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Thread: Michael Jones Sentenced to LWOP in 2014 FL Slaying of Diana Duve

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Michael Jones Sentenced to LWOP in 2014 FL Slaying of Diana Duve


    Diana Duve



    Michael Jones


    Man accused of killing Diana Duve faces death penalty

    Prosecutors say they're seeking the death penalty against a man accused of murdering a Vero Beach woman.

    Michael Jones is accused of strangling Diana Duve. Police found her body inside her car parked in Central Florida last June.

    The pair were spotted together just days before her death. Jones and Duve had an on and off relationship.

    http://www.wflx.com/story/27440791/m...-death-penalty
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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    April 18, 2016

    Vero Beach murder suspect sentenced for Broward County probation violation

    VERO BEACH — A man charged with murdering his girlfriend in 2014 will spend five years in state prison for violating his probation in an unrelated stalking case from 2012 in Broward County, court records show.

    But first, Michael Jones, of Vero Beach, will be transferred to Indian River County to be tried on charges of first-degree murder of his girlfriend, Diana Duve, 26, of Vero Beach. That case is scheduled for a status hearing June 23 before Judge Cynthia Cox, according to court documents. A trial date hasn't been set.

    Tom Bakkedahl, chief assistant state attorney for the 19th Judicial Circuit, along with Assistant State Attorney Brian Workman, will prosecute the Duve case.

    "As that case grows older, it moves to the forefront," Bakkedahl said. "It's more likely to end up in trial sooner. We've been actively working on Mr. Jones' case since the date of his arrest. ... We're always preparing for trial."

    He hopes the case will come to trial within six to eight months. He estimates four to five weeks to prosecute the case.

    http://archive.tcpalm.com/news/crime...376070851.html
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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    Pastor_Drake
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    The United States kills people who kill people to show that killing is wrong. I oppose the death penalty I do not oppose punishment for crime.

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    Senior Member CnCP Addict TrudieG's Avatar
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    Read your Bible Pastor Drake. An eye for an eye capital punishment is the bible.

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pastor_Drake View Post
    The United States kills people who kill people to show that killing is wrong. I oppose the death penalty I do not oppose punishment for crime.
    What made you pick this thread to post on? Are you familiar with this case?
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    January 5, 2018

    Vero Beach murder suspect Michael Jones fights to escape death penalty if convicted

    By Elliott Jones
    eu.tcpalm.com

    VERO BEACH — Defense attorneys in one of Indian River County's more startling murder cases are mounting an extensive pre-trial legal challenge of prosecutors' plans to seek the death penalty.

    Former Vero Beach bank wealth management adviser Michael Jones, 35, is charged with first-degree murder. If Jones is convicted, he could face a state execution in the strangling of his girlfriend, Diana Duve, 26, at his apartment in Vero Beach in 2014.

    The Sebastian nurse's partially clothed body was found in the trunk of her car in a Melbourne parking lot in June 2014.

    A trial date hasn't been set. The case is among about a dozen murder prosecutions pending in Indian River County.

    Jones' lead attorney, Assistant Public Defender Stanley Glenn, has filed 10 pre-trial challenges.

    Indian River Circuit Judge Cynthia Cox is being asked to rule on a wide array of legal arguments aimed at undermining the use of the death penalty in Jones' case. Many of the defense motions are routinely filed in capital murder cases, often to make sure the matter can be raised on appeal, if necessary.

    The challenges contend:

    Florida statutes allow an overly broad interpretation of what crimes are "heinous, atrocious or cruel."

    A grand jury that indicted Jones wasn't properly notified of the aggravating circumstances that would warrant the death penalty.

    Florida's death penalty violates the U.S. Constitution.

    The next court hearing is Feb. 15.

    Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl said he plans to file a written response to the challenges. He and Assistant State Attorney Brian Workman are prosecuting the case.

    Attorneys said it isn’t unusual for a case of this magnitude to take two or more years to complete. Earlier this year, Bakkedahl estimated the trial could take four to five weeks, including jury selection.

    One reason for the delay is that Jones first had to face charges against him in Broward County. When police were looking for him in connection with Duve's disappearance, they found him at a Fort Pierce motel, in violation of his probation in an aggravated stalking case in Broward County in 2012. He wasn't supposed to leave Indian River County without permission.

    In April 2016, Jones was sentenced to five years in prison for violating the probation, according to the 17th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office.

    After that, he was returned to Indian River County for the murder case. He is being held without bail in the Indian River County Jail.

    https://eu.tcpalm.com/story/news/cri...lty/960268001/

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Michael Jones: Death penalty hearing for accused nurse killer

    Diana Duve strangled in 2014

    By Jon Shainman
    WPTV.com

    VERO BEACH, Fla. - A judge heard arguments Wednesday in the death penalty case of Michael Jones, accused of strangling his one-time girlfriend, Diana Duve, back in 2014.

