WASHINGTON, June 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – An American convicted of killing his
five small children was sentenced to death Thursday, even after his ex-wife
asked jurors to spare his life because the kids loved him.
Lawyers for Timothy Jones, 37, had argued that he is schizophrenic and
therefore not competent to stand trial.
Jones was convicted last week of killing his five children — aged one to
eight — in 2014.
His ex-wife stunned the courtroom in South Carolina on Thursday by asking
jurors to let Jones live.
“He did not show my children any mercy by any means. But my kids loved him
and if I’m speaking on behalf of my kids and not myself, that’s what I have
to say,” Amber Kyzer said, according to press reports.
Kyzer has said she agreed to give Jones sole custody of the children
because he made more money as a computer engineer than she did.
Prosecutor Rick Hubbard asked for the death penalty, calling Jones “a
monster.”
Jurors took less than two hours to announce their verdict.
Jones has said he thought his six-year-old son was plotting against him
with his ex-wife and allegedly forced the boy to exercise until he died.
He then strangled the other four. Jones drove around with his children’s
bodies for nine days before dumping them in garbage bags on a hillside in
Alabama.
Jones was arrested at a traffic checkpoint after an officer caught the
smell of decomposing bodies in his car.