now see that would normally worry me. i wasn t there. reporter: then, two weeks after letting boney walk, there was something else. something big. early, uh, yesterday morning, i was notified of some uh additional scientific evidence, uh, that linked mr. boney to the, uh, to the homicides. reporter: the prosecutor revealed that a palm print found on the exterior passenger side of the bronco doorframe was left there by none other than charles boney. investigators had been aware of the palm print for more than four years but only now did they know whose it was. boney was hauled back into the interrogation room and the questioning became more confrontational. you ve got some explaining to do here, charles. your palm print is on that bronco. you re there. now this is the time, this is the place. this is your last stage that you re going to have to tell us what the hell happened there.
kevin jones sat in the courtroom, watched the fight for his life swirl around him, and felt in that uncomfortable chair the withering stares of the jury. they can all look at you, and if you do one thing wrong, that they deem is wrong, that might sway them the opposite way. one facial expression. one click of a pen. one bite off of your fingernail. you never know how people are going to take things that you do. he had every reason to worry. later the jurors would recall how the images of this crime haunted them. blood all over him in the pictures. the palm print in her blood. but to the jurors the evidence or the lack of it looked bad for police too. the glass door, for example, where the perpetrator went out was not fingerprinted inside or out. the kitchen floor would have been excellent for footprints. he obviously walked across there. no prints were taken.
mother is crying? her name is nona dirksmeyer. the defense said janice jones and kevin s friend gave police conflicting details of how they came upon nona s body and what they were doing to save her. it is a lie. they are lying. they re all three lying zblpt pizza boy s lying. kevin s lying. his mother s lying. absolutely. without any question. in fact, the defense attorneys tried to claim, you couldn t keep up with the joneses and all their lies. even kevin s grandmother who said she was with kevin in another town the morning of nona s death couldn t be trusted. kevin s grandmother knows that kevin murdered nona? i don t know if they know, what they know. but i know they re covering for him. but the lawyers said kevin jones couldn t explain one thing away. that bloody palm print in nona s apartment. it was his and not gary dunn s. did it work? yes, it did. after three days of deliberations the jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked.
michael robbins. they sent the readout of that polygraph to an independent expert who reported that the questions seemed designed to make sure kevin failed. and the rest of the state s evidence, said the defense, didn t wash either. that bloody palm print on the light bulb of the lamp, the murder weapon. attorney bill bristol agreed it was kevin print. and no wonder it was. kevin was frantdically trying to save his girlfriend s life. so of course he could have touched the light bulb. it is a totally innocent situation. the blood got on the lightbulb at the time the body was discovered. when he s trying to revive her or something? yes. hence the lightbulb. the emt said the lamp was within a foot of the body. more disturbing? the evidence not collected by the police. said the defense, first-time homicide detective mark frost and the other officers in the department mucked up the case royally. the only area that was
saturday berating romney in a series of tweets, calling into question his character and electability. senator bernie sanders arrived home in vermont after suffering a heart attack on the campaign trail earlier this week. although sanders has canceled his upcoming events, his campaign staff says he will be at the next democratic debate. now back to dateline. welcome back to dateline. i m craig melvin. kevin jones was on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, nona dirksmeyer. prosecutors painted kevin as a jealous boyfriend whose bloody palm print found at the scene was evidence he committed the crime. the defense countered that kevin left the print while trying to save nona s life. it was time for the jury to decide the young man s fate. here again is keith morrison with what happened to the beauty queen?