"Jones Executed for 1986 Murder." (AP November 20, 2002)

POTOSI, Mo. (AP) -- A Kansas City man convicted of what prosecutors called a cold-blooded, execution-style killing was put to death early Wednesday. William R. Jones Jr. died at 12:04 a.m., three minutes after the first of three lethal doses was administered at the Potosi Correctional Center. He was the sixth Missouri inmate executed this year and the 59th since the state's death penalty was reinstated in 1989.

While on the gurney, Jones lifted his head and faced his family and said, ``I love you dad, I love you all.'' His wife Gerti blew him a kiss and said ``I love you so much'' as tears streamed down her face. Jones' fate was sealed late Tuesday when both Gov. Bob Holden and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals claiming Jones' original trial attorneys were inept.

Jones was convicted of first-degree murder in the January 1986 death of Stanley Albert, whom he'd met at a Kansas City park frequented by gay men. Jones maintained he shot Albert in self-defense when Albert made unwanted sexual advances.

In a last statement read aloud after the execution, Jones said in a message to Albert's children who were present, he said he regretted what had happened, and their loss but said he did not deserve to die. ``I am sorry for what has hapepned and that you suffered this great loss. But after 17 years of my incarceration, does this really give you a sense of closure or simply a sense of vengeance? I pray for you all.'' Albert's daughter, Robin Gazi, 32, Kansas City North, said: ``We do feel closure. Not vengeance. We feel that 17 years was not long enough. But that justice was served.'' Gazi and her brother Chris Albert, 30, said their father missed two weddings, three births, two high school graduations, and grandchildren who did not know him. ``We were teenagers just getting to know our father when he died,'' Gazi said.

One of Jones' attorneys, Charlie Rogers, said Jones' version was supported by his subsequent diagnosis of ego dystonic-homosexuality, a discomfort with one's homosexual inclinations, along with borderline personality disorder.

Patrick Peters, a former Jackson County prosecutor who tried the case, described Jones as a ``schmoozer'' who lied to his psychiatrist by initially claiming he was straight. Peters said that while Jones claimed to be upset by Albert's sexual advances, Jones was in fact bisexual and living with a male lover. Peters said Jones plotted the killing after meeting and dating Albert and deciding he wanted his Camaro. He said he shot Albert five times with a .22 caliber gun on Jan. 16, 1986, and left him near the George Owens Nature Center in Independence. Investigators found the body weeks later.

Evidence included bullets and vehicle license plates found in Jones' home, and his purchase of a shovel to bury the body, Peters said. He said Jones used the ``homophobic rage'' alibi in a post-conviction hearing when his claim of innocence didn't persuade jurors. ``He cold-bloodedly executed this guy,'' Peters said.

The case has drawn attention in Europe, where opposition to the death penalty is strong, since Jones married an Austrian woman in January 2001. They met over the Internet a year earlier. Among those who asked Holden for clemency were the Austrian government and the 44-member Council of Europe, which said the execution would violate U.N. human rights resolutions. The European Parliament, meeting Tuesday in Strasbourg, France, signed and submitted a petition asking Holden to spare Jones' life, according to Laurent David of the France-based Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort, part of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

Rogers said Jones' trial attorneys didn't make a plea offer in exchange for a lighter sentence, or explore Jones' mental status, his abusive, dysfunctional family, or the brain damage he suffered from an attack by two men five months prior to the Albert killing. Thirty-two people were outside the corrections center to protest the death penalty. One person was there in favor.

Capital Punishment in Missouri from Missouri.Net

Case Facts: Jones was a bisexual person who was sometimes employed as a male stripper. He became acquainted with Stanley Albert, with whom he had a homosexual relationship, in late 1985. Jones was 21 and Albert was in his fifties. In November of 1985 Albert purchased a white 1985 Camaro Z28. Beginning in December of 1985, Jones told several people that his father was going to help him acquire a white Camaro. On January 16, 1986 at 4:30 p.m. Albert pulled up in front of Jones’ apartment in his Camaro, apparently to keep a prior engagement. Jones borrowed a blanket from his roommate and left with Albert in the car. He told his roommate that his new car had arrived. He said he was going to pick up some new tires and didn’t want to get the car dirty.

That same evening Jones offered his roommate a ride in the Camaro, which was accepted. During the ride he crushed a pair of sunglasses, remarking that the owner would not need them anymore. He confirmed a tentative arrangement with a female acquaintance to drive her to Indianapolis in his "new car" the following Sunday. He left the apartment early the next morning, purchased a shovel with his roommates credit card, and returned in the afternoon. He had the license plates which had previously been on Albert’s Camaro, explaining that he had to give them back to the man who sold him the car and that his father was getting him new plates. He complained to his roommate, saying, "well, it gets pretty tiring when you drag a dead man through the woods."

