Ga. Supreme Court says search of Jones' home was illegal

<p>The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that authorities conducted an illegal search when they took evidence from the home of a man who has pleaded guilty to killing his infant daughter and three of his ex-girlfriend's relatives and then kidnapping the woman's three surviving children.</p><p>In a decision released Monday, the court reversed Gordon County Superior Court Judge Carey Nelson's ruling that denied a motion by attorneys for Jerry William Jones to suppress evidence found in his apartment.</p><p>The issue has been remanded back to the trial court for a new ruling.</p><p>But the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling on two other issues, rejecting claims by Jones' attorneys that because of an error in an indictment, the state should be prevented from seeking the death penalty.</p><p>Although Jones' probation officer and several law enforcement officers had an arrest warrant, they did not have a search warrant when they searched Jones' apartment, the ruling said.</p><p>"We hold that the search was unlawful insofar as it exceeded a plain view search incident to an attempted arrest of Jones in his apartment," Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears wrote for the court. "As this court and the Supreme Court of the United States have both noted, 'the Fourth Amendment applies to probationers as well as other citizens.'"</p><p>The search began when officers entering the apartment to look for Jones saw a gun box, prosecutors told the high court in oral arguments in April. Jones was on probation for being a felon in possession of a firearm.</p><p>"It is a minor issue," Gordon County District Attorney Jo Campbell said. "This still comes back to Judge Nelson to finalize what items were seized pursuant to plain view. The most important evidence may not be lost at all."</p><p>The ruling leaves open the possibility some evidence from the home can be allowed. Evidence that was "in plain sight" could be admitted as the officers did enter Jones' home with a valid arrest warrant. Evidence in the apartment included a gun box, letters and ammunition, testimony showed.</p><p>Jones has pleaded guilty to the Jan. 7, 2004, slayings of Tom and Nola Blaylock, their daughter Georgia Mae Bradley and Jones' daughter, 10-month-old Jerri Jones.</p><p>While the guilty plea has been accepted, he is awaiting a sentencing hearing to determine if he will get life in prison or the death penalty.</p><p>The Blaylocks, who were shot, were the mother and stepfather of Melissa Peeler, Jones' ex-girlfriend. Bradley and the infant were strangled with a cord.</p><p>Jones had a stormy six-year relationship with Peeler. Authorities and the victims' relatives have said Jones' jealousy over his belief that Peeler was visiting a new boyfriend in Oregon sparked the killings in Ranger, a small town about 55 miles north of Atlanta. Peeler has said she was in Oregon on business.</p><p>Police said that after the killings, Jones took off with Peeler's three surviving children _ two of them his own _ and fled just over the state line into Tennessee, where he was caught after a car chase the next night. He shot himself in the face and spent months in a prison hospital. The three children were found unharmed.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2ded6d8)</p>