A man who spent nearly 30 years on death row for a murder prosecutors now say he didn’t commit has sued the city of Blue Ash and multiple former officers, alleging they manufactured evidence, suppressed evidence that pointed to his innocence and conducted a flawed investigation.
The lawsuit, filed July 24 in federal court in Cincinnati, is the second filed by Elwood Jones surrounding his 1996 conviction, which was overturned in 2022 before the entire case was dismissed last year. In January, Jones, now 74, sued the state, seeking compensation for the decades he spent behind bars. That lawsuit is still pending.
The new lawsuit names nine of the Blue Ash police officers who were involved in the investigation. It points out that the 1994 killing was the city’s first homicide in at least 15 years and says the police department was inexperienced in handling crime scenes.
Because of that lack of experience, according to the lawsuit, key evidence was removed, contaminated or destroyed.
It also says the investigation was “fundamentally and irreparably corrupted by cognitive bias,” and once investigators fixated on Jones, they never seriously considered any alternative suspects or theory of the crime.
“Any evidence … that was inconsistent with Mr. Jones’ purported guilt was intentionally ignored, discounted or suppressed, and when doing that was not enough, defendants planted evidence to manufacture a basis to arrest (him),” the lawsuit says.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the city of Blue Ash said: “Because legal matters are pending, and the suit relates to an investigation and prosecution that occurred decades ago, the city cannot comment on the specifics. The city will respond through the court process, as appropriate.”
An attorney for Jones, Jay Clark, said the lawsuit speaks for itself and declined further comment.
Case built on circumstantial evidence
The case surrounds the 1994 killing of 67-year-old Rhoda Nathan in her room at the Embassy Suites hotel in Blue Ash.
Jones had worked at the hotel for about two years. He had a prior criminal record, mostly for theft, and was known to prosecutors. Soon after the investigation began, he became the main suspect.
Prosecutors built their case around circumstantial and other evidence that they said proved Jones murdered Nathan, but the lawsuit says the crime scene and nearby areas were not secured properly.
For example, bloody footprints that led away from Nathan’s room were not protected properly and were “smeared and destroyed” before they could be properly documented. And police did not seize bloody towels from the room. Instead, housekeeping took them away.
The lawsuit also says that a Blue Ash police officer planted evidence in Jones’ car.
The pendant
The car was seized by police more than a week after Nathan was killed and was thoroughly searched by “multiple investigators working together,” according to the lawsuit. Nothing was found. But a Blue Ash police officer testified at Jones’ 1996 trial that he decided to search the car again, alone, and found a pendant inside a toolbox in the car.
At Jones’ trial, that pendant was presented to the jury as powerful evidence linking him to the crime, and prosecutors described it as a unique, one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry made from a family heirloom.
But according to the lawsuit, the circumstances surrounding its discovery “is so riddled with inconsistency, implausibility and internal contradiction that the most reasonable inference is that the pendant was never found in Mr. Jones’ toolbox, at all.”
To begin with, there is no clear, written record detailing who found the pendant and how. Also, the lawsuit says that Nathan’s family provided evidence to investigators showing it was bought in a jewelry store and not crafted from a family heirloom. But investigative notes about that were withheld from Jones and his attorneys until after he was convicted and sentenced to death.
Other allegedly suppressed evidence
The lawsuit also alleges there was a “systematic suppression” of thousands of pages of investigative materials from Jones and his attorneys before trial, including documents identifying numerous, credible alternative suspects. Among them:
Police also received a tip about another man’s supposed confession to the crime, but it was never disclosed to Jones and his attorneys.
Undisclosed evidence also included that Nathan tested positive for Hepatitis B, a highly infectious virus, but Jones, who was accused of violently beating her, tested negative. An infectious disease expert testified at a post-conviction hearing that given the bloody crime scene, Jones, who had an infected wound on his hand that day, would would have contracted Hepatitis B.
If Blue Ash police had properly considered the evidence in its own files, the lawsuit says, Jones “never would have been charged.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Evidence ‘planted’ by Blue Ash police led to Elwood Jones conviction, lawsuit says
Reporting by Kevin Grasha, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Kevin Grasha, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
