Facts of the Crime:
The only white death row inmate from Onslow County, 63-year-old Marcus Douglas Jones Sr., has filed an RJA motion as well.
Jones, who lived in Richlands at the time, was convicted in November 2000 and given two death sentences in the shooting deaths of his wife, Benita Jones, and his 14-year-old stepson, Marvin Chase Thomas, both white.
On July 24, 1999, Jones used a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot and kill his wife and stepson, then shot himself in the face. When Onslow County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at Jones’ home in response to a 911 call, Jones answered the door. Deputy Robert Marshall testified that “when Mr. Jones opened the door, I noticed a large portion of his face appeared to be missing.”
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Excerpt from Article:
Jones’ RJA motion cites statistical evidence that prosecutors in the Fourth Prosecutorial District strike eligible black jury members at more than three and a half times the rate they strike eligible non-black jury members and that cases in Onslow County with at least one white victim are more than one and a half times more likely to be tried capitally and nearly four times more likely to result in a death sentence among eligible cases.
Jones was tried by a jury composed of 11 white members, one black member and three white alternates.
“I don’t know what race has got to do with this,” Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said. “He was white, the wife was white, the little boy was white. The jury sentenced him to death because of the horrendous crime he committed.”
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