LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – For three weeks, Luther Jones Jr. has been a free man.
He had spent nearly 20 years behind bars – 18 of them in state prison – for a molestation case that, as it turned out, was trumped up against him by an ex-girlfriend engaged in a custody battle with him, who had told one of her older daughters to lie.
In July 1998 Jones had been sentenced to 27 years in prison after standing trial twice and taking the stand in his own defense.
When the young woman who had testified against him – who now lives outside of Lake County – came forward on Feb. 9 to tell the Lake County District Attorney's Office that her mother had made her lie, local officials quickly took action to get Jones exonerated.
And that's just what happened when, on Feb. 16, District Attorney Don Anderson and defense attorney Angela Carter went to the Lake County Superior Court to argue for Jones' release based on the main witness' recantation.
In that same hearing, Lake County Superior Court Judge Andrew Blum took action that neither Anderson nor Carter was expecting – he ordered Jones immediately released, skipping the potential for weeks of additional hearings.
Blum wanted Jones set free with no further delays, with no more days spent behind bars for a crime he did not commit.
“He was released very, very quickly,” said Carter. “Those writs usually take a lot longer.”
A day later, Jones was released from the state prison system's California Health Care Facility in Stockton to the care of his son, Ko'Fawn Jones, who brought his father home to Lake County.
While his exoneration and the clearing of his name has been a moment of triumph for Jones and his family, it also has opened up a series of struggles, unexpected obstacles and a bureaucratic mire that they are struggling to navigate.
Jones' numerous serious health problems and the fact that he is bedridden means he requires around-the-clock care from his family.
Ko'Fawn Jones, who lost his Cobb home in the Valley fire, has quit his job to care for his father, and is now struggling to make ends meet, pay bills, purchase medication and medical equipment, and respond to his father's complex health needs.
As the realities of the present situation have confronted the family, they find themselves wondering where to turn for help, and asking if they can expect to be paid for a claim they are lodging against the state for Luther Jones' wrongful conviction. The cost is tallied at $140 per day.
Linda Starr, legal director for the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University School of Law – which is helping Jones file the claim with the state – estimated that Jones is entitled to about $900,000 worth of compensation.
A family friend set up a GoFundMe account for the family at https://www.gofundme.com/lutherjones . As of Monday night, it had collected $1,520 of the $10,000 goal.
A life turned upside down
The Jones family came to the Clearlake area decades ago.
Luther Jones Jr. had successfully run a bar and restaurant near Austin Park and had plans at one point to try to purchase the old Austin Resort and renovate it. “There wasn't nothing I couldn't do.”
His sons said he was known for barbecuing for his neighbors and friends.
In 1996 Jones had been involved in a relationship with a woman with whom he had the youngest of his seven children.
He spent six months in jail in a domestic violence case, but shortly after his release he filed a court case to get custody of his then-2-year-old daughter. At the end of August 1996 he won his case and took custody of the girl. Two days later, his ex-girlfriend's 10-year-old daughter told her school principal that he had molested her.
Anderson's writ of habeas corpus filing said that, in actuality, the girl's mother's then-boyfriend had molested her.
Jones went to trial in early 1998, and was convicted at the end of his second trial. The first jury had been deadlocked in the case.
The family chalks up the wrongful conviction to the Lake County justice system, alleging that those without money can't get a fair trial. Luther Jones had his own attorney at first but ran out of money, and had a public defender.
After he was locked up, he said the woman who had orchestrated the case against him – who had serious drug problems – trashed his property and vehicles. His family later ended up selling the property because he wasn't there to care for it.
Ko'Fawn Jones, one of Luther Jones' seven children, was 21 years old and serving in the military in Alabama when his father was sentenced to state prison.
“Everybody knew that my dad was innocent,” he said, adding that over the years many people have asked about his father and said they knew he was sent away for a crime he didn't do.
He kept in touch with his father, writing letters, but hadn't been able to visit him. He and his siblings also tried to get lawyers to fight for exoneration, but those efforts failed.
During his 18 years in the state prison system, Jones was shuttled from one prison to another. “They said I was a bad influence,” he said.
He did time at facilities including Old Folsom, Calipatria and San Quentin. He said he spent 10 years in the Vacaville medical facility, where he had good care.
“With his charges, it made it dangerous for him every day in prison,” Ko'Fawn explained.
“My life was threatened,” Luther Jones said, adding that some people left him alone and stood up for him.
He was never assaulted, despite being threatened. He said he “walked the line like I was supposed to do.”
Inside prison, his health began to fail. His family has a history of issues such as diabetes. In addition, he has problem with his liver, requires dialysis for failing kidneys and his now bedridden.
Over the years he filed suits against the state that alleged poor care and reasserted his innocence.
In 2013 he moved to the Stockton medical facility. He said he was one of the first inmates to arrive at the $1 billion facility. He said the care there wasn't good and that he was abused, with his property taken for no reason.
That life of seemingly endless struggle came to an abrupt and unexpected end in February, after the young woman who had lied on the stand at her mother's instruction told District Attorney's Office investigators the truth.
After she had become a mother and straightened out her life, she said the situation had weighed on her heart, and at her grandmother's urging she went to authorities to tell the truth.
Ko'Fawn Jones said his father is not angry with the young woman whose testimony convicted him – and whose statements ultimately led to him being set free.
Luther Jones, however, didn't want to discuss the woman who created the case against him. The District Attorney's Office said it's considering filing charges against the woman, who does not live in Lake County.
Ko'Fawn Jones said he found out that the exoneration effort was moving forward when Lake County News published the first story on the case on Feb. 15.
The following day, Judge Blum ordered Luther Jones be freed. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation received the signed writ that day, and had up to five days to process Jones' release, which spokesman Luis Patino told Lake County News would give the prison system the time to determine a “continuum of care” to deal with Jones' health issues.
Jones found out on Feb. 17 that he was being released.
“I couldn't believe it. I didn't believe it,” Luther Jones said of being told he was to be released from prison.
He said he received the news 30 minutes before he was freed from custody. “The prisons threw me out.”
Ko'Fawn Jones met his father, in an ambulance, outside the prison gates. He had been told by prison officials that his father wanted food from Carl's Jr., so he picked up a bag of it.
Since he was sent to prison, Jones' elderly parents died.
Ko'Fawn recalls his grandmother telling him, “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”
“That's my mama,” Luther said.
Jones is now among 1,748 individuals who have been exonerated for wrongful convictions nationwide since 1989, according to the University of Michigan Law School's National Registry of Exonerations.
The rocky road home
The ambulance brought Luther Jones to the home in Lake County where Ko'Fawn Jones moved after losing his home in the Valley fire.
Ko'Fawn Jones said he was given a box of his father's medications, with no explanation of how to administer them.
His father also was given $200 in “gate money,” which is usually what released convicts get, Ko'Fawn Jones said.
That first night he was home, Luther Jones and his son sat up talking and watching movies.
The next morning, Ko'Fawn Jones got up to get ready to go to his job at Twin Pine Casino in Middletown, an employer which he said has been very supportive throughout the situation.
He said he asked his father if he was OK, and told him he had to go to work.
When he returned hours later, his father was unresponsive and wouldn't wake up. Ko'Fawn Jones called 911 and a fire district ambulance transported his father to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake.
Luther Jones later was transferred to St. Helena Hospital in Napa County for further treatment. Jones praised that hospital for its treatment of him, explaining the doctors took the time to assess his condition, adding in new medications and taking away others.
He was released from the hospital Feb. 24. While he's better, “I'm still not good,” he said, adding he is hurting and could still die.
Ko'Fawn Jones said he still hasn't been able to get some of the medications he needs due to issues with insurance and cost.
Carter said the prison system failed to follow through on determining the continuum of care for Jones.
His son agreed. “Is this what he gets for being wrongfully accused for 20 years?”
Luther Jones is worried about making ends meet. “What the hell are we gonna do?”
He said he doesn't want to be a burden to his son, who assures him that he's not.
“Me having my father back is wonderful,” Ko'Fawn Jones said.
The family is in the beginning process of rebuilding, Ko'Fawn Jones said.
His seven children are trying to get up to see him, including his oldest son, now retiring from the Navy after 25 years.
The youngest child, who was the toddler who was at the heart of his custody battle with his ex-girlfriend, has seen her father, and was on her way to see him again on a recent Friday afternoon.
After the case, she went into foster care and later was adopted. Once in a stable and loving home, she was able to get back in touch with Ko'Fawn Jones, staying connected to her family.
Many of Luther Jones' grandchildren have never seen him before. Some of his sisters don't know he's been released.
In addition to his family, in his new home situation Luther Jones also has got company in the form of Shabazz, his son's huge and sweet-tempered Rottweiler. Luther Jones even worries about the dog's needs.
Ko'Fawn Jones is trying to make his father as comfortable as possible. It's a challenge to lift his much bigger father, who now has sore ribs from being moved from his bed to the bathroom. Ko'Fawn Jones thinks they will need to leave the smaller, older house where they are living for something larger where they can more easily move his father around.
Luther Jones said he's enjoying the chance to eat better food. In prison, his diet mostly included beans, cream of wheat and oatmeal.
Now, “I want to try everything,” he said, noting that, despite his health issues, he can eat anything he'd like as long as it's in moderation.
Some of the things he's enjoyed since being out go from the remarkably simple – a handful of popcorn, which he hadn't tasted in decades – to ribs and steak.
He's also marveling at the technological advances that have taken place since he went to prison.
One of the things that's most amazing to him are smartphones. “That's the bomb,” the said.
