developed into a very disturbed, vicious, uncaring, brutal
00:23:07
person. Now, for the first time in three trials, Jerry Jones is allowed to tell the jury about Danny Busby's troubled
00:23:15
past, a history of violence that Jerry says began the night that Lee died. He'll directly confront Busby about his
00:23:24
assaults against ex-girlfriends, and threats to kill people. It's evidence that Jerry Jones hopes will convince the
00:23:32
jury that Danny Busby is capable of murder. >> Mr. Mr. Do, do you have any questions,
00:23:37
Mr. Busby? >> I do. >> I think we're going to be allowed to paint him as the monster that he is.
00:23:44
>> Would you describe yourself as prone to violence? >> I have been in the past.
00:23:50
>> Was it common for you to become so angry that you would lose control and black
00:23:54
out? >> Slightly. >> What's it like for you to look into Danny Busby's eyes? >> I see a disturbed person, a violent
00:24:01
person, a person almost without a soul. And would you describe yourself as having an uncontrollable temper
00:24:09
>> at times? Yeah. [snorts] >> Jerry says it was that uncontrollable temper that exploded after Lee banned
00:24:17
Danny from visiting and calling Beth. >> But you continued calling Beth, did you
00:24:22
not? >> Probably. >> You continued to come to the house asking for Beth, didn't you?
00:24:27
>> It's quite possible. Jerry claims that an enraged Dany was looking for Beth the night of the
00:24:34
murder, but found Lee instead. And he viciously stabbed and slashed and attacked her over and over and over
00:24:45
again that night. [music] >> The problem with your allegation is that there's no physical evidence that Busby
00:24:51
was at your home. There's no witness that places him there. >> I think there is. I think there is. I
00:24:58
think Thomas was awakened by a growling sound. >> Do you recall ever growling at Thomas
00:25:06
like a lion or a tiger to frighten him? >> I don't recall. >> Are you saying that never happened?
00:25:13
>> No. Saying I don't recall. >> Danny Busby growled at Thomas >> prior to going upstairs and murdering
00:25:21
Lee. And he is the only person who ever growled at Thomas. Ron Dur believes if there were any growling sounds that
00:25:30
night, they came from Jerry himself. >> Is there growling going on? Is Jerry Jones grunting or growling while he's
00:25:36
stabbing Lee? This is hard work. You take a look at those autopsy photos. This is hard work. This is not easy
00:25:42
stuff to do. >> Then there's Busby's long history of violence against his girlfriends.
00:25:49
>> Did you begin physically abusing Crystal? >> Yeah. Did you punch Vandra on the
00:25:54
shoulder numerous times? >> Yeah. >> Did you throw Joey to the ground? >> No, I pushed her.
00:26:01
>> Your honor, I have no further questions at this time. >> Things get even worse for the
00:26:06
prosecution as those [music] former girlfriends take the stand. >> You solemnly swear to tell the truth,
00:26:12
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you God. >> We can't show their faces.
00:26:17
>> He was both verbally and physically mean. He could be kind and fun one minute and then freak out.
00:26:25
>> He would just kind of snap and change personalities. He'd be so furious. >> They're very sympathetic people. There's
00:26:32
just no question that he has put them through hell. >> He gave me a black eye. >> He started kicking the crap out of me.
00:26:38
>> Pretty much attacked me and spit in my face. >> But Ron Durst says Jerry is using Danny
00:26:43
Busby as a convenient scapegoat. Remember that when we look at what Danny Busby's done as an adult, he has [music]
00:26:50
not attempted to murder anyone on any occasion. Did he, in your opinion, seriously try to kill you?
00:26:57
>> No. >> He has not [music] physically stabbed or assaulted anyone in the way that we have
00:27:02
in this case. >> Danny never threatened you with a knife or any kind of weapon, did he?
00:27:05
>> No. >> And the challenge is going to be to draw that line between Danny Busby as a
00:27:10
15year-old and Danny Busby as an adult. Did he once tell your mother that she was dead?
00:27:17
>> Yes. >> And has he also threatened to rape your mother? >> Yes. >> If the jurors decide that Danny Busby is
00:27:26
volatile enough to have done this, then the case is lost. >> All rise. >> The defense may call the next witness.
00:27:36
[music] Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
00:27:48
truth? So help you God. >> Yes, I do. >> All of them wanted to be there. >> I do.
00:27:53
>> All of them wanted to testify. >> Yes, I do. >> All of them wanted to tell their
00:27:58
stories. >> And all of them want to help free their father. To do that, Jerry is counting on
00:28:04
their testimony to put then 15-year-old Danny Busby at the crime scene in December 1988.
00:28:13
Were you ever present when Danny Busby would growl at Thomas like a lion or a tiger?
00:28:19
>> Yes, he did that very frequently. >> Did he ever growl at you? >> I think so. Yes. What asked Jones, did
00:28:30
Thomas hear on the night his mother was murdered 16 years ago when he was just four years old?
00:28:39
I remember it being more animallike than that. >> He said he woke up when he heard
00:28:44
growling noises and that a lion or a tiger got mom. >> He was repeating a lion or tiger had
00:28:50
gotten mom. >> While I'm watching them testify, I'm thinking, you know, this is amazing.
00:28:55
These people are flawless. They are polished. They are rehearsed. You think to yourself, "Damn it, wise
00:29:03
up." >> While Beth, Kim, and Thomas lovingly stand by their father, Jerry Jones knows
00:29:09
that it is his testimony and not his children's that jurors really want to hear. So, as his own attorney, he
00:29:16
decides to take the stand and come face to face with Ron Dur. A confrontation 16
00:29:24
years in the making. >> [music] >> Once I knew that the case was coming back, it was clear to me that there
00:29:33
would be some [music] sort of face off. >> I don't look at it as a match between
00:29:39
[music] Ron Dur and myself. >> The defense would call Jerry Jones, your honor. >> I look at it as an opportunity [music]
00:29:46
to present the evidence to a jury of 12 people. >> Solemnly swear to tell the truth, the
00:29:51
whole truth, >> and prove my innocence. But before [music] Ron faces Jerry, >> Jerry, did you kill your wife?
00:29:58
>> I did not kill my wife. >> A public defender assigned by the court to advise him asked Jones to explain his
00:30:06
bizarre behavior after he discovered Lee had been stabbed. >> Did you at any point that evening go and
00:30:14
get wet? >> Yes. >> How did you do that? [clears throat] I ran into the master bedroom and
00:30:23
heard the water running in the shower and I went to turn it off and I felt a sting on my hand
00:30:29
>> and I looked and saw that it was bleeding and I just ran back out. >> That's not the story Jerry told at his
00:30:39
first trial. >> Cross examination. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Ron believes he's caught Jerry in a lie.
00:30:45
He whips out the transcripts and reads Jerry's own words back to him. >> I open the shower door and instead of
00:30:54
reaching in and turning the shower off, I step inside. Clothes and all, I let the water run
00:31:00
from the top of my head down the front of my body. You're called testifying to that effect in 1989.
00:31:07
>> If if that's what it says, that's obviously what I testified to. >> I have no further questions. After just
00:31:14
a handful of questions, Dur retreats. >> I was amazed at how few questions Ron Dur asked me. I believe he was fairly
00:31:25
convinced that he had lost the trial. >> I expected you to take off the gloves, that this was going to be a bare knuckle
00:31:31
confrontation with Jerry. And it seems like he played a little patty cake. Was that a strategy?
00:31:38
Were you Did you choke? I couldn't get mad at him at that point. Just because I have a stick to hit him with doesn't
00:31:46
mean I'm going to hit him with it. [music] >> But Ron uses that stick in his closing
00:31:52
statement. >> Exhibit one for the state is Jerry Jones because he is still here. He is still
00:32:03
alive. Danny Busby is as subtle as a brick through a plate glass window. Do you think having listened to Danny Busby on
00:32:10
the st, having seen his behavior here, he could keep his mouth shut, Danny Busby is offered up as the boogeyman?
00:32:17
And he was not. And he did not kill Lee Jones. We know who did. And it's Jerry Jones.
00:32:28
For Jerry and his family, their long [music] battle to win his freedom comes down to one final argument.