    As the hour-long hearing wrapped up, Duve's mother Lena Andrews addressed Jones from the back of the courtroom.

    "Jones, go back to your cage!", Andrews said as she stared down Jones before leaving the courtroom in tears.

    Duve was a Vero Beach High grad, and a nurse in Indian River County. Her body was found in the trunk of her own car in Melbourne.

    Jones is a former bank wealth management adviser.

    Defense attorneys filed 10 different motions regarding the death penalty in this case. One was to prevent the prosecution from presenting victim impact statements to the jury. The state said on that particular motion, the law has been settled.

    “It would be an absolute miscarriage of justice to deny them their right to explain the uniqueness of Diana in this case to this jury," said Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl.

    After the hearing, Circuit Judge Cynthia Cox said she would take the motions under advisement. No trial date has been set. The next status hearing is scheduled for September.

    https://www.wptv.com/news/region-indian-river-county/michael-jones-death-penalty-hearing-for-accused-nurse-killer
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    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Judge clears way for 4-year-old death penalty case against Michael Jones to proceed

    By Mary Helen Moore
    TCPalm

    VERO BEACH — A series of rulings Friday cleared the way for the death penalty case against accused murderer Michael Jones to proceed.

    Jones, 35, is accused of fatally strangling his 26-year-old girlfriend, Diana Duve, in his townhouse west of Vero Beach. The Sebastian nurse's partially clothed body was found in the trunk of her car in a Melbourne parking lot in June 2014.

    Prosecutors and defense attorneys sparred in court Wednesday over 10 motions Jones' attorneys — Stanley Glenn and Shane Manship, both with the Public Defender's Office — had filed in an attempt to avoid the death penalty in Jones' first-degree murder case.

    In a written order Friday, Circuit Judge Cynthia Cox denied nine of the motions, most of which are filed routinely in capital murder cases to make sure the matter can be raised on appeal, if necessary.

    Duve's parents, Bill and Lena Andrews, were present Wednesday in Cox's Vero Beach courtroom.

    "Go back to your cage," Duve's teary-eyed mother Lena Andrews called out to Jones as he was escorted by bailiffs out of the courtroom to return to the Indian River County Jail, where he is being held without bail.

    The sole motion Cox did not address centered around the language to be allowed in describing the jury's role in the case's penalty phase.

    Capital murder cases such as Jones' have separate trial and penalty phases.

    For decades, the jury had to agree unanimously to convict in the trial phase, but their decision in the penalty phase was considered advisory and did not require unanimity.

    A judge could hand down the death penalty regardless of the jury's recommendation, though it was traditionally given great weight.

    In Hurst v. Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that was unconstitutional and the Florida Supreme Court issued new guidelines in late 2016 requiring a unanimous jury recommendation for a death sentence.

    Jones' case is set to be Cox's first death penalty case, as well as the first death penalty case to proceed to trial in the 19th Circuit since that rule change.

    "It certainly is going to be a learning experience for everyone," Cox said at the Wednesday hearing.

    Stanley agreed to work with Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl, who is prosecuting the case alongside Assistant State Attorney Brian Workman, to come up with a proposal for properly addressing the jury.

    "We're in completely uncharted territory," Bakkedahl noted.

    More: Cousins charged with robbing, murdering woman on rural road could face death penalty

    More: Florida court ruling could derail sentencing do-over for juvenile killer Victor Brancaccio

    A trial is unlikely to begin until 2019. Both sides are working to finish hiring and interviewing expert witnesses more than four years after Duve's death. The next status hearing was scheduled for Sept. 26.

    The jury selection and trial are forecast to last four to five weeks.

    https://eu.tcpalm.com/story/news/cri...ana/793295002/
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    Michael Jones scheduled to go to trial in October for death of girlfriend Diana Duve

    By Lamaur Stancil
    Treasure Coast Newspapers

    INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The former bank employee charged with first-degree murder is scheduled for trial in October, the State Attorney's Office said.

    Five years ago this month, 26-year-old Diana Duve of Vero Beach was found dead in the trunk of her car in a Melbourne grocery store parking lot.

    Michael Jones, 36, is accused of fatally strangling Duve, his girlfriend, in his townhouse west of Vero Beach. The Indian River County Sheriff's Office said Jones drove the car to Melbourne and hailed a taxi ride home.

    Jury selection is expected to begin the first week of October. The seating of the jury, along with the trial itself, is expected to last up to three weeks.

    "The state is 100 percent on board with that date," said Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl, the prosecutor for the case.

    Duve, a native of the eastern European country Moldova, was a nurse at Sebastian River Medical Center.