The process ahead
Starr called Jones' treatment by the prison system “appalling” and “irresponsible.”
The Northern California Innocence Project often represents the wrongly convicted, and so has experience in filing claims against the state to help those who have been exonerated.
Two legal students with the Northern California Innocence Project are assisting Carter with filing the necessary paperwork to get Jones some compensation for his time in custody. They've also connected the family with a person who is helping get Luther Jones signed up for the necessary medical care.
To receive compensation from the state, exonerees must follow a process outlined in state statute, Starr explained.
Starr said the statute requires that a form be filled out no earlier than 60 days from exoneration and no later than two years after release from custody, with an explanation of why the person is entitled to compensation. “You have to tell them you’re factually innocent.”
That paperwork is then filed with the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board.
The agency handles not just claims by the wrongly convicted, but its main work deals with claims from crime victims – which number between 50,000 and 60,000 annually – and claims against government for bid protests, Wayne Strumpfer, the board's legal counsel, told Lake County News.
“We usually get anywhere from 10 to 15 claims a year,” Strumpfer said regarding exoneree filings.
Since 2000, the board has granted 22 of the claims totaling about $8,647,600, and denied another 59 claims, Strumpfer said.
Starr said the Innocence Project has filed a number of the claims on the behalf of exonerated individuals, and been successful “a fair number of times.”
The organization also has been involved in legislation to make the claims process more responsive to exonerees, and more streamlined and efficient, she said.
In 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 618, which binds the board and the state attorney general to “the factual findings and credibility determinations establishing the court’s basis for granting the writ of habeas corpus, a motion for new trial, or an application for a certificate of factual innocence.”
In addition, the legislation provides that if a district attorney or the attorney general stipulates to or does not contest the factual allegations for granting the writ or motion to vacate a judgment, that it is binding on the board.
“That was important,” Starr said.
Last year alone, four of six exoneree claims were approved, Strumpfer said, acknowledging that the legislation has increased the number of approvals.
Last year, another piece of legislation became law in which the daily rate of compensation went from $100 to $140, with pretrial incarceration time counted, according to Starr, noting that people can serve a long time in custody even before going to trial.
Strumpfer said the claim form is “pretty basic,” requiring presentation of findings of factual evidence.
“It kinda turns criminal justice on its head,” he said, explaining that the claimants have to prove their innocence to get compensated.
He said board staff reviews every claim to make sure it's filed within the required time frame, and that it's complete. If the board doesn't get all the needed documentation, staff will contact the claimant and get the additional information.
He said they see a writ filed by a district attorney – such as in Jones' case – “once in a great while.”
Starr added of Luther Jones' situation, “This case is a little unusual,” because the district attorney brought the matter forward and said Jones was innocent, with the judge acting on that work.
“We already have the state representing that Mr. Jones is innocent,” Starr said, which should mean that his claim for compensation should be an easy and straightforward case.
Strumpfer said the state Attorney General's Office has 60 days to review and respond to claims. He said cases that get denied lack a finding of factual innocence.
Where there is a factual finding of innocence, Stumpfer said the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board's staff writes up a proposed decision for the board's approval to recommend approval of claim to send to the Legislature.
The three-member board then votes on the proposed decision. Strumpfer said the board currently includes California Government Operations Agency Secretary Marybel Batjer, State Controller Betty Yee and the governor's appointee Michael Ramos, the district attorney for San Bernardino County.
Once a claim is approved, it will be included in one of two bills the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board sponsors annually. From there, it goes to the Legislature, which must vote to appropriate the money from the state general fund, to the governor for a signature and, finally, claims are sent to the State Controller's Office for payment, Strumpfer said.
He said the bills usually go through the Legislature in April or May, with the board telling claimants that approved claims will be payed by late summer or early fall.
While 60 days hasn't yet passed for Luther Jones to file his claim, considering the struggles the Jones family is facing, as well as Luther Jones' ill health, Starr said of his claim, “If ever there was a case for there to be an expedited consideration of one, this is the case.”
Carter added that she hopes Jones' claim will be paid immediately. “It's really in his best interest to have it paid right away.”
However, due to the fact that the legislation is set to go to the Legislature any day, “It will be a close call” as far as getting Jones' claim into this year's compensation bill, Strumpfer said.
If the claim is filed sometime in the next week or so, it could make it. Otherwise, Strumpfer said Jones would have to wait until next year to have his claim go before the Legislature.
Said Carter, “I think an optimal outcome is Luther gets lots of meaningful time with this family, without the burden of gigantic, cumbersome medical bills, without being a financial drain on his family,” and to be able to meaningfully reintegrate into the family and make up for lost time.
“For that to happen, the state needs to uphold its obligation to pay his claim quickly,” she said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
VIDEO: Man exonerated after 18 years in prison discusses case, life after his release
- Elizabeth Larson
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