NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A Lake County man who has been exonerated after spending nearly 18 years in prison for crimes he did not commit is now a free man.
Shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday, 71-year-old Luther Ed Jones Jr. departed from the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, according to Luis Patino, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Patino said Jones was headed to a Northern California town where he will reside with family.
Jones had been sentenced to 27 years in prison in 1998 after being convicted at his second trial of sexually molesting his ex-girlfriend's 10-year-old daughter. His first trial, which had commenced earlier that year, had resulted in a hung jury, as Lake County News has reported.
On Feb. 9, the 30-year-old woman who had been the alleged child victim contacted the Lake County District Attorney's Office to say her mother, Jones' ex-girlfriend and the mother of one of his children, had told her to lie and accuse Jones of the crimes as part of her mother's plan to prevent him from taking custody of the child they shared.
The young woman also told authorities that she had been molested but by another man – her mother's then-boyfriend.
On Tuesday, just a week after that information came to light, District Attorney Don Anderson and Angela Carter, an attorney who administers the county's public defense contract, presented a writ of habeas corpus seeking Jones' release to Judge Andrew Blum.
Blum shortly afterward ordered Jones released from prison without further hearings.
Carter told Lake County News that she is now acting as Jones' attorney and offering him assistance in the process of settling into his new life.
The District Attorney's Office has indicated it is exploring the possibility of prosecuting both the woman who coached her daughter to wrongly accuse Jones and the man who actually molested the woman's daughter, although both cases will be difficult due to the length of time that has passed and the availability of evidence, Anderson said.
A complete report on the background of the case can be found at www.bit.ly/1PQhVk5 .
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
State prison releases man exonerated of 1998 molestation conviction
- Elizabeth Larson
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