Sentencing delayed; juror expresses doubts about verdict

Oswego (WSYR-TV) - After deliberating a little more than eleven hours over two days, a jury found 28-year-old Alan Jones, the stepbrother of 11-year-old Erin Maxwell, guilty of her murder.

The district attorney made his case that Jones put a rope around Erin's neck and strangled her.

“I suppose you thought I'd be doing a dance out here, but it’s sad,” says Colleen Scott, who started the advocacy group Justice for Erin. “One person dead, another is going to spend the majority of his life in prison.”

Scott started the group after the girl's death. Despite the guilty verdict, she says there can never really be justice.

“Erin will never have her life back. You can never go back to being an 11-year-old girl that liked to sing, play and read,” says Scott.

The women, who never met Erin, sat in the courtroom daily -- a vigil of sorts for a little girl that died too soon.

“She should be living her life, and her life was taken from her,” says Justice for Erin member Allison Ryder.

The Maxwells were noticeably emotional, too, when the jury foreman declared Alan Jones guilty of killing his stepsister. Jones buried his face in his hands when the verdict was read.

“My son can't come home. My daughter is dead ... everything's gone,” Lynn says.

Defense attorney Sal Lanza will immediately file for an appeal. The family is confident it'll go in Jones's favor.

“We will fight it and we will overturn it,” says Jones’ father, John Jones.

“I think this case was too hot for too long here ... I think people are too emotionally involved,” Lynn Maxwell says.

Ryder, though, isn’t worried about the verdict being overturned. “Because I have faith in God,” she says.

Lanza pointed to other cases that used the depraved indifference indictment, which then got overturned by the appellate court.

District Attorney Donald Dodd, however, said they found the truth about how Erin died.

For Lynn, there’s really only one person who knows the truth.

“[Alan] knows the truth. He knows he never hurt his sister,” she says.

Jones will be sentenced November 6th. He faces a maximum of 25 years to life.

	Jury deliberating fate of Alan Jones 9-23-09
	Jury deliberating in Alan Jones trial 9-23-09
	Jury Deliberations In Jones Trial 9-23-09

Oswego (WSYR-TV) - After 15 days of testimony in the murder trial of Alan Jones, the 28-year-old Palermo man's fate now rests in the hands of 12 men. 

The jury in the case deliberated for more than four hours Wednesday -- and has yet to decide whether to find Jones guilty of second degree murder in the death of his 11-year-old stepsister, Erin Maxwell.

The day started with closing arguments from both sides; the defense trying to prove that Maxwell’s death was an accidental hanging, while the prosecution sought to convince jurors that Jones strangled Maxwell in their home last summer. 

The defense asked the jury to use common sense and consider only the facts presented in the case -- and not let what they've heard about it influence their verdict. 

Defense attorney Sal Lanza reminded the jury that Jones's DNA was not discovered on the rope that strangled Maxwell.

He also reiterated the defense's theory that she accidentally hanged herself while acting out a movie scene in her room, saying she was on her bed and either jumped off or slipped off the bed.

The prosecution suggested the case was straightforward.

District Attorney Donald Dodd reminded the jury about testimony from former Onondaga County Medical Examiner Dr. Mary Jumbelic, in which she said Maxwell's autopsy showed her death was no accident; rather, it was by strangulation.

Dodd ended his closing argument by reminding the jury about the goal of a trial, and asserting Jones's guilt one more time, saying, “A trial is a search for the truth. You now know what the truth is. You get to say it in a word. Tell the defendant he's guilty.”

Before being sent home for the day, jurors requested evidence be read back from two crime lab technicians who did DNA and blood analysis on the rope that killed Maxwell. They also asked to re-hear testimony from three state troopers about what Jones told them he saw when he found Maxwell in her bedroom. 

Deliberations will resume in Oswego County Court Thursday morning at 9:00.

Jones faces a maximum of 25 years to life if convicted.

Oswego, New York (WSYR-TV) – The prosecution in the Alan Jones trial summarized the case simply. “This wasn’t an accident,” said District Attorney Donald Dodd.

As support for that statement, Dodd reminded the jury of the testimony from Medical Examiner Mary Jumbelic. “Just as Dr. Jumbelic told you, this was a strangulation," Dodd said.

Jumbelic’s testimony was also a key point in the closing arguments of Defense Attorney Sal Lanza. Where Lanza suggested that Jumbelic’s testimony was combative and insecure, Dodd suggested it was straightforward. "She was strangled.  Pure and simple,” Dodd said.

Dodd ended his closing argument by reminding the jury about the goal of a trial, and asserting Jones' guilt one more time. "A trial is a search for the truth,” he said. “You now know what the truth is.  You get to say it in a word.  Tell the defendant he's guilty."

Judge Walter Hafner will now give the jury their instructions and they will begin deliberations.

