CINCINNATI — Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said she will not challenge a court ruling when it comes to evidence that can't be used for a possible new trial against Elwood Jones.
Jones was convicted in 1996 for the murder of Rhoda Nathan and sat on death row for more than 27 years before he was granted a new trial and released from prison.
Judge Wende C. Cross of the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court ruled in December 2022 that evidence withheld from defense attorneys during his first trial was significant and should have been presented to the jury.
In 2023, Cross then ruled that testimony from a now-dead Blue Ash Police Officer Michael Bray would be excluded from Jones' new trial.
"I didn't order a retrial," Cross said to both counsels. "I ordered a new trial."
WATCH: What we know about the decision
Last Friday, the Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling that no testimony from Bray can be used moving forward. The three-judge panel found Jones' lawyers did not have "an adequate opportunity to cross-examine Officer Bray in 1996." The ruling went on to say in part:
"The State has never argued that Jones's opportunity to cross-examine Officer Bray in 1996 was otherwise adequate or that any parts of Officer Bray's testimony are admissible under the Confrontation Clause. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's order excluding Officer Bray's testimony under the Sixth Amendment ... as previously discussed, Jones, in his briefing below, pointed the trial court to numerous undisclosed documents and explained how they would have been used to impeach Officer Bray's testimony."
In a statement to WCPO 9 News, Pillich said, "We respect the decision handed down by the 1st District Court of Appeals and will not be appealing it. We now await the Ohio Supreme Court's ruling on a separate appeal."
Jones and his defense team consider this a win after his 1996 conviction was overturned, but prosecutors argued Bray's testimony in Jones' original 1996 trial was critical to the state's case.
"Your ruling today, excluding Detective Bray, makes it impossible to move forward with the case," one member of the prosecutor's team told Cross after he made the initial decision.
A pendant found in Jones' car, believed to have belonged to Nathan, was presented as a major piece of evidence in Jones' initial trial. At that time, prosecutors told the jury the custom-made pendant "was as if Nathan left her print with the defendant."
However, Cross said officials with the Blue Ash Police Department traveled to New York City to visit Nathan's home and learned the pendant was not unique or custom-crafted — the engagement ring Nathan's family had believed the pendant was made from was actually in the possession of another family member.
Family told Blue Ash police they believed Nathan's pendant was simply purchased at a jewelry store in the Bronx, but this information was never documented or disclosed for trial, where the pendant became a key piece of evidence in the state's case.
The prosecution also withheld evidence that undermined their case against Jones, Cross said, including a Hepatitis B test that "is so significant that the state's theory is scientifically implausible," Cross said.
Now, both sides must wait on an Ohio Supreme Court decision on whether Cross' ruling was improper by not allowing prosecutors to appeal the ruling that Jones should be given a new trial.
Joe Deters was the Hamilton County prosecutor at the time of Elwood's initial trial and Cross' decision for a new trial. He now sits on the Ohio Supreme Court and has recused himself from this case.
Background on the case
On the morning of Sept. 3, 1994, Nathan was staying at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Blue Ash with a friend and that friend's fiancé while in town from New Jersey to attend a bar mitzvah, according to court documents. That morning, Nathan was to meet her friends at the hotel's first floor restaurant for breakfast after she showered. Her friends left the room at around 7:30 a.m. that morning and returned roughly 30 to 40 minutes later, court documents say.
When they entered the room, they found Nathan lying naked, face-up on the floor, unresponsive. She was taken to Bethesda North Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Hamilton County Coroner's Office ruled her death a homicide, citing multiple traumatic injuries and blunt force impact to her head and torso, court documents say. Jones worked as a maintenance man at the hotel. Prosecutors said Jones broke into Nathan's hotel room where he was trying to steal valuables but did not expect her to be there. They accused Jones of brutally beating Nathan to death. Jones has maintained his innocence.
"I did not kill Ms. Nathan and no matter what no one says, I did not and I still say I did not," said Jones. "I'm not a murderer."
