CINCINNATI — Elwood Jones has been removed from Ohio’s death row after Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich dismissed the case against him, marking the 12th time a man previously sentenced to death in Ohio has been exonerated.
As reported by Local 12 WKRC-TV, Jones was convicted in the 1994 killing of an elderly woman, Ms. Nathan, who was beaten to death. Pillich moved to dismiss the charges after reviewing evidence that excluded Jones as the perpetrator and raised serious concerns about the integrity of the original prosecution.
According to Local 12, Jones’ attorney, Jay Clark, said in 2022 that prosecutors had withheld roughly 4,000 pages of evidence. Among the undisclosed material was information that an incarcerated woman told a fellow inmate that her husband had confessed to committing the killing and said he had “framed a Black man for it.” Local 12 reported that the woman contacted police after her release from jail, but prosecutors at the time argued her memory was unreliable and that she was mentally compromised.
Another witness testified during pretrial proceedings that she saw a “young, tall and light-complected man” near the scene, whom she believed committed the killing.
Prosecutors argued that the new witness statements amounted to inadmissible hearsay and opposed Jones’ request for a new trial.
Judge Wende Cross ultimately granted Jones a new trial, finding that newly-surfaced evidence pointed to another suspect and that critical material had been withheld from the defense. According to Local 12, Cross cited blood evidence showing that the victim tested positive for hepatitis B. Because Jones suffered a hand injury during the incident and there was a significant amount of blood at the crime scene, Cross found it significant that Jones never tested positive for the virus, which is highly contagious.
Pillich acknowledged that the medical evidence excluded Jones as the killer, noting that hepatitis B transmission would have been likely under the circumstances described at trial. She said the failure to disclose evidence and pursue alternative suspects undermined confidence in the conviction.
“My job is to deliver justice with integrity, not go after the first person we identify as a possible suspect,” Pillich said, adding that her office “can’t fail to disclose evidence.”
Pillich also said other witnesses had reported seeing different individuals in the area at the time of the killing, but detectives did not adequately follow up on those leads. She said the victim’s family was informed of the decision to dismiss the case and, while disappointed, understood the outcome.
Ohioans to Stop Executions said Jones’ exoneration is the second death row exoneration in Hamilton County and the 202nd nationwide.
Kevin Werner, executive director of the group, said the case highlights the human cost of capital punishment.
“We’re thinking of the Nathan family and we’re thinking of the Jones family, both of whom were irreparably harmed by Ohio’s death penalty system,” Werner said. “The public has had it with wrongful convictions. Lawmakers need to get serious and repeal the death penalty.”
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