Brandon Astor Jones (February 13, 1943 – February 3, 2016) was an American murderer who was executed by
lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
by
the state of Georgia on February 3, 2016. Jones, age 72, was the oldest person on Georgia's death row at the time he was executed. During his time on death row, he became a published writer of essays and articles, as well as completing two book-length manuscripts of historical fiction and autobiography.
Crime and sentence
Jones was first sentenced to death on October 17, 1979, for his involvement in the
felony murder
The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in s ...
of Roger Tackett on June 17 of that year during a robbery of a
Tenneco
Tenneco (formerly Tenneco Automotive and originally Tennessee Gas Transmission Company) is an American automotive components original equipment manufacturer and an aftermarket ride control and emissions products manufacturer. It is a Fortune 5 ...
convenience store, of which Tackett was the manager.
Jones was convicted in relation to this murder along with Van Roosevelt Solomon (December 1, 1943 – February 20, 1985), who was executed in 1985 by electrocution at age 41.
[ In 1989, a federal court ordered Jones to be re-sentenced because the jurors who had convicted him had improperly brought a ]Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
into the deliberation room. He was re-sentenced to death in 1997.[ In January 2016, Jones' attorneys asked the Butts County Superior Court to stop his execution by challenging the state's injection drug secrecy law, and arguing that the death penalty was too harsh a punishment for his crime. Both arguments were rejected by the court.][ On February 2, 2016, the ]United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following U.S. district courts:
* Middle District of Alabama
* Northern District of Alabama
* ...
voted 6-5 not to hear Jones' challenge of Georgia's drug secrecy law. Jones was executed early on February 3, 2016 by lethal IV injection, ten days before his 73rd birthday. The executioner team struggled for an hour to insert the IV into Jones' veins, spending 24 minutes trying to get it into a vein in his left arm, another eight minutes trying his right arm and then they asked a doctor in attendance to insert it into Jones' groin which took 13 minutes. Jones was pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m.[
]
See also
* Capital punishment in Georgia (U.S. state)
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Georgia. Georgia reintroduced the death penalty in 1973 after '' Furman v. Georgia'' ruled all states' death penalty statutes unconstitutional. The first execution to take place afterward ...
* List of longest prison sentences served
This is a list of longest prison sentences served by a single person, worldwide, without a period of freedom followed by a second conviction. These cases rarely coincide with the longest prison sentences given, because some countries have laws t ...
* List of people executed in Georgia (U.S. state)
This is a list of people executed in Georgia. Since 1976, a total of 76 people have been executed by the state of Georgia in the United States.
List of people executed in Georgia since 1976
Summary of executions
* Sex
** Male: 75 (99%)
** ...
* List of people executed in the United States in 2016
This is a list of people executed in the United States in 2016. A total of twenty people, all male, were executed in the United States in 2016, all by lethal injection. The state of Georgia executed nine people, setting a record for the most execut ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Brandon Astor
1943 births
2016 deaths
1979 murders in the United States
21st-century executions of American people
21st-century executions by Georgia (U.S. state)
American male criminals
American people convicted of murder
Executed African-American people
People convicted of murder by Georgia (U.S. state)
People executed by Georgia (U.S. state) by lethal injection
People executed for murder
Place of birth missing
21st-century African-American people