    If Jones is convicted, the penalty phase will happen early November. Jones is facing either the death penalty or life in prison for the killing.

    Regardless of the outcome of the murder trial, Jones is headed to prison following the case.

    In April 2016, he was sentenced to five years in prison for violating probation, according to the 17th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office.

    When police were looking for him in connection with Duve's disappearance, they found Jones at a Fort Pierce motel, in violation of his probation in an aggravated stalking case in Broward County in 2012.

    He wasn't supposed to leave Indian River without permission.

    After the Broward trial, Jones returned to Indian River County for the murder case.

    He is being held without bail in the Indian River County Jail. The Public Defender's Office is handling Jones' defense.

    While at the jail, Jones said in a court motion he is fasting from meat in the lead-up to his trial. Citing his Christian faith, Jones is petitioning the court to have the jail prepare vegetarian meals for him.

    Undersheriff James Harpring said the jail provides certain meals to accommodate medical directives, but not for religious requests.

    A judge is reviewing Jones' petition.

    https://tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/...ve/1514339001/

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    Murder suspect Michael Jones wants new lawyers ahead of his death penalty trial

    By Melissa E. Holsman
    Treasure Coast Newspapers

    VERO BEACH — Michael Jones, a former Vero Beach bank wealth management adviser charged with first-degree murder, wants a judge to replace his court-appointed legal team, according to a handwritten motion he’s filed seeking new attorneys.

    Jones, 36, who has a law degree, is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 1 and if convicted, he could face a state execution in the strangling of his girlfriend, Diana Duve, 26, at his apartment in Vero Beach in 2014.

    The Sebastian nurse's partially clothed body was found in the trunk of her car in a Melbourne parking lot in June 2014. Jones is accused of driving her car to Melbourne after fatally strangling her in his Vero Beach townhouse off 16th Street.

    He’s pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond at the Indian River County Jail.

    He appeared in court Friday for a hearing held for his defense team to present statements from Jones’ maternal grandmother Anne McDonald Clark, who testified via a video live stream from her home in Georgia.

    In a six-page motion submitted from jail, Jones is asking Indian River Circuit Judge Dan Vaughn to discharge his court-appointed legal team and replace them with different attorneys.

    Jones cited several complaints about his legal team, lead attorney Assistant Public Defender Stanley Glenn and assistant public defenders Shane Manship and Dorothy Naumann.

    Reached Wednesday, Manship declined to comment on his client’s motion.

    Specifically, Jones claims he’s not been permitted to help prepare or do research for his pending death penalty trial, that his attorneys ignore his letters and have not kept him informed about trial preparation.

    Moreover, Jones claimed his attorneys “do not wish to have a trial.”

    “Defendant and his counsel vehemently disagree on his trial strategy,” he wrote.

    Jones contended his attorneys want him to resolve his case via a plea bargain, contrary to his wishes. And he notes that in fact, state prosecutors have never offered a plea deal.

    His lawyers, Jones wrote, want him to agree to a prison sentence of life without the possibility of parole so they can then take the offer to state prosecutors and avoid a trial.

    “To further their position of power and influence over the defendant, (defense) counsel went to defendant’s family and told them that not only did the state offer a plea of life without the possibility of parole to the defendant, but that the defendant was refusing to accept said plea in utter disregard for all the others associated with the case,” Jones wrote. “Their plan of manipulation worked as defendant’s own family informed him that unless he followed his counsel’s wishes to accept said plea then they would refrain from depositing any money in his commissary account or have any future contact with him.”

    Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl agreed Wednesday that no plea offers have been extended to Jones or his lawyers.

    “I think what he’s saying is there is no plea deal, which is correct, and that his attorneys are trying to get him to give permission to come to us with a plea deal,” Bakkedahl said. “That’s their job, that’s what they’re supposed to do — to assess the case and then try to advise their client accordingly. He just doesn’t like what they’re telling him, apparently.”

    Jones characterized it as his attorneys intentionally misleading his family “in an attempt to satisfy their own goal of reaching a plea agreement.”

    “Because of defendant’s counsel’s selfish reasons for wishing to resolve this case via plea, they are not free from any prejudice as required … and should be removed and a substitute re-appointed by the court,” Jones concluded. “Defendant and his counsel are at a standstill and cannot and will not ever agree on a trial strategy.”

    Bakkedahl, though, defended the representation Jones has received from his trio of attorneys.

    “They’ve deposed virtually every witness in the case, probably close to 100 and they’ve hired numerous experts … I mean, I don’t know what else they could do,” Bakkedahl said. “I think he’s probably just not happy with the way things are shaping up and attorneys can’t do anything about that.”

    It’s unclear when Vaughn will schedule a hearing on the matter.

    https://tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/...al/2071604001/

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