On January 19, Jones picked up his female acquaintance in Topeka, Kansas and they set out on the projected trip to Indianapolis. He was accosted by the Missouri Highway Patrol for speeding and successfully outran the police in a high speed chase through Lafayette and Saline counties, during which he compared his companion and himself to Bonnie and Clyde. He abandoned the car at a farmhouse near Malta Bend and was apprehended about three and a half hours later. The car bore Johnson County, Kansas, license plates stolen from another car.

Albert did not report to work on January 17, and was not seen again. His body was found in a wooded area near Independence on March 2, 1986. The medical examiner estimated that he had been dead between two weeks and several months. The body was wrapped in a blanket identical in appearance to the one Jones has borrowed from his roommate. Albert had been shot five times in the neck and chest. Three of the bullets had been fired from the same weapon and the other two could have been. No murder weapon was ever found.

William R. Jones was executed at 12:04 a.m., November 20, 2002.

Missouri Department of Corrections

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

William R. Jones (MO) - Nov. 20, 2002 - 12:01 AM CST, 1:01 AM EST.

The state of Missouri is scheduled to execute William R. Jones Wednesday, Nov. 20 for the murder of Stanley Albert. Jones, a white man, shot Albert on January 16, 1986, allegedly in order to steal the victim’s white Camaro. The two had previously met several times at the Liberty Memorial – a common homosexual meeting place. Jones, who is bisexual, was twenty-one years old at the time; Albert was in his fifties.

Jones pled not guilty at trial, but later confessed, claiming his defense lawyers convinced him to issue a statement denying his involvement in the murder. He was, no doubt, a very difficult client to represent; he changed his story repeatedly after his incarceration, each time further forfeiting his credibility. However, Jones’s defense lawyers – both trying their first capital murder case – made one inexcusable mistake: they failed to investigate the defendant’s mental condition, a routine measure in all capital cases.

A criminal defense attorney testified at a hearing in 1989 that such an error clearly demonstrated the ineffectiveness of Jones’s counsel. When asked whether a reasonably competent defense lawyer in the state of Missouri would routinely have a mental evaluation conducted in a capital murder case, she responded: “There are few things in life you can be certain of, but this is one of them. There is no capital case that you would not request a psychiatric evaluation of your client.” She further emphasized the irresponsible nature of this particular decision, claiming that cases involving a homosexual killing always, without exception, include mental evaluations. This mistake was not a potentially successful strategy that backfired, but rather a blatant error by inexperienced defense lawyers.

During post-conviction proceedings, Dr. William O’Connor, a neuropsychologist, evaluated Jones and testified that he suffered from “ego dystonic homosexuality” and “disassociative disorder with panic attacks.” This further supports the claim that a defense strategy including a mental examination could have altered the entire landscape of the case, and quite possibly produced a conviction of second-degree murder – which does not carry the death penalty.

Jones’s defense lawyers were confident going into the trial that the prosecution lacked sufficient evidence to gain a capital murder conviction; this prediction proved erroneous, as the state laid out a very strong case against Jones. Charles Wesley Thomas, the defendant’s male roommate and lover, said he saw Jones and Albert in the white Camaro on the day of the murder. Several witnesses, including Thomas, testified that Jones mentioned killing someone shortly before and after the time of the murder. Police apprehended Jones after a high-speed chase on January 18; at the time, he was driving Albert’s white Camaro. Investigators also traced the blanket in which Albert’s body was wrapped to the defendant, as well as the bullets lodged in his chest and torso.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

William R. Jones was convicted of the January 1986 shooting death of Stanley Albert. Albert's body was found wrapped in a blanket in a wooded area near Independence in early March of 1986. He had been shot five times in the neck and chest. Jones was a bisexual person who was sometimes employed as a male stripper. He became acquainted with Stanley Albert, with whom he had a homosexual relationship, in late 1985. Jones was 21 and Albert was in his fifties.

In November of 1985 Albert purchased a white 1985 Camaro Z28. Beginning in December of 1985, Jones told several people that his father was going to help him acquire a white Camaro. On January 16, 1986 at 4:30 p.m. Albert pulled up in front of Jones’ apartment in his Camaro, apparently to keep a prior engagement. Jones borrowed a blanket from his roommate and left with Albert in the car. He told his roommate that his new car had arrived. He said he was going to pick up some new tires and didn’t want to get the car dirty. That same evening Jones offered his roommate a ride in the Camaro, which was accepted. During the ride he crushed a pair of sunglasses, remarking that the owner would not need them anymore. He confirmed a tentative arrangement with a female acquaintance to drive her to Indianapolis in his "new car" the following Sunday.