Oswego, New York (WSYR-TV) - "Use your common sense.  Common sense has not been tossed out the window," Defense Attorney Sal Lanza said in his closing statements of the Alan Jones trial Wednesday morning.

Lanza’s closing statements focused on what he considers areas of doubt in the 15-day trial. Specifically, he focused on the rope that hung Erin Maxwell, and testimony from Medical Examiner Mary Jumbelic. "Consider her demeanor.  She was defensive.  She was combatant.  I think she was insecure," said Lanza.

He also reminded the jury that there was no DNA from Alan Jones on the rope, and that there was no evidence of marks on his hands.

Lanza also proposed an alternate theory for the crime and suggested that Erin could have been copying a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean which she watched the day before. Lanza said, "There was a board on the bed.  Could it have been the child mimicking some sort of plank?"

Lanza finished his theory by saying that he thought Erin Maxwell accidentally jumped off or slipped off of her bed.

	Defense Rests in Alan Jones Trial 9-22-09
	Alan Jones Murder Trial: Noon Update 9-22-09

Oswego (WSYR-TV) - The fate of murder suspect Alan Jones will soon be in the hands of a jury.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the defense rested in the case of the man accused of killing 11-year-old Erin Maxwell last summer.

This comes after expert witness testimony Tuesday from a man who disagreed with the conclusion from a prosecution witness that Maxwell was strangled.

Forensic pathologist Dr. William Manion, a medical examiner in New Jersey, said the ligature marks on Maxwell’s neck extended upwards toward the back of her neck, an indication that Maxwell was hanged.

Manion added that there was no DNA from Alan Jones found on the rope that was around Maxwell’s neck; he said the lack of Jones’s DNA “put more doubt in my mind that this girl was strangled. Only the girl’s DNA was on the rope.”

Manion also said “That child was hanged from that screw. Either she did it herself, or she was put up there. This is a hanging.”

The trial is expected to resume Wednesday morning at 9:00. Soon afterward, the jury will get the case. 

Defense Attorney Sal Lanza requested the charges to be dropped against Jones Tuesday, but that motion was denied by Judge Walter Hafner.

Stay with 9wsyr.com for the verdict. We’ll post it as soon as it becomes available.

	Father takes stand in Jones trial 9-21-09
	Witnesses Called for Defense 9-21-09

Oswego, New York (WSYR-TV) - Lindsey Maxwell took the stand Monday morning in the murder trial of his stepson Alan Jones.

Lindsey Maxwell recounted what happened the day Erin died. Maxwell testified Monday morning that Alan Jones was home alone with Erin the day she died. Maxwell also said that his wife, Lynn, received a call from Alan Jones telling them that the paramedics were at the house.

Lindsey Maxwell also said he remembered emergency workers loading Erin onto a helicopter, but couldn’t remember what he told investigators at the hospital later that day.

Alan Jones' father, John Jones, also testified Monday.  John Jones said his son was often teased because of his weight, and dropped out of school in the 11th grade.  He also said he never noticed anything strange between Alan and Erin.

Judith Smith, a nurse at Upstate Hospital, also testified. Smith said she couldn’t recall much about what happened the day Erin was brought to the hospital.

Carrie Fellows, a paralegal in defense attorney Sal Lanza’s office, also testified Monday.

	Prosecution in Jones trial rests 9-18-09
	Alan Jones Update 9-18-09

Oswego (WSYR-TV / AP) - The prosecution rested its case Friday in the Alan Jones murder trial.

Jones is accused of killing his stepsister, 11-year-old Erin Maxwell, in their Town of Palermo home last summer.

Under more than five hours of cross examination over two days, former Onondaga County Medical Examiner Dr. Mary Jumbelic held steadfast onto her findings that Maxwell was strangled, not hanged.

The defense claims Maxwell accidentally hanged herself while playing in her bedroom on Aug. 29, 2008. Prosecutors contend Jones strangled Maxwell.

The defense picked apart every part of Dr. Jumbelic's autopsy report, from the marks around Maxwell's neck to the other abrasions on her body. Through it all, Jumbelic didn't stray from her findings, even when asked if she could estimate the time Maxwell was hanging.

"She wasn't hanging. She was strangled,” Jumbelic said.

She talked in depth about bruises found on Maxwell’s back, near her shoulder blades.

Defense attorney Sal Lanza asked how old they were.  Jumbelic said the bruises were made around the time Maxwell was found unresponsive.

Lanza then asked if it could have happened before August 29th, or from moving Maxwell onto the gurney to the ambulance and then from the ambulance to the hospital, and Jumbelic said “No.”

Lanza asked, "If an assailant had knelt on Erin's back, wouldn't he have caused some sort of fracture?"

Jumbelic replied, "Not necessarily. It's more common to find no injury from compressed force like that."

