Donald Jones was executed by the State of Missouri for the murder of his Grandmother
According to court documents Donald Jones went to his Grandmother’s house in order to borrow money to buy drugs. Dorothy Knuckles refused to give him money and Jones would stab the woman to death
Donald Jones would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Donald Jones would be executed by lethal injection on April 27 2005
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When Was Donald Jones Executed
Donald Jones was executed on April 27 2005
Donald Jones Case
Covered to his neck by a sheet, Donald Jones looked toward his family through thick glass and tried to speak. The first of the lethal drugs left him motionless. Relatives could be heard weeping. He never moved again. Word of his death came over officers’ radios in five minutes. On a grass field outside the prison, many in a crowd of 120 protesters held votive candles and prayed. College students huddled and hugged. A few wept.
Jones, 38, was pronounced dead at 12:07 a.m. Wednesday in the new death chamber at the state prison here, 60 miles south of St. Louis. He was condemned for murdering his grandmother, Dorothy Knuckles, in her home in St. Louis 12 years ago because she refused to give him money for drugs.
Jones was the 63rd man put to death in Missouri since 1989, when the state resumed carrying out the ultimate punishment under current U.S. Supreme Court rules. His case was unusual because his family fought for years to keep him from being executed for killing one of their own.
Many of the relatively large crowd of protesters were students from St. Louis University who were inspired by Jones’ case to organize a group against executions. A few visited him during his final days. “We loved him. He was so sweet and gentle,” said Anna Calhoun, a sophomore who saw him Monday. The murder “was a horrific mistake that he admitted to. This just caused more suffering for his family. There was no need for it.”
The courts and Gov. Matt Blunt, reviewing the case and the brutality of the murder, were not so moved. The federal appeals court in St. Louis and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Jones’ last stand of appeals, and Blunt declined to use his power to reduce the sentence.
Shortly after Jones was pronounced dead, prison spokesman John Fougere read a statement from Blunt. “I carefully reviewed applications for clemency,” the statement says in part. “Donald Jones was given several opportunities to talk about the heinous acts he committed before a jury of his peers and judges at every level, all of whom affirmed this just punishment.”
Fougere also released copies of Jones’ final statement, written in his own hand. “To my beautiful family, friends and all those whose (sic) been in prayer, in thought and support, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he wrote. “… especially my beautiful angels at St. Louis University, your courage and conviction is inspiring… “I’m finally free and I’m going home to grandmother now. I love you all and God bless. Donnie.”
As protesters lingered outside in the 40-degree chill, the Rev. Jim Flanigan, a deacon at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Webster Groves, led the prayers. “Father, forgive Donald, give him a kindly welcome and cleanse him of all sins,” Flanigan said.
Jones’ relatives joined them outside and directed their emotions against Blunt. “The governor didn’t listen to our voices. He didn’t hear the family,” said an uncle, Matthew Knuckles, of Rock Hill. “This was so senseless. I just watched my little nephew die.”
Jones was the first to be executed in the new death chamber of the Eastern Diagnostic Reception and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, which has replaced the old chamber at the Potosi Correctional Center, 15 miles away. Condemned prisoners still will be housed in Potosi and moved to Bonne Terre for execution.
The next person scheduled to be executed is Vernon Brown, also of St. Louis, who was sentenced to die for murdering a neighbor, Janet Perkins, 9, whom he lured into his apartment as she walked home from school in 1986. The execution date is May 18. He also faces a separate death sentence for strangling Synetta Ford, 19, in 1985.
