Suspect May Face Death Penalty : Crime: Prosecutors file special-circumstance murder charges against Robert Glen Jones in the killing of a Sherman Oaks woman.

In a move that could send the defendant to the gas chamber, prosecutors Friday filed special-circumstance murder charges against a Sherman Oaks man accused of fatally stabbing the pregnant Sherri Foreman during a robbery outside a bank last week.

The district attorney’s office formally charged Robert Glen Jones, 42, with murder, robbery and two special allegations--that the murder was committed during a robbery and that he killed her after lying in wait.

If convicted of either special-circumstance charge, Jones could be sent to the gas chamber at San Quentin, but prosecutors said it will be several months before a decision is made on whether to seek this penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Jones is accused of killing Foreman, 29, after she withdrew $40 from an automated teller machine at a Great Western Bank in Sherman Oaks on March 30.

The Toluca Lake woman was killed about 9 p.m. as she was getting into her 1984 BMW. Investigators initially believed that her slaying was related to a string of carjackings plaguing the San Fernando Valley, but prosecutors now believe Jones was after her money.

Foreman was able to give police a description of her attacker before she died a day later. Her 13-week-old unborn fetus was killed immediately.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ronald H. (Mike) Carroll, the head prosecutor in Van Nuys, said Jones could not be charged in the death of the fetus because it was not yet viable.

Jones was scheduled to be arraigned in Van Nuys Municipal Court on Friday, but the hearing was rescheduled when his court-appointed attorney, Patrick Atkinson, requested a one-week delay to become familiar with the case.

The prosecutor assigned to the case, Deputy Dist. Atty. Phillip H. Rabichow, confirmed Friday that Jones made a statement to police after he was arrested near his home Tuesday night.

“It’s more than a brief conversation,” he said without elaborating.

Rabichow refused to discuss the details of the interview, and he declined to characterize Jones’ statement as a confession.

A tape of the interview exists, he said, “but I do not feel it would be in the interests of justice or a fair trial to tell you what is on that tape.”

Jones was arrested near his apartment in the 5000 block of Woodman Avenue. Police said a serrated, 6-inch paring knife, the weapon they believe was used to kill Foreman, was recovered at the residence.

Authorities said Jones was released from federal prison last fall after serving time for five armed robberies and one rape. He has spent 14 of the last 17 years in custody, prison officials said.