LEXINGTON, S.C. — A court-appointed psychologist said the South Carolina father who confessed to killing his five children knew right from wrong, and made a conscious decision to slay his kids.
His testimony came Thursday in the trial of Timothy Jones Jr., who's charged with murder in the death of his five children in August 2014. His defense is arguing he's not guilty by reason of insanity, while prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
THE COURT-APPOINTED PSYCHIATRIST
The only witness called on Thursday was Dr Richard Frierson, a court-appointed forensic psychiatrist — not requested by defense or state — who interviewed Jones after his incarceration. The doctor conducts forensic evaluations of patients.
Frierson was asked by Circuit Judge Eugene Griffith to determine if Jones (1) knew right from wrong at the time of the incident and (2) if he is morally responsible for his actions.
The doctor said that this case provided him the most information he has had to review in 30 years of criminal evaluations. The family reports, reports from social workers and psychiatrists from both sides, medical history, and social history amounted to several hundred thousand pages of documents.
Frierson also interviewed Jones in person on 6 occasions for a total of 19 hours.
It was the doctor’s opinion that at the time of the killings, on August 28, 2014, that Jones would have been able to distinguish legal and morally right from legal and moral wrong and would have know what he did was wrong.
Defense attorney Boyd Young asked Frierson if Jones never denied he killed the children? No
Frierson recounted what Jones had said about the events of August 28, 2014, during interviews with the doctor from September 2016 to March 2019:
- Jones went to work as normal at Intel, smoked Spice on way to work and at lunch to mellow out, left at 4, worked at home for 2 hours before picking kids; babysitter Christine Ehke had the 2 youngest, and Jones picked up the 3 oldest at 6:16pm from Saxe Gotha; Tim downloaded a techno song and played it for the kids, he purchased take-out food from IHOP.
- When the family got home, Jones found an electrical socket near the door was blown and the light above stove was out. Jones figured Nahtahn was responsible because the boy had an unusual fascination with electricity.
- Jones said that “when Nahtahn wouldn’t tell me what had happened, I thought he was plotting against me so he could live with Amber.”
- Amber calls at 7:10 pm and talks to Nahtahn and Tim for just over 1 minute — after 4 missed calls. Tim overheard Nahtahn tell Amber “it was an accident" and became enraged because the boy told Amber what had happened but not Tim.
- Amber told Jones to go easy, but he raged for her to “shut the F up, you’re not going to tell me how to raise the kids.”
- Jones said that Nahtahn’s death was accidental, that he had pushed Nahtahn to make him confess — used PT (a series of 100 sit-ups, push-ups and squats), then slapped and spanked Nahtahn and sent him to bed early.
- Jones went in the bedroom later to check on the boy and found him dead. Frierson says there is another version of the story where Jones says he shook Nahtahn and the boy collapsed and died.
- As for the other four children, Frierson says Jones told him that he went into a mad panic after finding Nahtahn dead — asking himself, “what am I going to do.”
- Jones didn’t think Nahtahn was going to hurt him until he came home and found the electrical outlets blown. According to the story he told Frierson, after Nahtahn died, Jones considered calling 911 but thought the responders would think he did it on purpose. Instead of calling for help, Jones said he told Elias and Mera that Nahtahn was dead and sent them to the living room to watch TV while he went to smoke a cigarette and Spice to calm down.
- According to documents Frierson had been given, records show that at 8:30 pm on Aug. 28, Jones did a YouTube search for ‘ “American History X” rape scene’. He watched the explicit male-on-male sex scene and thought “I’m going to prison and (the inmates)’ll do bad things to me.” When Frierson asked Jones why he thought that, Jones responded that “its because of people who molest or kill children… other inmates target them.”
- Frierson testified that Jones told him what he did next: he went to a nearby convenience store with Mera and bought 10 packs of cigarettes, then drove home at 1:50 am. During the drive home, Jones said he heard a demonic voice inside his head that told him to kill the kids. Frierson said that Jones told him in an interview that “I’m not a murderer… I thought (the kids) would be better off together… I made a conscious choice and killed them.”
- When asked about his reasons for the murders, Jones told Frierson that Amber didn’t want them, and he was going away. Jones thinks he’s schizophrenic and “it was better for me to take their lives” — because he’d know where they were and the kids would be together. Jones adds that it was just a matter of time before he got caught, so he might as well go to Vegas.
Frierson reported that Jones was remorseful and regretted actions. He functioned well while married to Amber, he had no legal trouble during that time.
Young asked Frierson about Jones’ inconsistencies in his recollections. Frierson said that some inconsistencies in a story over time is not abnormal.
Frierson said that Jones “was very detail oriented with what he told me he did to those kids. He didn’t sugar coat it. He didn’t give a version that was kind to him — or his defense.”
Boyd asked about an incident in 2015, when Jones tried to hang himself with bedsheet. Jones had missed a dosage of medication and was angry and depressed; he said after the missed medication the voices came back (or not a voice, but anxious thoughts). After the incident, Jones reportedly told a prison nurse that he wasn’t suicidal, just mad.
The suicide attempt began 8am. Frierson said a video shows him taking a bedsheet off and on from around his neck, adjusting it, and putting it back for about an hour.
'Frierson reviews completed suicides of Department of Corrections and it is his opinion that Jones never picked up feet to gain leverage to actually kill himself -- there was ambivalence in the act, no real intention.
In the ensuing report, Dr Beverly Wood, Jones’ prison psychiatrist, thought Jones might have missed the medication that calms restlessness, Frierson agrees with that assessment.
