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HARTINGTON – The lawyer for a Laurel man convicted of a quadruple murder is building a case against the death penalty.
Todd Lancaster of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy appeared in Cedar County District Court Monday morning on behalf of 44-year-old Jason Jones.
Jones was convicted by a jury of murdering Gene Twiford, his wife, Janet, and their daughter, Dana, along with another Laurel woman, Michele Ebeling, and setting their homes on fire on Aug. 4, 2022. The jury also found the murders to be aggravated, making him eligible for the death penalty.
After Jones was apprehended, he spent several weeks at a Lincoln hospital recovering from burns and then was transferred to the Nebraska Department of Corrections where he has been housed since.
On Monday, Judge Bryan Meismer ruled for the Nebraska Department of Corrections to release Jones’ records including mental health, medical, substance abuse records, progress reports, disciplinary reports, and other pertinent data related to Jones’ background and conduct while being housed at the state correctional facility.
Lancaster said the information is necessary to assist in conducting mental health examinations and preparing mitigation evidence for Jones’ sentencing determination.
A three-judge panel will convene to consider Jones’ sentencing. Patrick Heng, McCook, and Timothy Burns, Omaha, will join Meismer, who will serve as the presiding judge at sentencing.
The panel will hear evidence of mitigating circumstances, or factors that lessen the severity of the crime or Jones’ culpability. Under state law, mitigating circumstances may include the defendant’s lack of criminal history; if there was unusual pressure or influence by another person; if the crime was committed during extreme mental or emotional disturbance; the age of the defendant; if the defendant’s participation in the crime was minimal; if the victim consented or participated in the crime; and if the defendant was impaired by mental illness or intoxication.
Once the panel hears that evidence, it then convenes in private to weigh whether the mitigators exceed or come close to the weight of the aggravators found by the jury in the case.
The decision must be unanimous in order for the death sentence to be imposed.
If Jones is given a death sentence, an appeal is automatic and goes directly to the Nebraska Supreme Court, bypassing the Nebraska Court of Appeals.
At Monday’s hearing, Lancaster also renewed his motion asserting that the death penalty is unconstitutional. He had previously argued a motion to quash sections of the death penalty and argued his points at a hearing in February 2023.
At that time, Meismer ruled against the motion saying all of the issues brought forth by Lancaster had been previously addressed by the Nebraska Supreme Court.
In renewing his motion, Lancaster provided updated evidence of how often the death penalty was used in the United States and in what circumstances.
He argued there’s an evolving standard of decency and Meismer should reconsider his earlier ruling.
“In the past, our society deemed it acceptant to hang or crush to death those who were suspected of being involved in witchcraft,” Lancaster wrote in his motion. “Society now views that suspicious and response absurd. As our society has matured, it has shown its increasing discomfort with the imposition of the death penalty.”
He argued that the death penalty has become increasingly seen as cruel and unusual. Of the 27 states that currently have the death penalty, six have gubernatorial holds on executions. Only a handful of states use the death penalty with any frequency, Lancaster said.
Corey O’Brien of the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office asked Meismer to look at his pervious order saying all of the issues raised by Lancaster have been previously litigated at the highest levels of jurisdiction in Nebraska.
“There really is no new arguments advanced by the motion to reconsider,” he said. “I don’t believe the evidence presented moves the needle anywhere beyond what the parties argued in their original briefs.”
In fact, the state’s citizens “went out of its way” to petition and then voted for the reinstatement of the death penalty in 2016 by a 60 percent margin, he said.
“As far as Nebraska’s concerned, That’s demonstrable proof of the fact this does not violate the evolving standards of decency,” O’Brien said.
Lancaster said when he previously moved the court to declare the death penalty unconstitutional, Jones had not yet been convicted and therefore the issue was determined to be premature.
“I’ve been chastised by the appellate courts enough for not renewing objections and making objections at the right time. I’m doing the belts and suspenders thing here. I want to make sure, particularly in this case, as a death penalty, I am not ineffective in not renewing my motions,” Lancaster said. “I still think it’s important now . . . to bring it up now again and have a new order on that, in a case of this seriousness, everything is correct.”
Meismer took the matter under advisement Monday and will issue his written ruling on the issue at a later date.
