SC father set to appeal death sentence Tuesday after murdering his five children

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Timothy Ray Jones Jr. will challenge his death sentence verdict Tuesday.

Jones, Jr. was found guilty of five counts of murder in 2019 after originally pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

Jones’s children- Mera, 8, Elias, 7, Nahtahn, 6, Gabriel, 2, and Abigail, 1, were killed “by means of strangulation and/or other violent means or instruments” in 2014. The bodies of his children were found in garbage bags in Alabama.

Jones was found under the influence in Mississippi, where he was also arrested.

Excluding relevant mitigating evidence during sentencing, and refusing to instruct the jury on the consequences of a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict will be mentioned in his appeal. During the trial, Jones Jr.’s defense stated he was schizophrenic, but there was no documented diagnosis at the time of his crimes.

Jones, Jr. will be challenging his conviction alleging certain jurors should have been qualified or disqualified from the case. He never took the stand in his own defense.

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