Frierson testified that Jones told him conflicting stories about the suicide attempts: (1) this was Jones’ first suicide attempt and later, (2) Jones said he tried to overdose and kill himself with spice in 2014.
But, Frierson continues, Jones said he would never commit suicide — it was a sin in Jones’ book.
According to Frierson’s report, from 2016-2019, Jones appears relatively stable — either because of medication or he doesn’t have a major mental illness.
Frierson testifies that Jones was completely sober during his time with Amber but Jones couldn’t concentrate at work because of his intrusive/anxious thoughts. But, Frierson continued, Jones’ thoughts didn’t stop him from doing work at Intel.
After a neural psychological examination, Frierson determined that Jones has anxious or intrusive thoughts that can be handled by medication.
Frierson talks about Jones’ mood swings — self-reported moments of euphoria followed by moments of sadness — which were inconsistent with bipolar disorder or mania. Frierson noted that Jones has a depressed skull fracture — but it is the brain’s functionally that matters. Jones was tested again for IQ because Frierson didn’t believe defense’s note of 87 IQ
Frierson has reason to disagree about Jones’ function, memory, concentration analysis by others — Frierson determined Jones’ cognitive ability to plan and extract outcomes are fine.
Frierson saw the MRI scans presented as defense’s evidence and sees the structural abnormalities of Jones’ skull. Still, Frierson finds that Jones is functioning fine, with no evidence of impairment.
People with schizophrenia can display disorganized speech and behavior. One thing Frierson looked at was the report of Jones’ appearance 24 hours after his arrest on Sept. 6, 2014, in Smith County, Mississippi. After being seen as acting wild and ranting, without medical treatment, Jones returns to normal behavior. Frierson testifies that if Jones had schizophrenia, his condition would not have gotten better on its own.
As far as Jones’ driving around the South with his children in the back of the Escalade, to Frierson it was purposeful behavior on Jones’ part — trying to not be at home. The handwritten notes found in the car at the time of his arrest were in written in logical order.
Frierson explained that delusions are fixed false thoughts that people believe even when presented with evidence to the contrary. They develop slowly, over time.
Frierson reviewed the internet searches Jones made when he that he thought Mera was schizophrenic. Frierson didn’t think it was delusional behavior.
When Jones thought Nahtahn was trying to electrocute him, Frierson said that was paranoia thought, not delusional behavior.
Frierson said that most people with schizophrenic family history do not develop schizophrenia.
Jones’ responses to a mental health questionnaire taken two days after arrest in Mississippi are not mentioned in Frierson’s report because the doctor believes it is not a reliable way to determine criminal responsibility, and it is not appropriate — in Frierson’s opinion — for law enforcement to assess mental an inmate’s mental state.
Frierson did not diagnose Tim as malingering —faking his symptoms — although it was a very strong consideration.
Frierson tells Boyd that he is not an advocate for either side, just advocates for his professional opinion. “Reasonable people can disagree,” he says.
On cross-examination, Deputy solicitor Shawn Graham asked Frierson again of Jones knew right from wrong.
Frierson began to give examples, using Jones’ behavior:
- He deceived people: After killing the children that weekend, Jones told Ehlke kids would be back in her care on Tuesday — legally and morally, Jones knew right from wrong
- Jones told his father that plans to visit him in Mississippi had changed (not that he had killed the kids) — legally and morally, Jones knew right from wrong
- Mislead his grandmother Roberta Thornsberry — legally and morally, Jones knew right from wrong
- The internet searches from August 29 to September 6, 2014, involving “dog search for body in landfill” and “extradition” when tries to dispose of evidence, a clear indication of what he did was wrong — legally, Jones knew right from wrong
- The internet search “missing children Tim Jones” — did it make the news — morally, Jones knew right from wrong
- Handwritten notes about what to do with bodies includes diagram: Lex > Camping > Mexican border > Vegas, and the fact that Jones packed his passport, and an attempt to destroy evidence — legally and morally, Jones knew right from wrong
- Moral culpability also comes from Jones watching and commenting on the rape scene, Jones’ taped confession from back seat of the Smith County police car, and his admission that he’s ashamed of what he had done
If found guilty but mentally ill: it would mean that Jones couldn’t resist his actions, was compelled by mental illness. He knew the actions were wrong but couldn’t help himself.
Frierson doesn’t believe Jones had a mental illness — Jones had a pattern of strict punishment as reported by parents, school, preachers, babysitters and more — and Tim’s mother’s diagnosed mental illness not an issue.
Jones self-reports he felt compelled to kill — but, at end of day, Frierson’s opinion is that Jones made a conscious decision about the four children
>>>>>>>>>>>>> THE CHARGES
Jones has admitted to killing his children — Abigail Elaine, 1; Gabriel, 2; Nahtahn, 6; Elias, 7; and Mera Gracie, 8 — on Aug. 28, 2014, after picking them up from school and daycare. The killings took place at the family home at 2155-B South Lake Dr. in Red Bank.
He was arrested on Sept. 6, 2014, after a traffic safety stop in Smith County, Mississippi, during which law enforcement officers discovered blood and handwritten notes on how to mutilate bodies in Jones’ car. Jones had left the children’s bodies in plastic trash bags in a wooded area outside of Camden, Alabama. He had been traveling throughout the South with the bodies in the back of his car since Aug. 28.
Jones has pled guilty by reason of insanity. His guilty plea would allow one of four possible outcomes in the trial: guilty, guilty by reason of insanity, not guilty by mental defect, or not guilty.
If found guilty, the death penalty would not be automatic. Jurors would then be asked to consider extenuating circumstances and could sentence Jones to life without parole rather than death.
Witness testimony will resume Friday morning.