The United States of America through the State of Texas has commit premeditated Murder.

(If you want, you can read his history...)

LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

For the alleged killing of a 29-year old woman, who was abducted from a parking lot on February 19th 1986, Richard Wayne Jones was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in the 213th Criminal District Court of Tarrant County, Texas in July 1987 and on April 29th 1992 the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction. Since then Richard has had 4 execution dates - namely July 15th 1993, November 2nd 1993, August 8th 1994 and April 12th 1995. A few hours before being strapped down on the gurney, the Federal Court of Appeals granted Richard an indefinite stay of execution. On October 15th 1996, Richard’s petition for Habeas Corpus and motion for an evidentiary hearing was denied by the United States Magistrate Judge. On October 30th, 1998, Judge Terry Means ruled against Richard with regard to his last legal filing.
In the first months of 2000, the 5th Circuit rejected Richard's case and now a new - serious - execution date has been set: AUGUST 22, 2000.

We pay the costs of the private investigator out of our own funds. This is a lot of money.
Contribution to a fund for these costs are highly appreciated. Such can be paid to:

Fund for Life Switzerland Basel Postal Account Number 40-8628-0

Please remark “Contribution for Richard Wayne-Jones”.

Thank you !.

SUMMARY OF HIS CASE

Richard asserted his innocence from the beginning and said that the crime was committed by one of his sisters and her boyfriend who abducted, robbed and killed the victim. Richard says that his sister then came to him and asked him to buy the stolen goods. Richard did buy them and gave the goods to his girlfriend who was caught trying to cash one of the stolen checks. Richard told this to the police but he was never believed even so the only evidence against him was the possession of the stolen goods. There were fingerprints and hair samples taken from the crime scene and from the victim’s car as well as other evidence which would have proven Richard’s innocence but were never tested nor identified.

Being poor, Richard could not hire a private lawyer at trial nor at appeal. He was given State appointed lawyers.

An eyewitness told the police that the man who abducted the woman was wearing blue-jeans and a red shirt, that he had brown hair and was clean shaven. This statement does not match with Richard. He is blond, had a moustache and was wearing that night a brown checked shirt. However, it could match his sister’s boyfriend who has brown hair and was clean shaven at the time. At the trial the same witness testified against Richard. Since Richard testified that he was never at the store where the victim had been abducted, her testimony was extremely important in the States case and it was crucial for the Jury. This witness was on deferred probation but the Jury was not allowed to hear that the prosecutors sponsoring her testimony were from the same office which had prosecuted her and who could bring revocation proceedings against her. It would have been crucial for the Jury to know that her independence was compromised.

According to the Grand Jury testimony offered by 3 witnesses, the boyfriend of Richard’s sister was trying to sell checks and credit cards after the murder. One of the witnesses also said that the name on those documents was the name of the victim. The same witness also testified that when the boyfriend of Richard’s sister went to his house and sought to sell the victim’s property the night of the murder, he had blood spots on his shirt and pants. The jury never heard these things and the effect of these exclusions are undeniable. At the trial Richard pleaded his innocence. He explained that he had got the property from his sister’s boyfriend. All of the witnesses supporting him, were for one reason or another unavailable to him at the time of trial, but they had testified before the Tarrant County Grand Jury where they had been subject to cross-examination by the same prosecutor who had tried Richard. By refusing to admit the Grand Jury testimony of all these witnesses, the trial court deprived Richard of all evidence corroborating his defence and therefore denied him his constitutional right to due process.

The jury never heard any evidence supporting his defence.

The testimony of Richard’s girlfriend was also crucial to his defence. She was with him during the period of time immediately after he was supposed to have committed the murder. She corroborated his story about the victim’s property. At the same time she was charged with forgery in connection with passing the checks and was appointed counsel. The Assistant District Attorney approached her and her lawyer and offered her ten years probation on the charges in exchange for testifying before the Grand Jury against Richard. She accepted this deal and was granted immunity by the State. However, she refused to testify at trial , asserting her 5th Amendment right against self incrimination. This governmental interference deprived Richard of his fundamental right to present this key witness.

When he returned to the Trial Court on his first application for a writ of Habeas Corpus, and also later on, he was again thwarted in his attempts to present his story to the fact-finder. He has never been given any chance to prove his asserted innocence.

Through the actions of the State and the Trial Court, and the mistakes of Richard’s State appointed lawyers, Richard has been denied the fundamental right to present evidence in his own defence. The State was able to do anything they wanted to, whereas the defence was denied each and every request.

Richard was sentenced to death because of his past.

Richard was sentenced to death because of his past.

HIS LIFE

Richard Wayne Jones was born on April 9th 1960 in Fort Worth, Texas. In the Jones’ family there were 5 daughters and Richard was the only son. Both his parents were alcohol abusers and were very violent. They abused all the children physically and verbally, but as he was the youngest child, Richard suffered particularly. The family was for Richard a place of fear and mistrust. When he was about 8 years old he began to run away, because of his parents’ bad treatment. When he was about 10 or 11 he began stealing - the only way he knew to attract attention. In 1971 he was committed to the custody of the Berean Boys Ranch. During the three years he spent there his parents almost never went to see him. The people who took care of him during that period said that Richard was a very good hard-working boy, that he never gave problems to anyone and that he just needed to feel wanted and loved. On May 31st 1974 he was returned home to live with his parents, but in late August 1974 they brought him back to the Ranch voluntarily and left him there to stay. On July 15th 1975, after committing a theft, Richard was sent to the Gatesville Youth Facility , which was infamous for its brutality and inhumanity. During this time he made two suicide attempts. He cried out for help but all his cries fell on deaf ears. Richard’s story is one of coercion, victimization and rejection. As an adult he was in prison twice, for theft, then he found a job and settled down. But pain and injustice were his destiny. Richard was convicted for a crime which he did not commit and wrongly sentenced to death because of his past.

This is just a brief summary.

Many more facts and new evidence - now available - would convince any fair minded person that the wrong person has been convicted.

RICHARD JONES COMMITTEE (arianna@linknet.it)

--The preceding was copied from the Italian URL http://utenti.multimania.it/richardjones/english.html