He left the apartment early the next morning, purchased a shovel with his roommates credit card, and returned in the afternoon. He had the license plates which had previously been on Albert’s Camaro, explaining that he had to give them back to the man who sold him the car and that his father was getting him new plates. He complained to his roommate, saying, "well, it gets pretty tiring when you drag a dead man through the woods." On January 19, Jones picked up his female acquaintance in Topeka, Kansas and they set out on the projected trip to Indianapolis. He was accosted by the Missouri Highway Patrol for speeding and successfully outran the police in a high speed chase through Lafayette and Saline counties, during which he compared his companion and himself to Bonnie and Clyde. He abandoned the car at a farmhouse near Malta Bend and was apprehended about three and a half hours later. The car bore Johnson County, Kansas, license plates stolen from another car.

Albert did not report to work on January 17, and was not seen again. His body was found in a wooded area near Independence on March 2, 1986. The medical examiner estimated that he had been dead between two weeks and several months. The body was wrapped in a blanket identical in appearance to the one Jones has borrowed from his roommate. Albert had been shot five times in the neck and chest. Three of the bullets had been fired from the same weapon and the other two could have been. No murder weapon was ever found.

KansasCity.Com (Kansis City Star)

"KC man Executed for 1986 Killing." (AP November 20, 2002)

POTOSI, Mo. - A Kansas City man responsible for what prosecutors described as a cold-blooded killing was executed by lethal injection early today. Convicted murderer William R. Jones Jr. died at 12:04 a.m. at the Potosi Correctional Center. He is the sixth Missouri inmate put to death this year and the 59th since the state's death penalty was reinstated in 1989.

Jones was convicted of first-degree murder in the January 1986 death of Stanley Albert, whom he had met at a Kansas City park frequented by gay men.

Gov. Bob Holden declined late Tuesday to grant executive clemency to Jones soon after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Jones' request for a stay of execution. Earlier Tuesday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis declined to issue a stay or to accept last-minute appeals filed on Jones' behalf. One of Jones' current attorneys, Charlie Rogers, said the lawyers who represented Jones at his murder trial were inept. One was an alleged alcoholic who has since been disbarred.

Prosecutors called it a cold-blooded, execution-style killing over a car. Jones maintained he shot Albert in self-defense when Albert made unwanted sexual advances. Rogers said Jones' version was supported by his subsequent diagnosis of ego dystonic-homosexuality, a discomfort with one's homosexual inclinations, along with borderline personality disorder.

Patrick Peters, a former Jackson County prosecutor who tried the case, described Jones as a "schmoozer" who lied to his psychiatrist by initially claiming he was straight. Peters said Jones was upset by Albert's sexual advances, when in fact Jones was bisexual and living with a male lover. Peters said Jones plotted the killing after meeting and dating Albert and deciding he wanted Albert's Camaro. He said Jones shot Albert five times with a .22-caliber gun on Jan. 16, 1986, and left him near the George Owens Nature Center in Independence. Investigators found the body weeks later. Evidence included bullets and vehicle license plates found in Jones' home, and his purchase of a shovel to bury the body, Peters said.

He said Jones used the "homophobic rage" alibi in a post-conviction hearing when his claim of innocence did not convince jurors. "He cold-bloodedly executed this guy," Peters said.

Missouri Attorney General

Sept. 25, 2002 State Supreme Court Sets Oct. 23 Execution Date for Kansas City Man For 1986 Murder

Jefferson City, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court today set an Oct. 23 execution date for William R. Jones, convicted of the January 1986 shooting death of Stanley Albert. Albert’s body was found wrapped in a blanket in a wooded area near Independence in early March 1986. He had been shot five times in the neck and chest.

Jones (DOB - 12/9/64) and Albert began a relationship in late 1985. In November of that year, Albert purchased a new white Camaro Z28. Shortly thereafter, Jones told several friends that he would be acquiring a white Camaro. On Jan. 16, 1986, Jones borrowed a blanket from his roommate and left with Albert in Albert’s car. That evening, Jones returned with the car but without Albert.

On Jan. 19, Jones and a female acquaintance began driving to Indianapolis in the car, which now bore Kansas license plates stolen from another vehicle. He was pursued by police after he was speeding but managed to elude law enforcement officials in a high-speed chase through Lafayette and Saline counties. Jones abandoned the vehicle near Malta Bend and was apprehended a few hours later.

The office of Attorney General Jay Nixon represented the state in opposing Jones’ appeals.

