Murder trials move through courts
HARTINGTON — A Laurel woman accused of murder appeared briefly in Cedar County District Court here Monday morning.
Carrie Jones’ attorney, Nate Stratton, offered three exhibits to be included in his latest filing — a plea in abatement. The exhibits included a journal entry of the case being bound over to district court, the complaint filed against Jones and the complete transcript of Jones’ preliminary hearing last month.
The latest legal maneuver is essentially an appeal of the county court’s determination of probable cause found at her preliminary hearing.
As part of the plea in abatement, Stratton alleges at the Feb. 15 preliminary hearing, the prosecution failed to present complete evidence the crime was committed and failed to present sworn testimony on all elements of the crimes charged.
The filing asks for an order abating the proceedings and dismissing the pending charges against Carrie Jones.
Monday’s hearing took less than 10 minutes, and along with accepting the exhibits, Stratton and Corey O’Brien of the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office agreed to submit briefs to Judge Bryan Meismer by April 17.
Carrie Jones’ arraignment was then set for May 22.
Carrie Jones, 43, faces charges related to the murder of Gene Twiford and her role in allegedly aiding and abetting, and tampering with evidence in the murders of Gene, and his wife, Janet, and their daughter, Dana, along with Michele Shankles-Ebeling, in Laurel Aug. 4, 2022. Her husband, Jason Jones, 42, is accused of four counts of murder and four counts of arson along with numerous weapons charges.
While Jason Jones is considered the principal offender, under Nebraska statutes, Carrie Jones can be found guilty as well if she aided and encouraged him to carry out the killing, O’Brien said at the Feb. 15 hearing.
At the preliminary hearing, investigators testified that Carrie Jones was motivated to murder Twiford Aug. 4, 2022, after years of his verbal harassment.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in Jason Jones’ case. However, Meismer is considering a motion to quash sections of the death penalty in that case.
In another murder case, David Phillips Jr., 20, Kenner, La., waived a preliminary hearing and his second-degree murder case was bound over to district court. Instead of appearing in court Monday morning, Phillips was allowed to enter a written not guilty plea.
Phillips is accused of the March 1 shooting death of 31-year-old Israel Matos-Colon, Fowlerville, Mich., at a U.S. Cellular tower worksite two miles north of Hartington.
Phillips’ bond was set at $10 million and the Nebraska Public Advocacy Commission was appointed to represent him.
According to court documents, witnesses told Nebraska State Patrol investigators that Phillips wandered around the scene for several minutes after the shooting and made a statement indicating Matos-Colon had made a comment about his mother. Another witness indicated Phillips was apologizing to Matos-Colon while life-saving measures were being administered to him.
The firearm used in the shooting had been reported stolen out of Louisiana, the Nebraska State Patrol said.
Trisha Benton | Laurel Advocate
