Three-judge panel formed in murder case

HARTINGTON — The threejudge panel has been selected to decide the fate of Jason Jones.

Patrick Heng, McCook, and Timothy Burns, Omaha, were selected at random to join Bryan Meismer on the three-judge panel. Meismer presided over Jones’ trial and will be the presiding judge during the sentencing phase.

Forty-four-year-old Jason Jones, Laurel, was convicted by a jury last month of murdering Gene Twiford, his wife, Janet, and his daughter, Dana, along with Michele Ebeling, and setting their homes on fire on Aug. 4, 2022, in Laurel. The jury also found the murders to be aggravated, making him eligible for the death penalty.

The three-judge panel will decide his fate — life in prison or the death penalty.

Jones’ attorney, Todd Lancaster of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, filed a motion in Cedar County District Court last week asking that the victims’ impact statements be limited in the pre-sentence investigative report prepared by the state probation office.

In his motion, Lancaster cites case law in which victim impact statements were limited and not received if a family members’ statement provides an opinion about the crime, the defendant or the appropriate sentence.

Under state law, a victim is defined as the nearest surviving relative.