Jury deliberates in murder trial

Kim Smith

Thursday, Sept. 19, 2002 | 9:52 a.m.

The jury in the murder trial of a Colorado man returned to court this morning to resume deliberations after closing arguments on Wednesday.

Brett Jones, 25, is accused of beating and strangling 67-year-old Shirley Rogers to death last year -- just weeks after she rescued him from a homeless shelter.

While his attorneys tried to show Jones, 25, is guilty only of second-degree murder in Rogers' Sept. 21, 2001, death, prosecutors contend the slaying was nothing short of first-degree murder.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Jones could receive the death penalty.

Chief Deputy District Attorneys David Wall and Robert Daskas told jurors Wednesday they can find Jones guilty of first-degree murder under two different theories.

They can find that Jones killed Rogers during a robbery or that he acted intentionally, deliberately and with premeditation, the attorneys said.

The prosecutors argued that Jones killed Rogers because he was upset that she was kicking him out of her home. He then proceeded to steal her guns and her truck before fleeing to Mexico.

Without Rogers, the prosecutors contend, Jones would soon find himself without a home, without a vehicle and without his construction job. Being a convicted robber, he would also have faced a possible prison sentence for violating his probation.

Wall reminded the jurors that medical experts testified it takes five minutes to strangle someone to death.

"He had time to think between the first punch and the second punch and between the second punch and the third punch. He had time to think between the eighth and the ninth punch and he had time between the beating and the strangling," Wall said. "He also had time to think while he was strangling her."

Daskas said even Jones' actions after the death showed he knew what he was doing. He ignored the knock at the door by the police, he ransacked Rogers' home for money and property, he stole her truck and he crossed the Mexican border at an out-of-the-way location.

"Does that sound like someone whose mind is completely blank?" Daskas asked. "His every step was designed to avoid responsibility."

Jones' attorneys, Deputy Public Defenders Will Ewing and Joseph Abood, insisted that Jones was so drunk that night he couldn't possibly have been able "weight and examine" the consequences of his actions.

Abood reminded jurors that Jones testified he only has a "foggy" recollection of what happened that night.

"They (prosecutors) are asking you to assume that because he had time to deliberate that he actually did," Abood said.

Jones acted on a "rash impulse" and he should only be convicted of second-degree murder, Abood said.