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— Austin Svehla Norfolk Daily News
DAKOTA CITY — A badly burned Jason Jones was treated for 12 weeks at a Lincoln hospital after being arrested on Aug. 5, 2022, in connection to a quadruple homicide in Laurel the day before.
On Monday, a Dakota County jury heard testimony from a registered nurse involved in the treatment of Jones at CHI Health St. Elizabeth.
Kaitlyn Mazzini was the last witness to take the stand on Monday, the eighth day of testimony in Jones’ trial.
Jones is accused of fatally shooting Michele Ebeling at 209 Elm St. in Laurel and Gene, Janet and Dana Twiford three blocks south at 503 Elm St. Jones allegedly set fire to the victims’ respective homes after shooting them.
Jurors on Monday were shown photos of burns on Jones’ arms and legs and some of the skin grafting done by medical personnel.
Mazzini said she cared for Jones only a handful of times, including on Aug. 14, 2022, just over a week after he was admitted to the hospital.
That day, Mazzini recalls cleaning Jones up after he experienced a bowel movement. She and a tech nurse also were doing wound care, which required turning Jones over, causing him to groan in pain.
As Jones was turned over toward Mazzini, she recalls him saying, “After what I did, a little torture is OK.”
Mazzini didn’t respond to Jones, she said, and simply “finished what I needed to do.”
Given Jones’ statement and the nature of his admission to the hospital, Jones was screened for suicidal ideations, which Mazzini said is frequently done with patients. Jones said he was not suicidal.
“He said, ‘I (expletive)-ed up. If I live, I live; if I die, I die. It’s in God’s hands now,’” Mazzini said.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Matthew McDonald asked Mazzini if she recalled Jones being “in and out of it” through the course of his treatment because of his injuries and the resulting narcotics he was administered for pain alleviation.
Mazzini, who treated Jones for about 30-40 minutes at a time, said she never observed Jones drifting “in and out of it.” McDonald, though, seemed surprised by that testimony because Mazzini had said she administered Jones hydromorphone, which has two to eight times the potency of morphine.
McDonald pointed to evidence that states hydromorphone can cause mental clouding, possibly raising the question of whether Jones was alert and knowledgeable about what he was saying when he made statements to Mazzini.
When asked by the defense attorney if she conversed with other nurses about their interactions with Jones, Mazzini said she did not have such conversations because doing so would be a HIPAA violation.
She added that she was “trying to avoid him,” in that she did not discuss the circumstances of Jones’ burns with him at all.
“I care for all my patients equally, and I gave him the best care I could give him,” Mazzini said.
