Posted by Cheryl Cotterill, Guest Blogger When Claude Jones was
convicted of capital murder in 1990, the technology did not
exist to test the only physical evidence provided by the
prosecution as proof of his guilt--a single strand of hair.
According to the prosecution, in 1989 Jones robbed a liquor
store and shot Allen Hilzendager with a gun belonging to Timothy
Jordan while Jones' other accomplice, Kerry Dixon, waited in the
car. At trial, Jordan testified against Jones but in 2004
recanted his testimony stating that everything he had reported
at trial actually came from Dixon and not Jones. Jordan also
stated that the police had told him what to say in exchange for
a reduced sentence in the case. Because accomplice testimony
alone cannot be the sole basis for a conviction in Texas, the
hair evidence was crucial to the prosecution's case. As a result
of the hair evidence Jones was convicted of capital murder and
sentenced to death. Jordan plea bargained and received a 10-year
sentence for a lesser offense.