Jumbelic noted in her autopsy summary that the stories told to her from state police about the hanging and the witness statements "didn't explain the severe trauma she had...it's my opinion that the story is inconsistent with the findings on the victim's body."

After the prosecution rested, Lanza made a motion to dismiss the murder charge because of what he called a lack of evidence.

Judge Hafner said he would reserve his decision until a later time. If he agrees to do it, Jones could not be retried for Maxwell's death.
 
Hafner has said during the trial that the depraved indifference murder charge Jones was indicted on doesn't seem to fit the prosecution's stand that Jones strangled Maxwell.

Prosecutors called 19 witnesses over the first nine days in the trial of Alan Jones of Palermo. Defense attorney Sal Lanza says he has about a dozen witnesses to call.

Jones faces a maximum of 25 years to life if convicted.

	Medical examiner testifies 9-17-09
	Doctor says it was strangulation, not hanging 9-17-09
	Alan Jones Update 9-17-09

Oswego (WSYR-TV) - The medical examiner who examined Erin Maxwell's body took the stand Wednesday in the murder trial of Erin's stepbrother Alan Jones, who is accused of killing the 11-year-old girl.

Former Onondaga County Medical Examiner Dr. Mary Jumbelic said Erin Maxwell had bruises on her arms, legs, shoulder blades and head.

In Thursday’s testimony, the defense tried to prove that they were put there by paramedics and EMT's trying to save her life.

Jumbelic said the injuries were not consistent with those that could be caused by medical intervention.  After examining Erin for four hours, she concluded the girl died from asphyxiation and she ruled the manner of death to be ligature strangulation. "Something being forced around the neck by another party to deprive the brain from blood flow," she said.

Dr. Jumbelic said the rope marks were inconsistent with the other 125 hangings she's investigated.

"Because it's almost horizontal across the neck, and almost equal distance on the neck on both sides, that's not consistent with hanging," she said.

Dr. Jumbelic said in hangings, the marks are asymmetrical because the head falls to one side. She said the marks on Erin's neck would have been more vertical instead of straight across if it indeed had been a hanging.

Oswego (WSYR-TV) - Thursday a New York state policeman took the stand in Oswego for questioning about the murder of 11-year old Erin Maxwell.

Reporter Kelly Quinn reported live in the Noon broadcast that testimony covered evidence on Maxwell's neck.

	Prosecution dealt minor setback in Alan Jones trial 9-11-09
	Testimony continues in Jones trial 9-11-09

Oswego (WSYR-TV) - A slight blow was dealt to the prosecution's case Friday in the Alan Jones murder trial.

He's accused of killing his stepsister, 11-year old Erin Maxwell.

District Attorney Donald Dodd wanted to use Fulton Lee Memorial ER Dr. Dennis Mullaney as an expert witness, but after much debate, with the jury out of the room, Judge Hafner said he doesn't consider Mullaney an expert on ligature marks, so he could only talk about treating Maxwell.

With the jury out of the room, defense attorney Sal Lanza posed another theory about how Maxwell may have died.

Lanza said when the Maxwells left for Walmart on August 29th, Erin was playing with a piece of wood in her room. He likened it to the opening scene of the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”, where a girl walks the plank.

"We believe she placed the rope on the wood screw -- she was playing, somehow she was on this bed, on the plank, and the poor child thought 'I'd jump off the bed and I have enough rope.' When she jumped off the bed, lo and behold, there wasn't enough rope, and her feet didn't touch the floor,” Lanza said.

"The only DNA that was found on the rope was the blood of Erin Maxwell. My client's DNA was found on the rope - nowhere. Nowhere," Lanza added.

The defense continues to claim that emergency personnel caused many of Erin's injuries while trying to save her life, and that they were not caused by a struggle with the defendant.

Under cross examination, Dr. Mullaney made it clear that bruising can take up to 24 hours to appear, and Maxwell had a condition that made it harder for her blood to clot.

Lanza asked if the condition causes bruising more easily; Dr. Mullaney said “not a normal touch," but when pushed, he acknowleged that "you can bruise easily, yes."

Mullaney has been a very outspoken critic of the way Oswego County's Department of Social Services handles complaints about child abuse.

He voiced his concerns to the Oswego County Legislature in the months following Maxwell's death.

The DA also called Dr. Kevin Ragosta from University Hospital to the stand. He said that CPR can cause bruising on the body, and that when Maxwell arrived at University, she was just about brain dead.

Both doctors called for an abuse evaluation of the girl. Testimony continues Monday morning.

	The Alan Jones Trial, Day 3: 6pm Coverage 9-10-09
	The Alan Jones Trial, Day 3: 5pm Coverage 9-10-09

Oswego (WSYR-TV) - It's day two of testimony in Oswego County Court, where Alan Jones is on trial accused of killing his stepsister Erin Maxwell.

The prosecution called three witnesses to the stand, including Palermo Fire Chief Jon Chwago and two EMS personnel. Chwago was on the stand for three hours Thursday morning.