Public Interest Litigation Clinic

JONES, WILLIAM

DOB: December 9, 1964
Race: White
Gender: Male

Crime and Trial

County of conviction: Jackson
Number of counts: One
Race of victim: White
Gender of victim: Male
Date of crime: January 16, 1986
Date of sentencing: February 13, 1987
Trial Counsel: John Frankum and Kenneth Morgens

Significant legal issues:

--trial counsel's failure to investigate Jones' hospital records and have them evaluated by an experts in light of a letter that described conduct akin to a dissociative experience and panic due to a homosexual assault.

--trial counsel's failure during the penalty phase to obtain and present a mental examination and evidence showing that Jones was abused as a child and later suffered a brain injury

ABCNews.Com (Reuters News)

"Missouri Executes Man Defenders Say Brain Damaged." (November 20, 2002)

— POTOSI, Mo. (Reuters) - A Kansas City man who shot and killed a friend because he wanted the man's car was executed early on Wednesday despite pleas from supporters that he suffered from brain damage and an abusive childhood. William Jones Jr., 37, died at 12:04 a.m. CST, at the Potosi Correctional Center after the injection of a series of lethal drugs, said prison spokesman John Feujer.

Jones was sentenced to death for the 1986 murder of 49-year-old friend Stanley Albert during a ride in Albert's newly purchased white Camaro. Investigators said Jones shot Albert five times, and then hid the body in a Kansas City-area nature park before driving the Camaro home and showing it off to friends.

Prison officials said Jones' last words included an apology to the family of his victim, but also a rebuke to his executioners: "I regret what has happened. I do not deserve death for it. To the family of the victim: does this really give you a sense of closure or simply a sense of vengeance?" they reported Jones as saying.

Jones' wife, who attended the execution Wednesday along with a group of defenders seeking to spare his life, made a series of final appeals in recent days. They argued that brain injuries suffered during Jones' childhood and in an attack a few months before the murder left him with anger management problems. Calls to spare Jones came from as far away as Europe as death penalty opponents there urged the death sentence against Jones be set aside. Prison officials said 32 capital punishment opponents protested the execution outside the prison.

TheKansasCityChannel.Com

"Missouri Executes Man For 1986 Murder; Jones Dies By Lethal Injection." (AP November 20, 2002)

POTOSI, Mo. -- William Jones Jr. grew up in America's Heartland -- "born in the ranks of the working middle class, deep in the heart of the United States," he wrote in rambling prose on his Web site from the Potosi Correctional Center. But his early life in Kansas City had none of the warmth and humor of a Norman Rockwell painting. It ended early Wednesday when the state executed him for murdering a man at a suburban Kansas City park in 1986.

Jones, 37, died by lethal injection just after midnight. He lifted his head from the gurney to mouth the words "I love you" to his Austrian wife, who won European condemnation for the execution, and his father, who had once abused him. They looked on from a witness gallery behind glass, Gerti Jones blowing kisses as tears streamed down her face, his father looking somber and stunned. It was far from the childhood that brought Jones to this point -- family chaos, early exposure to drugs and sex, a father prone to violent episodes of abuse -- all recorded by Jones in his diary-like Web site.

His appeals exhausted and a clemency petition denied by Gov. Bob Holden, Jones wrote a final statement late Tuesday, read aloud after his execution. He said he regretted the murder of Stanley Albert, 49, the father of two teenage children he'd met at a Kansas City park frequented by gay men, but that he did not deserve to be executed. In the statement, Jones asked Robin Gazi of Kansas City and Chris Albert of Liberty, Albert's children now grown into their 30s, if his execution gave them closure or a sense of vengeance.

Addressing Missouri and European reporters afterward, Gazi said they felt closure but her brother acknowledged the execution did represent an "eye for an eye." "Maybe it will cause someone to think twice before causing the same kind of pain we have endured," he said. "It's not a good feeling," Albert said. "A man died here tonight. But this man caused our father's death. He planned it, bragged about it and escaped."

Jones' attorneys had a different explanation for the killing of Albert at an Independence nature center in January 1986. They said Jones had a confused sexual identity from a bizarre childhood of early exposure to sex by his own parents, and erotic strip dancing his sister had led him into. Early in his life, Jones was exposed to both heterosexual and homosexual relationships.

Defense attorney Charlie Rogers cited a neuropsychologist's finding that Jones suffered from "ego dystonic homosexuality"-confusion about one's sexual identity and uneasiness about homosexual inclinations. Jones' attorneys said he panicked when Albert propositioned him. Jones had maintained he shot Albert in self-defense after Albert made unwanted sexual advances. But prosecutors called it a cold-blooded execution-style killing over a car.