00:32:37
The prosecutor has failed to [music] prove that I murdered my wife, Lee Jones, for one reason. I did not do it.
00:32:46
As you know, I'm on trial here. [clears throat] You're going to go into that room soon
00:32:56
and deliberate and you're going to vote either guilty or not guilty. Jerry Jones's name is on that ballot.
00:33:05
[snorts] Danny Busby's name is not there. It's outrageous. Just it doesn't add up.
00:33:17
I had no motive. I was not a violent person. I was not an explosive person. I'm the person you see standing before
00:33:25
you today. >> I think what the jury got to see was >> Jerry Jones acting in closing.
00:33:33
>> The crying. >> Yeah. rehearsed. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Genuine. >> No. >> For the third time, Jerry Jones fate is
00:33:45
in the hands of a jury. In a scant four and a half hours, the jury reaches a verdict.
00:33:59
[music] >> All rise. [music] Court is again in session. >> After a grueling 3-week trial,
00:34:15
>> all parties are here. We have a verdict. Please bring in the jury. >> Jurors reach a verdict in just 4 and 1/2
00:34:22
hours. >> I'm thinking they came back too soon. They're going to walk it. >> It's a joint. If you please stand for
00:34:27
the reading of the verdict. >> Oh, I'm expecting a not guilty verdict. >> We all took it very seriously.
00:34:32
>> Just the weight of it. It was almost overcoming. >> Jurors remember a tense courtroom as
00:34:38
they filed in with their verdict. >> I looked at Jerry Jones and I looked at Ron Durst. I think both of those guys
00:34:44
have had a very personal role in this thing for the last 16 years. >> We the jury find the defendant Jerry
00:34:49
Bartlett Jones Jr. guilty >> of the crime of murder in the first degree [music] as charged
00:34:56
>> when you hear the word for the third time guilty. What was that moment like for you?
00:35:03
>> You just shake your head in disbelief and um what on earth are they thinking?
00:35:11
>> [music] >> When I hear the word guilty, I'm thinking this is over for now. This is
00:35:18
over. >> For prosecutor Ron Dur, winning a third conviction is a [music] tremendous
00:35:24
relief. >> Was justice served here today, Ron? >> Absolutely. It was served in 2000. It
00:35:29
was served in 1989. >> It's the right verdict. >> All right. >> Yeah. >> [music]
00:35:39
>> 36 jurors from three trials have now heard the evidence in this case and not one believes that you are innocent.
00:35:48
>> Yeah, that's very disappointing. I don't have an explanation for it. >> Do you think you should have done
00:35:53
anything differently? >> I think I did everything humanly possible. I can't imagine anything more
00:35:58
I could have done. Tell me what the evidence is that convinces you that I murdered my wife.
00:36:07
We went [music] through everything and it just didn't fit. A lot of us look through every single piece of evidence,
00:36:12
including the clothes, the knife, [music] every single picture, making sure there wasn't something that we were
00:36:17
missing. That's why we took 4 and 1/2 hours, or else we could have came out of that jury room in 45 minutes.
00:36:23
>> Jurors didn't buy Jerry's version of events. >> He had a lot of inconsistencies [music]
00:36:28
with his stories >> or his explanation for the cuts on his hand. It looked like there was at least
00:36:34
two contacts with a knife that we could tell, which didn't match up with him telling us that he had a runin with an
00:36:40
asalent and knocked that knife out of his hand. They also didn't believe Jerry's story of only hearing a single
00:36:47
scream as his wife [music] was being stabbed 63 times in the next room. >> I've lived in a split level house
00:36:54
myself. I could be downstairs and hear stuff going on upstairs in the bathroom. I think there was a terrible struggle
00:37:02
and I think you would have heard that all over that house. >> Can you tell me where she's stabbed?
00:37:07
>> All over. >> And after listening to the 911 tape several times >> on the whole 911 tape, he never cried.
00:37:15
>> No, never. >> I thought that was odd. >> And then he would put down the phone and
00:37:19
run and go do this. >> Sir. Sir. >> And put down the phone and run and go do that.
