The Alaska Supreme Court has vacated the conviction of an Anchorage man sentenced to almost 60 years in prison for a 2011 murder, finding the judge who presided over the trial read the jury an incorrect summary of the state’s self-defense law.
Marquinn Jones-Nelson at his sentencing hearing on Tuesday May 6, 2014 at the Anchorage courthouse. The Alaska Supreme Court last week overturned Jones-Nelson's murder conviction in the 2011 killing of Devante Jordan. to almost 60 years in prison for a 2011 murder.
“He cried,” said Cynthia Strout, a longtime Anchorage lawyer who specializes in criminal appeals. Then, Strout said, she explained what happens next before talking with family members too.“Alaska has very strong self-defense statute,” she said. “And the Legislature intended it to be followed.”The Supreme Court sent the case back to Anchorage Superior Court. Now Jones-Nelson reverts to the status of someone just arrested on murder and evidence tampering charges.
The state will need to decide if prosecutors want to hold another trial. Attorneys need to see if the evidence used in the first trial — witnesses, physical evidence — is still available now, Skidmore said. Alaska law permits the use of deadly force “when and to the extent the person reasonably believes the use of deadly force is necessary.”
Strout appealed on behalf of Jones-Nelson, saying the instruction erroneously suggested the jury evaluate the use of deadly force retrospectively “to determine whether deadly force was in fact objectively necessary, rather than ... whether the defendant’s use of deadly force was reasonable under the circumstances known to the defendant at the time.”
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