Patrick Peters, a former Jackson County prosecutor who tried the case, said Jones plotted the killing after meeting and dating Albert and deciding he wanted his Camaro. He said he shot Albert five times with a .22-caliber gun and left him near the George Owens Nature Center in Independence. Investigators found the body weeks later. Evidence included bullets and vehicle license plates found in Jones' home, and his purchase of a shovel to bury the body, Peters said.

But sexual confusion wasn't Jones' only problem. Attorneys say the lawyers who represented Jones at his murder trial were inept. One was an alleged alcoholic who has since been disbarred. Another now works as a pit boss in a gambling casino. Rogers said Jones' trial attorneys didn't make a plea offer in exchange for a lighter sentence, or explore Jones' mental status, his abusive, dysfunctional family, or the brain damage he suffered from an attack by two men five months prior to the Albert killing.

The case drew attention in Europe, where opposition to the death penalty is strong, since Jones married Gerti Jones in January 2001. They'd met over the Internet a year earlier. Among those who asked Holden for clemency were the Austrian government, the European Parliament, and the 44-member Council of Europe, which says the execution would violate U.N. human rights resolutions. A German television reporter who traveled to Potosi for the execution said she was fascinated by U.S. fixation on the death penalty. "There are none in Europe and so many here," she said.

William R. Jones Webpage

PERSONAL BIOGRAPHY IN A NUTSHELL by WILLIAM R. JONES

Born in the ranks of the working middle class, deep in the heart of the United States. Kansas city to some, if the U.S. was depicted as the anatomy of the human body, some locals refer to this as "the lint hole in the belly button", and I must say that this analogy isn't very far from the truth.

The slice of american pie, and I must say that for the life I have lived here has only left a bitter aftertaste of something that couldn't remotely resemble the apple pie analogy. Childhood brought on many good memories, ( at the earliest stages of childhood) ones that bring visions of normality and stability in the so called "faith of the american way". With one older sister, and a birth date far too close to the birth of christ, I was always shadowed, being the one and only younger child - or in layman's terms, number 2. Although constantly plagued by this misfortune we call procreation, I have always found a way to sort of fall into my own world when it seemed the very fabric of the world around me was being ripped apart. Yes, I was very much the day-dreamer. If something was amiss, the fault always seemed to be blamed upon me. This is where misdirection of an out-of-control sister shinning ever so brightly with her halo floating over a head that could not possibly understand the meaning of evil doers would become the product of my demise. In other words, I always got the crap beat out of me for whatever went wrong !! Only after my elder sibling discovered the word and world defining mischief that is. This is about the same time that my world came crashing down around me. My father became extremely violent. My mother intervened on some of these bouts of child abuse, which to this day I know that if it weren't for some of her interventions, I wouldn't be writing this now.

At the age of 12, my father and mother divorced. Since my mother had always been the good housewife, she couldn't support me or my sister. ( there is a gray area here as to why she never tried to seek child-support if she truly wanted me and my sister in her life) Ultimately me and my sister lived less than a sheltered life with our father. By this time, the abusiveness had subsided dramatically, I now come to believe that a great deal of this abuse was simply misdirected from a marriage constantly on the brink of destruction. Having the peer pressures of an older sister and trying to empress her older friends, I found myself sinking into a new world, one filled with drugs (mainly marijuana) and sex education ! My grades in school at this point were simply passable, giving more graces to the finer arts of skipping school than to a reasonable education.

One of my classes being art, I found something that not only interested me, but something I could excel in with exemplary grades. By the time I was 12 years old, my father didn't take much note into my newly discovered talent until a much later time in my life. With a little fate on my side, and a good sense of hand-to-eye coordination, my father did take me to have guitar lessons when I showed some interest in this area.

By the time I was 16 my father remarried to an ill fated witch who's only true securities were her personal "bodily" assets. A woman one could associate to a black widow spider which eats its mates after intercourse. The only difference in this situation is that her hunger was not of the flesh, but that of the stability of cash flow my father could maintain to support her ever growing web of deceit.

My step-mother has a daughter, now my step-sister, who was at the time in her infancy when my father remarried. My step-sister and I got along probably better than most under the circumstances, but as time passed I could now see the entire layout of my step-mother's maniacal webbing. It was to assure that her that her daughter be brought up in such a sterilized environment that even an anatomically correct barbie-doll would be considered blasphemy ! In this house of glass I started to feel the pressures one might associate to the looks a street bum might encounter. A complete outsider who's time in this family circle will be very short lived.

My step-mother already saw me as a bad influence, (only by word of mouth). I say this because I tried everything possible to maintain a good stature and relationship in this new circle. I was now getting far more better grades than just simply passing. I got decent jobs around town that I worked even on school nights, yet one day the unavoidable came knocking at our glass door. The thin ice that I had been walking on shattered, and the sterilized environment came to an end for me.

It started when I simply took a day off from work without anyone knowing. When my father found out about it, he beat me in the face with his closed fist within an inch of my life. I could see the smug smile of satisfaction on my step-mother's face while she stood behind my father's brutal beating. To this day I will never forget the look on the witches face, for I could see that my father had succumbed to her weirding ways, and only survival at this point was to retreat from the battlefield while I still had my life intact. By this time my real mother had established a decent job. Once again my mother came to my rescue from my abusive father. I moved in with her, and at first everything was going fairly well, yet as time passed I started once again to feel like an outsider. This time it was because my mother had never remarried, and saw me as being an obstacle to this goal. Once again opportunity came knocking, this time it was because she had found some marijuana in my bedroom. I was instantly kicked out into the streets with nowhere to go. ( take note: both of my parents smoked marijuana at this point in our lives ). Being just 17 years old and only having one year of high school left before graduating, I was pretty much lost for a place to stay and being kicked out into a world that I simply wasn't prepared for. The only doors open to me with outstretched arms was the U.S. Military, so I joined. After a brief stint and an honorable discharge, I was back out on the streets feeling the need to make up for lost time. I started to once again use drugs and set a goal to have sex with as many woman as humanly possible. This also brought me into a life of erotic strip dancing, and by this time in my life I was burning both ends of my candle as brightly as I possibly could.

This lifestyle was seemingly not self gratifying after a short while, so I once again picked up a paint brush and began to paint portraits of the nude female. This was when my father saw my first set of nude art and seemed to take a great interest. Never did me and my father really ever bond after I had left him from the abuse, but since, me and my mother have become rather close once again.

Only a short time before I caught this case that I have been in prison now for over 16 years did I find a place interested in my artwork, one of the most famous card makers in the United States, and they were going to hire me on the spot.

Fate is a very funny thing indeed. One minute it seems like nothing can possibly go right, then all of the sudden you couldn't ask for anything better, just to have it ripped from your grasp once again.

It has almost taken the better part of 16 years to once again have fate on my side, and now it has come in the most beautiful image that I have ever seen, her name is Gerti and she is now my wife.... also my life. This time with our combined

My Case: Extract from the court documents:

In july of 1985, just five months prior to the death of Stanley Allbert, two male assailants brutally beat me at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City. I sustained numerous injuries, including significant trauma to my head and a skull fracture. Admitted over a week to st. Mary's hospital in Kansas City; tests disclosed that I suffered a cerebrum contusion of the left temporal and parietal lobes, and hematoma with associated edema in the right temporal lobe. Following my release from the hospital, family members observed changes in my mannerisms and conduct. I became volatile, moody, impulsive and unable to control my temper. I frequently worked out on my punching bag until my knuckles bled and on one occasion, I, in an irrational frenzy, hit myself in the head with a glass, producing cuts which required emergency room treatment. It was in this setting that my life and the one of Stanley Albert tragically crossed.

I met Stanley Albert in late 1985 while I was jogging at the Liberty Memorial Mall. We discussed Albert's new vehicle, a 1985 white camaro z28 which Albert had just purchased. Soon albert and I developed a friendship which centered around the car, as well as albert's suggestions that he might be willing to sell it to me. On January 16, 1986, Albert picked me up at my apartment, in order that we could "mix business with pleasure;" we headed to George Owens park to have a picnic and discuss the sale of the car. I took my gun which I always carried for personal protection after the beating I received in july of 1985. At the park, we began to climb a ranger tower. While climbing the stairs, Albert propositioned me. I began to walk down the stairs of the tower. Albert grabbed me by the shoulder and I felt down the stairs of the tower. Although dazed, I struggled with Albert, who was attempting to pull my pants down. I managed to crawl to the car, where my gun lay. In a panic I shot Albert five times. I subsequently wrapped Albert's body in a blanket I borrowed from my roommate for the picnic, drug it into the woods, and attempted to cover it up with leaves and dirt. I took the car and disposed of the gun at a trash can located at a nearby seven-eleven store.

Three days later, on january 19, 1986, the Missouri Highway Patrol chased me for speeding in Lafayette County. After apprehending me, the police arrested me for the theft of the vehicle. It was not until March 2, 1986, that Albert's body was discovered. On April 16, 1986 prosecutors filed an information charging me with the capital murder of Albert. My family, with the assistance of a family friend, retained John Frankum and Kenneth Morgans to represent me. While realizing the family had limited resources,

Frankum and Morgans expected to receive $ 20 000.-- for the trial of the capital case. In actuality, the men only received $ 3.000.-- for the preparation and trial of the case. Neither Frankum nor Morgans had any prior experience in capital litigation and had handled no other first degree murder cases. The two attorneys failed to properly investigate available defenses, obtain a mental examination of me despite a strong basis to do so, and failed to prepare any evidence, if necessary, for mitigation during the penalty phase. Prior to trial, Frankum received a letter from me which described the death of Stanley Albert and a disassociate experience during which I admitted killing Albert. Despite this letter, information about my "unsettled home life" and my sexual confusion, Frankum and Morgans failed to do a reasonable investigation or have any mental and/or physical examinations conducted.

