Florida Supreme court orders new trial after prosecutors withheld DNA evidence in Jones case

The Florida Supreme Court set aside Henry Lee Jones’ conviction and death sentence for the 2003 murder of Carlos Perez, ruling that prosecutors withheld DNA evidence that could have aided the defense. The court ordered a new trial, sending the case back for further proceedings in Brevard County, according to the reporting by WFLA, ClickOrlando and Tampa Free Press.

The ruling concerns Perez’s killing in Melbourne. ClickOrlando and Tampa Free Press report that Perez was 19 and was found dead on August 27, 2003. The accounts identify DNA evidence connected to a woman whose genetic material was relevant to the case.

WFLA says the woman had told investigators she had never met Perez; the court reasoned that evidence of contact between them before his death could have affected the jury’s verdict. The accounts describe the withheld material in different levels of detail, rather than reporting incompatible findings.

WFLA says the DNA matched a woman and that the court considered the potential importance of jurors learning she had contact with Perez. ClickOrlando reports that Florida Department of Law Enforcement analysts viewed transfer of Bello’s DNA from an unwashed motel comforter as highly unlikely and considered direct contact more probable.

That laboratory assessment is presented as analysts’ conclusion; it is not a finding that identifies who killed Perez. The Florida Supreme Court’s order changes the status of Jones’s Florida case: the conviction and death sentence have been set aside, and a new trial has been ordered. The reports do not provide a trial date or a detailed schedule for the proceedings.

The court’s stated basis, as described in the coverage, is the prosecution’s withholding of evidence and the possibility that disclosure could have affected the verdict. The coverage also places the Florida case alongside other investigations and convictions involving Jones.

WFLA and ClickOrlando say Jones was a primary suspect in the 2002 killing of Keith Gross in Fort Lauderdale, but was never charged in that case. WFLA and ClickOrlando also report that Jones had been convicted in Tennessee for the murders of Clarence and Lillian James.

Those matters provide background to the coverage, but the Florida Supreme Court ruling addressed the Perez case. ClickOrlando and Tampa Free Press report that Perez was found in a Melbourne motel; Tampa Free Press supplies the additional detail that he was inside a room at the Super 8 on U.S. 1. That outlet also describes the circumstances in which staff found him.

The court’s ruling, as reported across the outlets, rests on the DNA evidence withheld from the defense, not on those additional scene details. The immediate next step documented by the coverage is a new trial.

The ruling does not establish who killed Perez; it sets aside the existing conviction and sentence after the court concluded that withheld evidence could have mattered to the jury. The reports do not specify when the new trial will begin.