Over the period of two months in 1992, a string of crimes was committed in New Orleans by a Black man driving a maroon car. Robert Jones was convicted of four of these crimes, which included rape, robbery, and the murder of British tourist Julie Stott. The rape case, from April 6, 1992, had no suspects until Ms. Stott was murdered over a week later. The same car had been used in both crimes. After a reward was offered for information regarding Ms. Stott’s murder, police received a tip about a group of men discussing the crime. Robert Jones was named and police included his photo in a photographic lineup shown to the rape victim. She identified Mr. Jones, as did a victim of a separate robbery. Several victims viewed the same photo of Mr. Jones and failed to identify him. Several victims from separate crimes described the perpetrator’s car, a maroon or burgundy 1980s car with white vinyl top.
In April 1992, police found a car matching the description that belonged to Lester Jones (no relation to Robert Jones). Lester Jones was found with stolen property from the crime spree and wound up giving two statements. In his first, Lester implicated several men, including Robert Jones. Lester claimed to have lent Robert Jones his car in return for some jewelry. In his second statement, Lester claimed to have been present when Ms. Stott was murdered, but claimed to have left the scene and luckily found both his car and the murder weapon later that night. He proceeded to use them in another robbery.
The gun, found in Lester’s mother’s home, was determined to be the one used to shoot Ms. Stott during a robbery. Lester Jones was convicted of one armed robbery and the murder of Ms. Stott, but was never tried for the other crimes involving his car. Robert Jones was accused of being involved in four of those crimes.
The state relied on several identifications and police claimed that Lester Jones and Robert Jones were associated, though no basis for this was provided. The state even argued that Lester Jones owning the car and possessing stolen jewelry was proof that Robert Jones was guilty. Robert Jones claimed innocence, though defense counsel failed to present to the jury evidence that Lester Jones was alone responsible for this string of crimes. Further, the crime spree continued after Robert Jones was arrested. In a combination of jury trials and pleas, Robert Jones was convicted of four separate crimes in March 1996 and sentenced to life.
Innocence & Justice Louisiana’s investigation revealed much evidence that was never known to Mr. Jones or his attorney. This evidence includes proof that Lester Jones did not know Robert Jones and that he told prosecutors so, as well as police reports with a description of the perpetrator that clearly did not match Robert Jones, but did fit Lester Jones’s description. All of the victims of these crimes had reported only one perpetrator.
Innocence & Justice Louisiana filed for post-conviction relief and the court of appeal agreed that the withheld exculpatory evidence and prosecutorial misconduct in the case warranted a new trial in the rape case. More evidence was revealed in 2015, when the state disclosed that they had a memorandum authored by the trial prosecutor that corroborated Lester Jones’s claim that he did not know Robert Jones. The state had spent years arguing that Lester Jones was not credible on this point. The state offered a plea deal to Robert Jones, who refused to take it. Mr. Jones was freed in November 2015, but remained under indictment and on parole.
In 2017, joined by the Innocence Project (NY), Innocence & Justice Louisiana went back into court to litigate the issue of whether the state would be permitted to retry Mr. Jones in the rape case and whether his other convictions should be vacated. The state eventually agreed to vacate Mr. Jones’s remaining convictions and drop the pending charges. He was exonerated on his birthday in January 2017, having spent over 23.5 years in prison for crimes he did not commit.