I did not testify at the trial which commenced on November 3, 1986. I was convicted by a jury of first degree, capital murder. During the penalty phase, the state adducted the testimony of three individuals; my counsels failed to present any evidence for mitigation. I testified at the penalty phase and denied involvement in Albert's murder (as per advise of my lawyers)

The jury assessed the penalty of death.

Requesting Support

William R. Jones, 21 years of age at the time of his arrest, was second child in a violent, chaotic, and dysfunctional family. His parents fought frequently, both verbally and physically, and engaged in sexual conduct in front of Billy and his sister. The parents also abused alcohol and marijuana and introduced their two children to these substances. During his childhood, Billy suffered numerous head injuries that resulted in concussions and short term physical impairment. Just before the incident that resulted in his murder conviction, Billy was brutally beaten by two male assailants at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City. Billy sustained severe injuries, including significant trauma to his head and a skull fracture. Doctors later determined that, as a result of this incident, Billy suffered from residual brain damage of the type associated with memory loss, gaps in thinking, and the inability to concentrate when in a state of panic.

In November 1986, a jury in Jackson County, Missouri convicted Billy Jones of capital murder in the death of Stanley Albert. Three months later, on February 9, 1987, the trial court sentenced Billy to death by lethal injection. Since that time, Billy's conviction and sentence have been affirmed by every court that has considered his case. In 1988 the Missouri Supreme Court denied Billy's claims. Following that, the United States Supreme Court, denied his Petition for Writ of Certiorari. Following

those denials, Billy sought post-conviction relief in the Missouri state courts and later sought habeas corpus relief in the federal courts. All of Billy's state post-conviction claims were denied, and the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed that denial.

In October 1990, Billy initiated his federal habeas proceedings by filing a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. The District Court subsequently appointed counsel for Mr. Jones. An Amended Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and accompanying Memorandum were later filed. Although the District Court originally granted a hearing, it later reversed that order and denied Mr. Jones' request for an evidentiary hearing. The court instead relied only on the hearing record from the State post-conviction proceedings.

In May 1998, the United States District Court entered an Order denying Mr. Jones' claims for relief. Subsequent challenges in the District Court to the Court's Order were unsuccessful. Mr. Jones then appealed the denial of his claims to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit. The Eight Circuit also denied relief, issuing its opinion on July 31, 2001. A subsequent Petition for Rehearing by the panel or for rehearing by the entire court en banc was denied. Billy Jones is now seeking what may be his final opportunity for judicial review, as he anticipates filing a Petition for

Writ of Certiorari with the United States Supreme Court before March 14, 2002. If the United States Supreme Court denies Billy Jones' request for review, then Mr. Jones' only remaining alternative may be a petition for clemency with the Governor of Missouri. Any letters written by Billy's supporters, both in the United States and abroad, will be used in support of the Petition for Clemency. The purpose of the clemency request will be to remove the sentence of death. In essence, we will ask for mercy based on mitigating aspects of the case and Billy's background. Certainly, there are many sympathetic factors in Billy's case, not the least of which are his age at the time of his arrest and the violent environment in which he was raised.

Billy's parents fought loudly, violently and frequently. The father, William Jones Sr., was hot tempered and physically abusive. He often threw objects during his emotional rages. On one occasion, he threw Billy's sister by her hair. He frequently beat Billy with a belt and, on once occasion, broke a guitar over Billy's head. Billy's father believed that children should be raised by "making them fear you."

Billy's parents divorced just as he was entering adolescence. Following the divorce, he shuttled from one parent's household to the other. Billy's sister took up "exotic dancing" at the age of 15. His sister then introduced him to people and circumstances that he was not prepared to handle. Billy became sexually active and at the age of 17, he joined his sister in the exotic dancing. Through exotic dancing, Billy was exposed to both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. As a result, he experienced some sexual confusion and conflict.

Throughout his childhood, Billy suffered numerous head injuries, including the trauma inflicted when his father broke a guitar over his head. In July, 1985, after he suffered the assault at the Liberty Memorial, hospital tests disclosed that he had suffered a cerebrum contusion of the left temporal and parietal lobes. After his release from the hospital, Billy's family members observed changes in his mannerisms and conduct. Billy became violent, moody, impulsive, and had difficulty controlling his temper.

