Arthur Lee Jones IV stands trial for 2021 double killing; trial heads into third day

EVANSVILLE — A Vanderburgh County judge issued accused double murderer Arthur Lee Jones IV a stern warning Tuesday afternoon: If Jones made one more unprompted "outburst," he would be thrown out of the courtroom for the remainder of his week-long trial.

Superior Court Judge Leslie Shively administered the order just as the second day of Jones' trial in the 2021 killings of Samantha Robbins and Derek Johnson drew to a close.

From Monday morning to Tuesday afternoon, a 23-year-old Jones sat, for the most part, idly in his chair as prosecutors sought to convince jurors that Jones shot and killed Robbins, 27, and Johnson, 28, as the couple slept in their bed on Dec. 19, 2021.

From 2021: Children helped police identify Arthur Lee Jones IV, who stands accused of double murder

The killings were brutal, prosecutors said. Robbins' children, who were inside the home at 1229 Lodge Ave., listened as Jones opened fire on their mother and Johnson, a man lead prosecutor John M. Bober portrayed as Jones' "friend."

According to Bober, Jones believed Johnson had accrued a large sum of cash from supposed drug-dealing activities and initially planned to rob him.

But there was no cash, Bober said, and Jones earned an honest living at Evansville's Berry Plastics plant.

Jones, who prosecutors at times refer to as A.J., faces two counts of intentional felony murder. The 12-member jury and two alternate jurors listened intently as Bober and Jones' defense laid out their opening arguments Monday afternoon.

"Derrick (Johnson) befriended A.J. about 60 days before Dec. 19," Bober said during his opening. "Why would A.J. do this?"

On Dec. 19, 2021, Jones allegedly broke into the home through a window and approached the children, then aged 11 and 3, telling them to "go to sleep," Bober told jurors.

Jones is then alleged to have methodically shot and killed Robbins and Johnson before absconding with various items from the home. The police would later recover multiple "white trash bags" from bins in Evansville, Bober said, which contained items belonging to Robbins and Jones — a fact investigators confirmed through DNA analysis.

Detectives never recovered a murder weapon, Bober acknowledged from the outset. But the evidence and testimony would nonetheless prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jones killed Robbins and Johnson on Dec. 19, 2021, he said.

Jones is represented by two attorneys, both of whom were appointed to him by the state: Douglas Shane Walton and Jodi Uebelhack, a former prosecutor.

Walton delivered Jones' opening argument Monday afternoon, imploring jurors to be the "arbiters of evidence" and noting that Bober's claims during his opening argument did not constitute actual "evidence."

He also said the motive Bober laid out − that Jones shot and killed his friend, Johnson, and Robbins during a botched drug robbery − didn't add up.

"Did Arthur (Jones) kill his friend and his girlfriend?" Walton asked. "No. No blood spatter, fingerprints, no weapon."

After attacking prosecutors' claims, and acknowledging the brutality of the crime, Walton reminded jurors they were obligated to "exclude every reasonable theory of innocence" if they were to find Jones guilty.

"I believe you'll see those theories during this trial," he said.

What's happened so far

After opening arguments, the Evansville Police Department's lead investigator for the case, Anthony Aussieker, took the stand and gave brief testimony. Then jurors listened to 911 calls placed shortly after the killings by a neighbor.

Prosecutors said Robbin's children alerted the caller, who lived about one block away from the Lodge Avenue home where the crime took place.

"He said his mom was shot down the block," the woman is heard telling a dispatcher. "I didn't hear no gunshots (sic) or anything, but I'm sick and I was sleeping."

911 Calls: Small child reported double slaying; told neighborhos 'someone shot my mom'

The caller, who seemed to indicate she would search for a suspect on her own, went on to say the child told her, "someone shot my mom."

Aussieker sat at the witness stand as the recordings played. Jones' defense declined to cross examine him.

Next, jurors would hear testimony from both victims' mothers.

Robbins' mother, Rosie, said her daughter loved thrifting and going to rummage sales, and she would post her best finds on social media. Robbins called her mother at 7 p.m. the night of the killings, according to the testimony, and said she hoped to make Christmas cookies for her children.

Robbins bought the ingredients at a local Aldi and headed home to decorate a Christmas tree, Rosie said. The last time she spoke with her daughter, Rosie said Robbins expressed a desire to start attending Church.

As was common on day one, Jones' defense attorney did not cross examine her.

Tuesday morning featured more testimony from police officers and detectives and, crucially, two of the children who were inside the home during the killings. In body camera footage shown to jurors, at least one of the children identified the man who shot their mother as "Uncle Art" multiple times — statements prosecutors point to as damning evidence against Arthur Jones.

Jones' defense, in pretrial filings, sought to downplay the importance of any statements made by the children in the immediate aftermath of the crime, describing those statements as "excited utterances."

Tuesday afternoon, the state logged and presented dozens of pieces of evidence, including shell casings recovered from the crime scene, projectiles recovered from the victims' bodies during autopsies and DNA evidence.

Jones' defense frequently challenged the state's evidence and, at times, convinced Shively to prevent it from being formally admitted.

At 3 p.m., Shively halted the trial, saying he needed to attend a 4 p.m. meeting, and told jurors they would be led out of the building with additional security due to the "high profile" nature of the case.

With jurors out of the courtroom, drama ensued when Jones began speaking incoherently and without permission from Shively, prompting the judge to admonish him and threaten to hold the trial in absentia should Jones have another "outburst."

The incident occurred while the state, Jones' defense and Shively discussed and at times argued about the need to redact portions of Jones' statements to police before they could be presented at trial.

Shively said he would review the matter Tuesday night. According to court records, the trial is expected to run through Friday.

Editors Note: A previous version of this article erroneously referred to Robbins as "Jones" when describing a phone call placed to Robbins' mother the night of the killings. It was updated Nov. 16 at 2:10 p.m.

Houston Harwood can be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Arthur Jones Evansville murder trial heads into third day