Stepfather won’t face another trial in death of 2-year-old Jahi Turner, judge rules

Prosecutors cannot try Tieray Jones a second time on a charge of murdering his stepson, Jahi Turner, a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.

The judge said there is little likelihood that new evidence or new witnesses could be found that would persuade 12 jurors to convict Jones.

“It saddens me to my core to say this,” Judge Joan Weber said. “I would want nothing more than a definitive answer to what happened to [Jahi] that week of 2002.”

A jury last week deadlocked on convicting Jones, and Weber declared a mistrial.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Nicole Rooney said after the ruling that she is disappointed — and that Jahi’s mother, Tameka Jones, “is devastated.”

Jones, who lives in Maryland, was linked to the court proceeding by Skype and listened in as Weber issued her decision.

Tieray Jones, who is now 39, was arrested in 2015 and has remained in custody since. Rooney said he likely would be released from county jail within a few hours.

Prosecutors said Jones killed Jahi or let him die of some unknown accidental injury, then disposed of the 2-year-old’s body, which has never been found.

Jones called 911 the afternoon of April 25, 2002, and told San Diego police he’d taken the toddler to a playground a mile from their Golden Hill apartment and left him playing with some other children. After going to buy a soda, he said he returned and the children were gone.

Repard writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune