Death row inmate freed nearly 30 YEARS after wrongful conviction

16 June 2023 , 08:15

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Barry Jones walked free yesterday (Image: AP)

A man has walked free from jail after he spent 29 years on Arizona's death row for a crime he did not commit.

Barry Jones, 64, was found guilty of fatally assaulting four-year-old girl Rachel Gray in 1994.

Federal Public Defender Cary Sandman, whose office has represented Barry Jones for over 20 years, said: "After almost 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit, Barry Jones is finally coming home.

"Mr Jones spent nearly three decades on Arizona’s death row despite compelling evidence that he was innocent of charges that he had fatally assaulted Rachel Gray."

In 1995, Jones' court-appointed lawyer did not conduct an investigation into whether Rachel died as a result of an injury sustained while she was in the defendant's care.

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The jury did not hear evidence that Rachel sustained injuries when she was not in Jones' care and they convicted him.

A federal district court judge ordered the convictions to be vacated in 2018. This was based on medical evidence that Jones did not cause young Rachel's injuries.

SCOTUS said federal courts did not have the power to consider his case, (Ross D Franklin/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

This was later unanimously confirmed by a panel of the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals.

But Jones' case ran into problems with the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) said federal courts did not have the power to consider his case, ignoring its own precedent.

“The flawed evidence supporting Barry’s convictions and death sentence resulted from a combination of shoddy and constitutionally deficient defence lawyering, junk science and myopic police work,” said Mr. Sandman. "Two federal courts granted him habeas corpus relief, but he remained on death row because of a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Shinn v. Ramirez and Jones.

"In Shinn, the Court gutted its own precedents and rendered federal courts powerless to even consider the very evidence proving Barry had been wrongfully convicted and denied a constitutionally just trial."

As a result, the State of Arizona considered the new evidence and the state's Attorney General agreed the conviction and death sentence should be vacated.

The AG then asked the Pima County Court to vacate the conviction.

Jones pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to time served (ABC15)

Jones also agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder because, according to a statement provided to the Mirror from his lawyers, he "neglected to take Rachel to the hospital on the night before she died, despite seeing how sick she was, from a still unknown fatal internal injury".

In a June 15 court order, Pima County Superior Court Judge Kyle Bryson ruled: "On or about May 1 to 2, 1994, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life, Barry Lee Jones recklessly engaged in conduct which created a grave risk of death and thereby caused the death of Rachel Gray, when he failed to seek or contributed to the failure to seek medical care for Rachel Gray."

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Jones' resulting sentence was 25 years, which he had already served.

Judge Bryson added: "[Jones] is now eligible for release from prison. It is therefore ordered that the Arizona Department of Corrections, Reentry and Rehabilitation release (him) forthwith."

Jones is the first death row inmate to walk free in Arizona since Debra Milke in 2015.

Ethel Mwedziwendira, a spokesperson for Jones' legal team, confirmed Jones was released yesterday and was with his legal team. He had been in jail at Eyman Prison Complex in Florence.

“We are profoundly grateful to the Arizona Attorney General and the Pima County Attorney for taking a fresh look at Mr Jones’ case and acknowledging he had never received a fair trial, just as the federal district court and the Ninth Circuit had previously found. We hope that Barry can enjoy the rest of his life in peace surrounded by his family and friends,” said Mr. Sandman.

Benjamin Lynch