Prosecutors double down on stance judge went rogue in giving Elwood Jones new murder trial

Hamilton County prosecutors are doubling down on their position that Common Pleas Court Judge Wende Cross went rogue when she overturned a murder conviction against Elwood Jones, a man who spent nearly 30 years awaiting execution.

In a filing submitted Tuesday to the Ohio Supreme Court, Assistant Prosecutor Philip Cummings briefly rebutted the stance of Jones’ lawyers, who argued in early March that the office “stubbornly insists” on pursuing Jones “to the ends of the earth.” Cummings' reply called the case "extraordinary" and accused Jones of "demonizing law enforcement."

The back-and-forth comes more than a year after Jones was released on bond to await a new trial in the 1994 death of Rhoda Nathan, a 67-year-old New Jersey grandmother who was viciously beaten in her Blue Ash hotel room while in town for a friend’s nephew’s bar mitzvah. The case was the focus of the fourth season of The Enquirer's investigative podcast "Accused: The Impending Execution of Elwood Jones."

Prosecutors’ theory during Jones’ 1995 trial and 1996 sentencing was that Jones, one of several hotel employees with felony rap sheets, had entered Nathan’s room to rob it but was surprised when she exited the shower. Jones panicked and fatally beat her, they told a jury, which sentenced Jones to death.

Cross set aside the conviction after ruling that Jones’ defense team proved in a three-day hearing in August 2022 that police and prosecutors had withheld thousands of pages of evidence from Jones’ original defense team. That, Cross said, undermined Jones’ constitutional right to a fair trial.

The main evidence against Jones was twofold: First, a former Blue Ash police officer testified he found a pendant in a toolbox inside of Jones’ car trunk that matched one Nathan reportedly wore every day. Second, Jones sustained a hand injury the same day of Nathan’s death that a state expert claimed could only have come from punching someone in the mouth.

But issues arose with both matters. The withheld investigative documents suggest that Officer Michael Bray, who said he found the pendant, wasn’t the first officer to search the car, meaning that previous investigators would have overlooked the pendant in earlier searches. Bray, who died in 2018, claimed to have found the pendant while searching the car alone.

The withheld documents also included medical records indicating that the hand surgeon who testified for the state misrepresented the nature of Jones’ infection.

Cross’ decision to overturn the conviction upset then-County Prosecutor Joe Deters, who said on a radio interview after the ruling that Cross “believed everything (Jones') defense attorney said. She may as well have written his brief for him.”

“This is the most profound, offensive, disappointing decision I’ve ever seen from the judiciary in this county,” Deters told radio host Bill Cunningham.

Assistant Prosecutor Seth Tiger also expressed disappointment in Cross' ruling, telling her in court that Jones, now 71, has "a lot of crime left in him." Jones hasn't been accused of violating conditions of his probation since his January 2023 release.

Deters has since left the county to serve on the state Supreme Court, which is set to decide whether the Ohio First District Court of Appeals erred by not allowing Hamilton County to appeal Cross’ decision to overturn the verdict.

Deters, a Republican who was appointed to the highest court by Gov. Mike DeWine, recused himself from the case after Jones' lawyers asked him to. Deters aims to unseat a Democratic colleague in November. DeWine’s attorney general, Dave Yost, filed an amicus brief siding with Hamilton County in its stance that the county should have been allowed to appeal Cross’ ruling.

Deters' successor, Melissa Powers, is continuing the fight to send Jones back to prison. In Tuesday's filing, her office said Cross had no business overturning the verdict because the discovery presented to her had previously been submitted piecemeal to other appellate and federal courts, which consistently determined that prosecutors might have erred in withholding the evidence but said the outcome of Jones' trial likely wouldn't have been affected by their disclosure.

Cross disagreed. While overturning the verdict, she said the undisclosed evidence reinforced "a win-at-all-cost mentality that undermines the pursuit of justice."

Several Hamilton County homicide convictions have been overturned in recent years. They include cases against:

• Marcus Sapp, convicted in 2010 of killing Andrew Cunningham. Judge Jody Luebbers overturned that conviction in January 2023 in part because of questions about police's use of an informant. Sapp is awaiting a new trial.

• Marty Levingston, convicted in 2008 of killing Michael Grace. Judge Cross overturned that conviction in February 2023, after which Levingston entered a guilty plea for involuntary manslaughter in exchange for being sentenced to the prison time he'd already served. He's been free for more than a year.

• Lamont Hunter, convicted in 2007 of killing 3-year-old Trustin Blue. The Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office agreed to vacate the conviction after a deputy coroner changed her opinion about the nature of injuries to Trustin's body. Hunter avoided a new trial by pleading guilty to lesser charges. He's been free since June 2023.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Hamilton County prosecutors argue judge went rogue granting new trial