Billy met Stanley Albert after the beating incident in late 1985. The two met at the Liberty Memorial Mall. Billy and Stanley Albert discussed Albert's new vehicle, a 1985 white Camaro Z 28 that Albert had just purchased. The men headed to George Owens Park to have a picnic and to discuss the sale of the car. Billy took with him the gun that he always carried for personal protection after the beating he received in July 1985. At the park, the two men started to climb a Ranger tower. Stanley Albert then sexually propositioned Billy. Billy began to walk down the stairs, and Stanley Albert grabbed him by the shoulder. Billy felt down the stairs. He struggled with Stanley Albert, who was attempting to pull down Billy's pants. Billy crawled to the car, retrieved his gun, and in a panic shot Stanley Albert five times. He later wrapped the body in a blanket and attempted to cover it up with leaves and dirt. He took Albert's car and disposed of the gun in a trash can at a nearby convenience store. Three days later, the Missouri Highway Patrol pursued Billy for speeding. After apprehending him, the officers arrested Billy for theft of the vehicle. Several weeks later, Stanley Albert's body was discovered and Billy was charged with capital murder.

Billy's family later retained two attorneys, John Frankum and Kenneth Morgens, to represent Billy. Neither of these lawyers had any prior experience in capital litigation and had not handled any other first degree murder cases. The two attorneys failed to adequately investigate available defenses, obtain a mental exam of Billy, and failed to prepare any evidence for the penalty phase of the trial so that the jury could be persuaded that Billy deserved a life sentence. Before the trial, attorney Frankum received a letter from Billy that described how Billy had become confused and panicked during the incident at the park with Stanley Albert. Billy had admitted to his attorney that he had killed Albert. Despite this letter and despite having information about Billy's abusive home life, the attorneys failed to conduct any significant investigation into the facts of the case of Billy's background.

Billy did not testify during the guilt phase of the trial. The jury convicted him of capital murder. During the penalty phase, the State presented its evidence. However, Billy's counsel failed to present any evidence seeking to persuade the jury in favor of life. Billy testified, and denied involvement in the murder. The jury assessed the penalty at death.

In the State post-conviction hearing that followed, Billy's new lawyers presented the testimony of Dr. William O'Connor, a neuropsychologist who concluded that Billy suffered from "egodystonic homosexuality" a condition in which someone suffers substantial conflict and confusion regarding his or her sexual identity. He also concluded that Billy suffered from borderline disorder. After reviewing the medial records from Billy's hospital stay following the Liberty Memorial beating, Dr. O'Connor also concluded that Billy suffered from residual brain damage. The area of the brain damaged could cause certain types of memory loss, gaps in thinking, and the inability to concentrate when in a panicked state. Dr. O'Connor testified that, in his opinion, Billy, because of his sexual confusion, entered into a disassociative or panicked state when Stanley Albert propositioned him. Dr. O'Connor further opined hat Billy was incapable of appreciating the nature, quality, and wrongfulness of his conduct. Billy therefore could not conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. At the State Post-Conviciton Hearing, Billy's mother describe the abusive environment in which her son was raised. Billy's two trial attorneys also testified and admitted they had conducted little or no investigation into Billy's family, social, medical, or mental background. Frankum also admitted that he took no action to investigate or follow up on Billy's letter in which Billy had described the death of Stanley Albert.

After an evidentiary hearing, the State Post-Conviction Court denied Billy's claims, stating that it rejected Dr. O'Connor's diagnosis of egodystonic homosexuality and depersonalization disorder with borderline personality disorder.

The United States District Court similarly rejected Billy's claims of mental disease and his complaints about his attorneys' failure to investigate the case and failure to present any evidence in mitigation. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit affirmed the federal district court's denial of habeas relief. The appellate court rejected all claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and concluded that even as to the penalty phase, that the trial attorney's failures had not caused prejudice to Mr. Jones.

Billy Jones now faces what may be his last opportunity to obtain court review of his claims. Following that, his claims will be represented to the Governor of Missouri in the form of a petition for clemency. Billy very much needs and appreciates any expressions of support from international sources. Those who write letters should emphasize Billy's youth at the time of the crime, his violent home life, his head injuries, the poor representation by his trial lawyer and his effort to rehabilitate himself in prison, including the development of his artistic talent.

All letters of support written on Billy's behalf are appreciated and will be presented to the governor at the appropriate time. Any further questions about the content of these letters may be directed to me or Charles Rogers, my co-counsel on this case.

Respectfully, Cheryl A. Pilate