A man convicted of a 1994 murder and sentenced to death who later saw his trial overturned won't be retried, Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich announced Friday.
A jury convicted Elwood Jones in 1996 for the murder of 67-year-old Rhoda Nathan at a hotel in Blue Ash where he worked and where she was a guest. Evidence used to convict Jones included a bacterial infection in an injury on his hand — alleged to be from hitting Nathan in the mouth — and a necklace police said they found in his toolbox similar to one owned by Nathan. Jones was sentenced to death for the murder.
Jones filed a number of appeals, which were denied. But his attorneys filed for a new trial in 2019 based on new evidence and allegations that prosecutors suppressed evidence that could have cast doubt on his guilt. Courts eventually ordered a retrial based on those claims, and he was freed from prison. He spent 27 years on death row.
Pillich said the concerns about suppression of roughly 4,000 pages of evidence and new evidence that has come to light since — including revelations Nathan had Hepatitis B that would have very likely infected Jones when he got the bacterial infection in question — led her office to dismiss the case against him after months of review.
"We're not allowed to cheat," Pillich said. "We have to follow the rules, just like the defense has to follow the rules, just like the police have to follow the rules. And because we have modern science, I can look at the evidence we have collected. And that tells me that Jones is excluded as a suspect."
Previous prosecutor Melissa Powers appealed the retrial ruling made by Hamilton County Judge Wende Cross. That appeal went all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, which directed Ohio's appeals courts this year to reconsider the case. But Pillich said the evidence just isn't there. The motion to dismiss was filed with prejudice, meaning charges can't be refiled.
"He's a free man," she said. "This case is over and won't come back to bother him again."
Pillich touted the prosecutor's office current efforts to establish a Conviction Integrity Unit to prevent outcomes like Jones'.
“Had such a unit existed years ago, this decision may have been reached much sooner,” she said.
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