Kathy E <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: One day after defendant Reco Jones's controversial testimony, both the prosecution and the defense presented closing arguments, with prosecutor Kevin Simowski portraying Jones as a cold-blooded killer who ate lunch as the bodies of his ex-girlfriend Yolanda Bellamy and four children were discovered by police. Simowski told jurors that he would not focus on what he characterized as Jones's "despicable display" on the stand yesterday. Rather, Simowski said, the "overwhelming" evidence against Jones proves that he was angry at Bellamy and killed her then her sons, niece and nephew in a rage. The prosecutor outlined the sequence of the slayings for the jurors for the first time in his closing statements. Simowski said that when Bellamy insulted Jones, the defendant stabbed Shafontah and Delvontay Bellamy, who were asleep in their sleeping bags and did not stand a chance against the attack. "As her [Yolanda's] life's blood was escaping, Mr. Jones stabbed Shafontah," Simowski said. "It was as if he was saying, 'Look what I'm doing to your family' as he tortured the little girl." At that moment, said Simowski, Bellamy yelled a long "No!" and tried to gather her sons, Nathan Jr. and Nathan III, and escape. But Jones, said the prosecutor, killed Bellamy and young Nathan III while he was still in her arms. "Mr. Jones told you yesterday that no one can speak for Yolanda Bellamy," Simowsky said. "But she spoke to you through the evidence, through the DNA evidence." The prosecutor characterized Jones as a person who has manipulated women all his life, hiding behind girlfriends and even his mother. Simowski noted how after his arrest, Jones tried to hide the cut he suffered on his right hand when he attacked Bellamy and the children. As he showed photos taken of Jones after his arrest, the prosecutor said, "You know what our hider does? The guy who hides behind the women? Now he's hiding his right palm." Simowski also noted for jurors how angry Jones appeared to be at police officer Monica Childs, who testified that Jones had admitted committing the murders to her. Simowski claimed that Jones was angry at Childs because she was one of the few females in his life who had betrayed him. Jones, the prosecutor also noted, went to get a haircut after the crimes to remove more possible evidence and as Yolanda Bellamy's sister, Ericka, found her children and sister in a blood of blood, Jones was having lunch. "How cold can you be?" Simowski asked the jurors. Defense attorney Kendall Sailler responded to the prosecution's closing arguments by saying that if there is a reasonable doubt that Jones did not kill the five victims and that they were murdered by someone else (such as his ex-girlfriend Maliaka Martin), then they must find him not guilty. Sailler characterized the murders as the most heinous in Detroit's history, but also noted that the prosecution's case was based largely on circumstantial evidence. No one, said Sailler, saw Jones commit the crimes, and no one testified that they saw him murder the victims. Sailler said that police and prosecutors, anxious to find arrest a suspect, rushed to arrest his client and did not investigate other possible suspects. "There was a rush to judgment in this case," Sailler said. "They had four dead kids, and they had to do something." The defense attorney also said that the state's strongest evidence, the DNA evidence, was based on what he called a "waterspot" and that the jury cannot convict Jones on evidence taken from a waterspot. In addition, Sailer also attempted to explain Jones's behavior on the stand yesterday by emphasizing that Jones is a scared "street kid" who did not react well to the pressures of being on the stand and on Court TV. "He's scared to death... I hope you can understand he's a very scared young man," Sailler said. "Perhaps it was a mistake thinking that he could handle the pressures of testifying on the stand. Please understand that my client is a street kid...he's not a rocket scientist. He was doing his best (yesterday) and it was not real good." During rebuttal closings, prosecutor Simowski chastised the defense for not knowing the exact names of the police officers they named in their closing arguments and accused them of making up and changing their story about the murders during the course of the trial. "[They said] 'I'm not going to say a name in opening statements because we're going to make it up as we go along,"' Simowski said of Jones's defense team. "They found a scapegoat, but they waited until the end of the trial because they weren't sure who to pin it on...They're playing over here." Simowski also commented on the defense's allegations that Jones is scared. "He [Jones] wasn't so scared that he couldn't go to Fishbones and have lunch," the prosecutor said. "He's scared because the truth is coming right at him. Here comes the truth, Mr. Jones." Afterwards, Judge Kym Worthy instructed the jury to consider both first and second-degree murder charges against Jones. If convicted of first-degree murder, Jones could face life in prison. -- Kathy E "I can only please one person a day, today is NOT your day, and tomorrow isn't looking too good for you either" http://members.delphi.com/kathylaw/ Law & Issues Mailing List http://pw1.netcom.com/~kathye/rodeo.html - Cowboy Histories http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/2990/law.htm Crime photo's Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
