TUCSON, Ariz. — A Tucson man who has spent nearly three decades behind bars for the murder of a little girl will be released after prosecutors recently determined his conviction should be vacated.
Barry Jones has been offered a new plea deal that will allow him to be released from the Arizona Department of Corrections after spending years awaiting execution on death row.
Jones had been found guilty of the first-degree murder of a 4-year-old girl and was sentenced to death. The victim died in May 1994 as the result of "a ruptured intestine," DOC records show.
In 2019, a panel of federal judges determined there was evidence in the case that could have undermined the timeline of events prosecutors presented to the jury, according to the Arizona Daily Star.
Therefore, the judges determined Jones' trial attorneys were "ineffective" at representing him.
The Pima County Attorney's Office said Thursday that the case's evidence still supports convicting Jones of second-degree murder since the victim was under his care when she sustained her fatal injuries.
"Any reasonable person in the position of Mr. Jones would have witnessed the results of the trauma that R.G., suffered, and Barry Lee Jones’ failure to obtain medical assistance for R.G. supports a finding of Second-Degree Murder," the prosecutorial agency wrote in a statement.
As a result, state prosecutors agreed that the first-degree murder conviction should be vacated and offered a plea deal that would let him avoid the death penalty and credit the time Jones has already served in prison.
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover released the following statement about the case:
“These are some of the most difficult decisions we face as prosecutors, trying to balance the rule of the law and in this case holding someone accountable for the death of an innocent 4-year-old child. What’s also important is having the courage to re-evaluate these cases thoroughly, while staying true to our responsibility of charging them accordingly with what is right in the eyes of the law. To that end, Mr. Jones has been held more than accountable.”