00:37:23
>> Hello. >> When you're on the phone with 911, you stay on the phone. >> He solemnly swear to tell the truth. And
00:37:29
what about Danny Busby, the person Jerry Jones claims is the real killer? >> There was no evidence that Danny Busby
00:37:36
was in that house that night. There was no DNA evidence. There was no blood evidence.
00:37:40
>> Right. >> There was nothing that put Danny Busby in that house except Jerry Jones wanting
00:37:44
him to be in that house, and he wasn't. >> Jurors found Danny Busby unlikable. >> Busby is a really nasty human being,
00:37:52
>> but believable. >> He was being very honest about the fact he had hit the woman. He had pushed her
00:37:57
head into the steering wheel. He had admitted to everything, but when it came down to did you kill Lee Jones? No, I
00:38:02
did not kill Lee Jones. >> It was Jerry Jones they didn't believe. >> Every move, [snorts] every emotion he
00:38:09
made seemed planned [music] out. >> I'm sure he's loving with his children and his grandchildren, but I think his
00:38:15
wife was a whole another matter. >> He looks nice on the outside and he speaks with a soft tone, but he gives me
00:38:21
[music] the creeps. >> He could not hide himself from the jury. >> I did not murder my wife. They saw
00:38:28
through to him to his [music] essential core. >> All rise. >> 5 days after being convicted,
00:38:37
>> state versus Jerry Bartlett Jones. >> Jerry [music] Jones is back in court for
00:38:41
sentencing. >> He is present. He is in custody. >> And for the third time, >> we stand up for him because we believe
00:38:47
in his innocence. Absolutely. >> His daughters ask for compassion. Everyone talks [music] about how much we
00:38:53
love our dad, but they seem to forget how much we loved our mother. >> You can send him [music] to prison, but
00:39:03
prison isn't going to make us suffer any more than we already have in these [music] last 16 years.
00:39:09
>> But for Pam O'Keefe, Danny Busby's mother, Jerry Jones doesn't deserve any sympathy.
00:39:16
>> The evil started the night Jerry Jones murdered his wife. and the next day when
00:39:21
he accused my son of doing it. >> No one knows how years of being vilified affected Danny Busby's life. But his
00:39:30
mother believes Jerry Jones needs to [music] be punished for all the lives he's damaged. I hope a day doesn't go by
00:39:39
for the rest of your life that you don't think of your wife and how you took her life away from your
00:39:47
children and then you accused a 15-year-old innocent boy. You have ruined so many lives.
00:39:58
>> When it's Jerry's turn, [music] he seems remorseful. >> Wish Danny Busby's name had not come to
00:40:04
mind. I have no reason to bring his name into these proceedings. Stop damaging Danny Busby.
00:40:17
>> Jerry is chastised one last time >> and let him heal and grow the best he can
00:40:23
>> before Judge James Allenorfer sentences him. >> I'm going to sentence you for the third
00:40:30
time in your life to 25 years in the penitentiary. got anything in your pockets at all?
00:40:40
>> But just a few months later, back in prison, Jerry Jones is defiant once again.
00:40:48
>> Do you owe Danny Busby an apology? >> No, I do not owe Danny Busby an apology
00:40:53
and none will be forthcoming. >> I think it's entirely likely that at this point he's managed to convince
00:40:59
himself that he did not commit this this murder. For Ron Dur, the battle against Jerry
00:41:06
Jones is finally over. He's moving on, but not to another case. >> I, Ronald Ders, swear that I will
00:41:14
support, defend, and obey. >> Instead of prosecuting, he'll be enforcing the law.
00:41:19
>> You sure you want to do this? >> Yes, sir. >> Welcome aboard. >> As a deputy sheriff,
00:41:25
>> but the case that has consumed his life for so many years will be much more difficult to leave behind. I don't know
00:41:34
that anything we can do in in a courtroom can really put the dead to rest. Clearly, the family has [music] been
00:41:42
damaged, I think, beyond repair by what Jerry Jones did. So, in terms of whether
00:41:47
Lee Jones can rest, I hope she can rest. The rest of us, I don't think can >> [music]
00:42:14
[music] [music]