Judge rules that jury in double-murder trial can visit scenes in Pamlico

By Francine Sawyer

Sun Journal Staff

A judge ruled Friday that jurors can be taken to visit the scene of a double murder when the state presents evidence in the third trial of Vaughn Antonio Jones.

Jones, 39, is accused of the stabbing deaths of his employers, Richard and Rosa Flowers, at their home in Merritt in January 2003.

The third trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 6 in Craven County Superior Court.

The first trial held in Pamlico County Superior Court in September 2006 ended with a 6 to 6 deadlock.

Last year, the second trial was held in Craven County and five jurors wanted to acquit Jones.

On Friday, Craven County Resident Superior Court Judge Ken Crow ruled on motions in connection with the third trial He said 219 potential jurors have been summoned. From that pool, 12 jurors and two alternates will be picked..

Crow will allow witnesses in the case to be sequestered. The jurors will be examined one at a time, in order not to "contaminate the other jurors," Crow said.

Several new developments will occur during this third trial. Lead prosecutor Ann Kirby is new to the case. David Spence, who helped prosecute in the two prior trials, will be back. W. David McFadyen Jr. who prosecuted the first time while he was district attorney and last year as a special prosecutor, will not be involved. Superior Court Judge Ben Alford who presided over the past two cases will not be on the bench.

Crow said all the time needed will be devoted to the case. "I want to get it right this time," he said.

He expects the trial to last two or three weeks.

Two charges have been added in the case. Jones will face not only two counts of first-degree murder, but also a count of first-degree burglary and a charge of robbery with a dangerous weapon.

The state is not asking for the death penalty, but is asking for two life sentences to run consecutively without parole.

The state asked for the death penalty in the first trial.

Dick McNeil, Jones' court-appointed lawyer, objected to the first-degree burglary charge being added after five years.

This is McNeil's third time defending Jones. McNeil, who practices in Jacksonville, is a former Marine officer and member of the military court. He has been appointed to represent Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, who is accused of the murder of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and her unborn baby in Jacksonville last December.

Some jurors who were questioned after the second hung jury in the Jones case said the state had no solid evidence.

Juror John Frame said he did not think the state showed enough evidence and proof that Jones committed the crime.

"There was no blood, fingerprints or evidence that Vaughn Jones committed the crime," Frame said.

Juror Aldo Cardellis said after the trial last year that "there was a lack of evidence. The time line wasn't proven by the state; investigators created documents several months after the crime. The state just could not convince all of us," Cardellis said.

The state suggested that in 44 minutes, Jones beat and stabbed the Flowerses, cleaned the crime scene and traveled to a convenience store eight miles away. Blood was not found in his car and his fingerprints were not found at the Flowerses' home.

For the first time, the jurors in the case will go on a tour of several places in Pamlico County to see where the places are located to match the testimony.

Crow said jurors seeing the distances of the Flowerses' house, boat company, convenience stores and Jones' house would put the geography in context. The judge ordered that the itinerary be kept secret because of security reasons and the public interest in the case.

Jones is accused of going to the Flowerses' house at night, stabbing them and stealing money from the couple.

Jones was an employee of the Flowerses', doing odd jobs for them and working at their yacht company in Merritt.