LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A man released in February after serving 18 years in state prison for a crime he didn't commit has died.
Luther Ed Jones Jr., 71, died early on the morning of Dec. 6, according to his attorney, Angela Carter.
Jones was freed in February at the order of Lake County Superior Court Judge Andrew Blum after evidence was brought forward by District Attorney Don Anderson that exonerated Jones, who had been convicted in 1998 of molesting his ex-girlfriend's 10-year-old daughter, as Lake County News has reported.
The young woman who had been the alleged victim in the case contacted the District Attorney's Office on Feb. 9 to say that her mother – who at the time the case arose was locked in a custody battle with Jones over a young child they had together – had coerced her into making the molestation accusation against Jones.
Anderson sent his staff to interview the young woman, who now lives outside of Lake County, and found her credible. He followed up by filing a writ of habeas corpus for Jones, working with Carter to bring the matter before the court.
During a hearing on Feb. 16, just one week after the young woman had come forward, Judge Blum considered the writ, spoke to Anderson, his staff and to Carter, and surprised everyone by bypassing additional hearings and ordering Jones to be immediately released.
By that point, Jones had served 18 years of the 27-year prison sentence he had received at the end of his second trial in 1998. The first trial had ended after the jury deadlocked.
Both Anderson and Carter have praised Blum's handling of the case and noted that he quickly ended what could have been an unnecessarily lengthy process.
“He cuts right to the chase,” said Anderson, who called Blum “conscientious” in making sure justice was – at last – done in Jones' case.
Blum also had previously helped expedite the release of a man who had been held for several months in the Lake County Jail after being incorrectly identified by a witness in a robbery, Anderson said.
Jones was released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation the day after Blum ordered him freed.
However, in the days and months to come, Jones and his family would encounter one challenge after another, from what to do about his rapidly failing health to seeking compensation for his wrongful imprisonment.
Jones ultimately received $936,880 from the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board for being wrongfully imprisoned for 6,692 days from Oct. 22, 1997, until Feb. 17, 2016. The time frame on that settlement began at the time of his arrest and included time he spent in the Lake County Jail.
Jones was repeatedly hospitalized after his February release, and there were concerns that he would die before the compensation case was awarded. Carter said would have meant that the compensation process would have ended, and Jones' family wouldn't have been able to pursue it.
The Northern California Innocence Project assisted with the claim to the state, and Sen. Mike McGuire and then-Assemblyman Bill Dodd also joined the effort by expediting the monetary award to Jones by having it included in SB 1186, a larger victim compensation bill authored by state Sen. Ricardo Lara.
The bill was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on July 1, as Lake County News has reported.
Anderson, in responding to Jones' death, said this week that he was glad that his office was able to help Jones regain his freedom.
He said he had never actually met Jones in person. “I was thinking about it but never got out there,” he said, adding that every time he had wanted to try to set up a meeting, Jones was back in the hospital.
Anderson is now in his second term as district attorney, so he was not leading the District Attorney's Office at the time of Jones' conviction. However, he acknowledged that it was the District Attorney's Office that caused the case to be brought against Jones.
“Our mission is not only to prove someone guilty but prove them innocent when they are,” Anderson said.
In the months since the Jones case came before him, Anderson has taken other actions to address the problem of perjury in the courts.
That includes forming a perjury investigation unit which so far has made several arrests in an effort to stop people from lying to the courts and creating the kind of damage to people like Jones suffered.
Anderson has not brought charges against Jones' ex-girlfriend, whose daughter had made the allegations against him. He had told Lake County News in previous interviews that trying to pursue that case likely wouldn't succeed due to the time that has elapsed.
Carter said she has been impressed with how the Jones family – including his seven children – came together to take care of their father.
His son, Ko'Fawn Jones, who lost his home in the Valley fire, left his job to provide full-time care for his ailing dad, she said.
And there was the effort to catch up on those two decades of lost time, with Jones getting to know his grandchildren and being finally able to eat food he enjoyed, watch things on TV that he liked and be in the company of family from the time he was released until the time he died, Carter said.
“I think it's a blessing that Luther was able to die surrounded by family instead of the cold, harsh environment of prison health care. I also believe that his family's commitment to his care and comfort extended his life. When he was released from prison and returned to his family, he was told that he had very little time to live,” Carter said.
“He will live on as an example of the effects of injustice and an inspiration to those of us who have an interest in righting wrongs and making sure that the justice system doesn't turn innocent people into its victims,” she said.
Carter added, “I'm grateful that Luther and his family came into my life. All of us, every single one of us, involved in the criminal law system need to be vigilant, watchful and careful that we don't unintentionally cause anyone to suffer the same fate as Luther.”
A funeral service for Jones is tentatively scheduled for Saturday morning at Jones & Lewis Clear Lake Memorial Chapel, 16140 Main St. in Lower Lake. Final details are still pending, the mortuary reported.
The video above features an interview with Jones in February, just a few weeks after his release.
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.
Man freed after wrongful imprisonment dies
- Elizabeth Larson
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