Anger spilled out of a Hamilton County courtroom Thursday as the family of Kevin Neri watched the man who killed their son get a deal that cuts his remaining prison time nearly in half.
Earl Jones was resentenced to 18 years after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault. Prosecutors say he will receive credit for about 10 years already served, which means he could walk free in roughly eight years. For Neri’s relatives, who packed the courtroom, the new deal felt less like closure and more like a gut punch, and they described the outcome as a betrayal of justice.
Prosecutors told the judge they agreed to the negotiated plea because legal changes and years of appeals had made winning a new aggravated murder conviction far from a sure thing, according to WKRC Local 12. Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich noted that “Ohio’s self-defense statutes have changed,” and said her office accepted the 18 year term as a way to protect the community while still keeping Jones behind bars for years. The plea deal effectively ends a case that has been tangled in appeals for much of the past decade…