All three were there when Erin was found unresponsive in her Palermo home on August 29, 2008.

The EMS workers testified that Erin was not breathing during their whole time there; James Cronk, of McFee Ambulance Service, said "once or twice she did get her heart rate back, but it was short and would stop."

Photos of Erin taken by the medical examiner on August 30, the day after she was found, showed several marks on her arms and legs, including a cut on her lower lip.

All three witnesses claimed they did not see those marks when they saw Erin the night before. Defense attorney Sal Lanza is trying to convince jurors that the marks on the 11-year-old’s body were from emergency personnel trying to save her life, and that they did not come from Alan Jones.

Chwago did mention on the stand that sometimes there is a delay between an injury and the time it becomes visible. "Injuries like these get worse in time...if I punch you now, three hours from now, it will get large, purple and disgusting," he said.

Prosecution will continue calling witnesses Friday. The trial is expected to last three weeks.

	Testimony begins in Alan Jones trial: 6pm Coverage 9-9-09
	Testimony begins in Alan Jones trial: 5pm Coverage 9-9-09
	Opening statements presented in Alan Jones murder trial 9-9-09

Oswego, New York (WSYR-TV) - The prosecution and defense presented their opening statements Wednesday morning in Oswego County Court in the murder trial of Alan Jones.

Testimony started in the afternoon. Jones is charged with death of his 11-year-old stepsister Erin Maxwell, who was found mortally wounded in her Palermo home on August 29, 2008 and died the next morning.

Oswego County District Attorney completed his opening statements by around 11:00 a.m.  Defense Attorney Sal Lanza wrapped up his opening statements around noon.

Lanza also requested a mistrial in the morning.  That request was denied by Judge Hafner.

Debra Denery was one of the three witnesses called to the stand Wednesday before court adjourned for the day.  She is a member of the Palermo Fire Department, and was first on the scene the day Erin Maxwell was found unresponsive.  She gave a step-by-step account of what she saw when she arrived.

Upon cross examination, Lanza made Debra Denery go over everything again, and he also questioned her credibility, claiming that she told police last year that she did not see a mark on Erin’s neck , but told DA Donald Dodd in court Wednesday that she did see a mark on Erin’s neck when she arrived at the house.

Denery was on the stand for roughly two and a half hours.

The defense claims that Erin had accidentally hanged herself in her room; Lanza says Jones went to bring Erin her dinner when he found her badly hurt and called 911.

The prosecution is claiming that Erin’s injuries were more consistent with a strangulation, and not a hanging.

A jury of 12 men was selected late Tuesday; two alternates were also chosen, one man and one woman.
Both the defense and prosecution used all 20 of their juror vetoes during jury selection. The full jury was seated by 4:45 PM.

The prosecution will continue calling witnesses to the stand once the trial resumes at 9:00 Thursday morning.

	Opening statements to be delivered Wednesday 9-8-09
	Jury seated in Alan Jones trial 9-8-09
	Jury Selection in Alan Jones trial underway 9-8-09
	Alan Jones murder trial begins today 9-8-09

Oswego (WSYR-TV) – Twelve jurors and two alternates have been selected in the murder trial of Alan Jones in Oswego County.

Jones is charged with death of his 11-year-old stepsister Erin Maxwell.

All but one of the jury members are male; the lone woman is an alternate.

Both the defense and prosecution used all 20 of their juror vetoes, and seated the full jury at about 4:45 p.m. 

All of the jurors said they would be able to set aside their knowledge of the case and come up with a fair verdict.

As far as the all-male jury goes, defense attorney Sal Lanza says it just happened that way; he says he's been involved in a few recent cases where men on the jury had pressured female jurors to agree with them. Lanza questioned potential female jurors about whether they would be assertive when deciding on a verdict.

Lanza plans to call 33 people to the witness stand, including Erin Maxwell's father Lindsey Maxwell; Erin's stepmother Lynn will not be called.

District Attorney Donald Dodd plans to call roughly 20 people, including police officers and emergency responders.

Erin Maxwell was found unresponsive in her bedroom inside her Palermo home August 29th, 2008. She died the next morning at the hospital. Her stepbrother Alan Jones was charged with second degree murder in her death; her autopsy determined she died of asphyxia, with sexual trauma as a significant condition contributing to death but not related to the cause.

Jones claimed he found Erin with a piece of green string around her neck, which was attached to a screw in a wall.

Since that time, Erin's father Lindsey and step mother Lynn have been tried and convicted of endangering the welfare of a child, due to the living conditions inside their house. Both are set to be sentenced on October 12th. Since then, there have been a number of candlelight vigils in memory of Erin, and a website established in her honor called http://www.justiceforerin.webs.com/. 

Jones faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

Opening statements in the trial are expected to begin at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday.